In 1866 a telephone cable was laid between the North and South Islands. The North Island end came ashore at Lyall Bay (exact location not yet researched). The cable was replaced and upgraded at various times. By 1914 there were two cables coming ashore in the middle of the bay, and there was a telephone cable hut on a beachfront section.

At the outbreak of World War 1 a guard was placed on the telephone cable. On the evening of 4 September 1914, sentry Patrick Wallace was patrolling the beach when he heard a suspicious noise and went to investigate. He saw two men digging near the tram terminus waiting shed, and fired at them. The men ran off into the sand hills as Wallace blew his whistle to alert the rest of the guard. Soldiers with bayonets fixed ran down to the beach along with many residents woken by the gunshots, but they did not catch the diggers. It was discovered that a series of holes had been dug in a circle near the cable, but it was undamaged. Read Wanganui Chronicle article here.

Detective Andrews conducted an investigation but no clear conclusion about the motives of the diggers was reached. The Commissioner of Police wrote on Detective Andrew's file "The man was not digging for amusement probably he had explosives with him which he intended to use to snap the cable", but publicly, General Godley stated "there is absolutely no evidence of any attempt to damage cables or any other property. Investigation to-day leads to the belief that the individuals at whom the sentries fired were endeavouring to hoax them, or were loafers who got frightened when challenged and ran away. ” (Wanganui Herald, 7 Sep 1914). The Inangahua Times reported that the Defence Department said it was a hoax and wanted nothing to be published about the incident. Neither the Evening Post nor the Dominion reported on the issue, so it seems clear the story was squashed.