The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1874-01-27 00:00:00

REGIS IN DARKNESS.

Bisonly before six o'clock on Mondey evening a um
yulsory early &offing woo inflicted on many of the prin-
cipal businees ostaloisionents by the sudden failure of
the gas. They had nearly all been I,l,iroughly lighted,
litdie or uo warnicr, every one was severelly
implied by his gm lamps going out. Many w•re the
devices tried, until it was fund tl.at the pnbilo Imps
Lad been extinguished at the same time, std Oda aide
of the towu was in aimed tots.' darkness, and from the
toory rein falling at the time it was indeed • darkness
tlr.t could be felt. The podoo 'nation shared the fate
et the other pieces, and Oute nos made to get light so
umbel here. dud of Gaudios was obtained, and
bitterns were turned out and eupplied, till the Hall
paseues were lighted up as betiloontly as a ship'. tors
colt o. A tiny ray was sont from ova` the entranoo by
on certainly not cf 12.eandle iUumirattng
pow r, but more bko • gloworm who had been toopiog
hot LOW:, and boon taken up. The Fier amps wore
kept alight by s.ti amp", and shone brad nay, a for-
ionoe &cornett:ice, as it was aboutter time of tho
arrival of the Jersoy stemma., whi-h come in all right.
• sally out on the Replauale secured at it be known
that r. lamp was burning opposite Augusta-Owe,
soother at Johnstone-row, and • rd opposite tho
Royal-terries, while two on the high ground at Green-
MI were burning brightly, as they continued to do all
night. EOOl2 the larger establishments unable to make
• bright oho., gave it up In dimwit and .but up. while
those who oondesoended to paraffin and candles had the
best of the time. A worthy grocer "iroprovod the
shining hour" by • brilliant illumination of wax light.,
and we hope did • good trade, and a phillanthrople
esting•houte.koaker placed a well-polished parstail
I my in his bow window sod earned the thanks of au
aopreciativo publla by lighting half-a-street. The "red
light ahead' at the public houses was sonthely discerns,
his, but the bloo and green bottles of the chemist.,
foremost among them Mr. B. V. Williams. Mr. Gregory,
lie. Targett, Mr. Cole, and Mr. J. V. Williams, man-
aged to throw a" dim religlou !Jolla" into the streets,
Mr. a. V. Willie= partionlerly bluing with "the beat
white petroleum." Our dramatic friends at the Belle
Vele Amerobly•rooms oneountered this new difficulty
with their wonted spirit, and • row of "heel **m-
elodies' or were they was I blued away at the foot%
lights, while rows of others in the windows lighted
Rut-street and Bells Vno. At the Working Men's
Cob, the members, driven from the streets, mustered
stroag, and, taking thoir friends' advice to have a (lola
pipe, appeared to ink ex fame dm:* limn, so with
tobaooo and "anomie. mughts" they got on pretty well.
'Twits odd, in going mond the etreets, to see unhappy
folks who were timid carrying lanterns that only made
the rain and road no bo •1100, and at our club enpeatally
we blessed the law's delays that leave it rtill • triumph
of navigation to gain the clob door through pools of
mod or rivers of slath, to which,if to nothing else, the
Maiden-street end of this street is "dediciated." 'Twits
• time to be "thankful for small tamales," and one
ootdd not but be surprised at iho amount of illundwo
Mon pivou by oily one candle. A tender-hearted
draper had mounted one in an upstairs win,to• to light
home the members of his fleck, and it shoal into three
streets. 'The pollee, of cis um, had an unions time for
are not three gas taes said to be equal to a polleemsn,
so their earn were bereued, and we fancy that there
was more nobs than mina from the roysterere who
turned oat at 11 o'olook ; but otherwise the night was
quiet.
AU thb itormise arose from • curious muse. It
mime that Meloonthe Regis was formerly supplied
from • four-huh main; but now Its wanta are Bush
that • 19Inoh servise-pipe wu laid aoross under the
Backwater. lint singularly enough, a pleas of the old
main was allowed to continue connected, with the
other main; being Molted at the end. Either from, aa
it has been mild, • Large grounding on the pi" or
simply from the pursue of the water, the old pipe was
broken on Menelny evening, and the water rushed Into
ha and thence into the new supply pipe. At once,
Mr. Stone, manager, wont to the works, and sue-
morbid in dimovviing what Wrd the matter
The old pipe was plugged at low water; but
It was found that the water had gone through the
SuPPIJ pipe, and out through a draining sTphou, into
the td,lcembe Relit shaft,
which contained two or three
feet of writer abere the p'pe. The Iflabir was dammed
book on the V.'r-month olds, and then the work of
Eutopirg cut the eltor tram Ihn plrcl oominenee.l.
I Thor it to st...rit with 1 c 71.1, and ty Tiesduy even-
itir had much re1,.e.,. rho s 4;41., ba ibbb • purtlal
suPol7 was gib,ll no hiLli.i.lure Regis. The tradesmen
eagerly ',fled themselves silt, and "nary put out all
their gas throughout the house except In the shop, and
thus obtolued • good light below. Things went on
pretty well till about eight, when the gas again
illokered and failed, and soon it was as the night before.
16 was found that the men had got out nearly all the
water, five of th.oo ooto4 engaged in the ahaft, when it
suddenly Must in upon them, and oompelled them
hastily to /canal to the ntoutO of the shaft, the water
being very Mu on the hlnitnoss who thought ho had •
Darrow escape.Fortunstely ill night was Meer sod
starlight, se that She looonvreleneee were not so great
all borers. But it was must dldioult to get snout the
streets without collider", sad young Meloomb• seemed
to seise the opportunity, for the youngsters ran 114414
about, numb as we used to do lathe days of the old
tharillya. In ad the darkness that shrouded the nswor
and richer ward of airloombe hopes, it was odd to
paw, the oornporaitlv3 lellilsnoy of old Weymouth,
where oil the were btu-tang hqi.htly, even as far
be the iteil,;• rrt of tee
16 was Inured or: Tues,tay right, from the sudden
rush of wow into the ghat, that is; ef the wrote had
given way ; but, owing to the large quontlLy of water,
Ps woe diflioalt to tiol otr. the GAMo,. The pluKstog
of the OW Main was raid to be perfretly secure. There
being no likelihood of 1. =toting the supply by way of
the tunnel, a goaotity of three, four, and Ave sub
pipes were .Diluted some from the Water Company,
sad the we set to work, be toy two Um of pipe