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The Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co. and the Halifax Explosion.

It was impossible to obtain in time for our last issue any reliable information as to the damage done to the Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co.'s property by the explosion of the munitions steamship Mont Blanc in Halifax harbor on Dec. 6. We are now indebted to the company's Managing Director, H.R. Mallison, for the following facts:
In view of all the circumstances, the company escaped very lightly. One of its transportation inspectors, T. Burgess, who was in the vicinity of the explosion, was killed instantly, and the force of the explosion practically tearing the clothes off his body. By the time the body was found, ghouls had been at work and had robbed him of his fortnight's pay and his watch and chain. One of the company's cars happened to be almost opposite the s.s. Mont Blanc at the time of the explosion. The motorman in charge was killed immediately, the conductor by some miraculous means escaped with his life, but was very severely injured, and has not yet been able to get about. So far as can be learned, none of the passengers in this car were killed; though its top structure was completely demolished, and all that remained of the truck and equipment was a bunch of twisted scrap. Other cars that were on the line in the vicinity of the explosion were very badly damaged and twisted, and at least three cars will have to be completely rebuilt, as far as the bodies are concerned. All of the company's rolling stock sustained damage such as broken glass, broken window sashes, broken doors, twisted joints in the wood work, and other damage caused by concussion. A number of rheostats were cracked, and some of the truck frames were badly shaken up.
A number of conductors and motormen who were on their cars at the time, were injured more or less by flying glass, but none of them seriously. So far as can be learned, only three platform men were killed while on duty, but altogether nine employees have been lost as a result of the disaster.
the overhead line in the destroyed area was completely demolished, this including the overhead trolley work, as well as the light and power distribution circuits, arc lamps, transformers, etc. Over 200 electric meters were completely destroyed as a result of the explosion and ensuing fire, and in addition, the company has had to remove about 250 meters, some of them in a more or less damaged condition, from houses which have been deserted since the accident.
The damage to the company's power house was, fortunately, not of a serious character. All of the doors and windows were blown in and completely shattered, and some of the joints in the steam piping were sprung, but the generating machinery and the boilers were not in any way affected, and consequently, the light and power service was resumed as soon as the destroyed section of the city was cut free from the distributing system.