VIOLENT EXPLOSION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 November 1938, Page 6

VIOLENT EXPLOSION

IN AUCKLAND STREET FLAMES RISE FROM BITUMEN. AN UNWELCOME EXPERIENCE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, October 31. Only a stone’s throw from a block of shops which was wrecked by a violent explosion on the morning of January 9, a further explosion,. due to a fault in an underground electric cable, occurred immediately outside the premises of the Puritan Home Cookery, in Remuera Road, opposite Remuera Post Office, shortly before 10 o’clock tonight. Four engines from the Auckland Metropolitan Fire Brigade arrived at the scene of the explosion, but although flames were rising from the pavement in front of the shop, the services of the firemen were not required. Members of the staff of the Auckland Electric Power Board were also quickly summoned, and by switching off the current in the affected area they were able to remove the possibility of danger before any great damage was caused. Nevertheless, the explosion and subsequent outburst of flames provided an unwelcome experience for, the occupants of nearby premises. Mr P. H. Partridge, proprietor of the Puritan Home Cookery, was in the living quarters above the shop when the explosion occurred, but his assistant, Mr W. Holehouse, was in the shop. The explosion, according to both 'Mr Partridge and Mr Holehouse, was of sufficient force to shake the premises to a certain extent, and they rushed to the street to find flames issuing from the bitumen pavement. The only damage caused by the explosion was the cracking of the comer of one of the plate-glass windows in Mr Partridge’s shop. Mr G. N. Downs, who occupies a flat above the block of shops where the explosion occurred, said his first thought was that a heavy lorry had run into the front of the buildingjjhe noise of the explosion was just like the noise of such an impact and the budding gave a sudden spasmodic shake.