LIVE WIRE FATALITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 300, 19 December 1922, Page 8

LIVE WIRE FATALITY.

CAUSED BY A SPARROW.

INQUEST AT TK AROHA. (From Our Own Correspondent.) TE AROHA, Tuesday. An inquest concerning the death of Mr. Frank Webb, who was killed by contact with a live electric wire, was held on Monday afternoon before Mr. J. Motley, coroner. It was given in evidence that \\ ebb examined the transformer and isolated all the switches on the platform. He also examined the oil switch, and called out to his companion, '"all safe. - ' Webb then went on the platform and found the 30U0volt switch all right. He was opening the centre fuse box when his companion, Loekver. noticed an electric flash strike his forehead, Webb immediately falling to the platform. Lockyer climbed up and found Webb apparently dead, llu also found a dead sparrow beside the body. ; All the switches had been turned ofT, and there should have been no current passing through any of the wires. Alfred Waters, the board's electrical inspector, said he was of opinion that the sparrow got across between the knife and the clip, thus inducting 11,000 volts into the wires where Webb's shoulders would be. The deceased was a careful and competent workman. There was no defect on the switches, and consequently no leakage. ! The coroner returned the following verdict:—"That deceased, Frank Webb, met his death by electrocution while rcpair- ' ing the wires under the control of the j Thames Valley Electric Power Board, and that no blame is attachable to anyone." i