POWER FAILURE CAUSED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23350, 9 June 1941, Page 8

POWER FAILURE CAUSED

MAORI CLIMBS HIGH TENSION TOWER SEVERE BURNS AND OTHER INJURIES (P.A.) WELLINGTON. June 8. A young Maori who climbed a metal high tension tower near Paekakariki about 5 p.m. to-day was responsible for a power failure in Wellington. He is Honi Pareawiti, aged 15, of Wellington road. Paekakariki. He was found at the bottom of one of the towers, which carries a 110,000-volt transmission line from Mangahao to Wellington, with severe burns and injuries to his shoulders, arms and head, and severe shock. It is believed he climbed to the top of the 40-foot tower, from where he was thrown by the electric shock when he touched one of the wires. The current was off in Wellington for nine minutes, but it was not dark and the inconvenience was slight. The Evans Bay station was then taking only a small load, not sufficient for the city. The Velox plant was just ready to bring in when the Government supply came back. Pareawiti’s condition late to-night was reported from the hospital to be serious. CHILD RESCUED Jumping fully clothed into the estuary at Redcliffs at 11 o’clock on Saturday morning, Mr Jack Fox, of Estuary road, made a plucky rescue of a child. The child, Philip Kerr, aged six, fell while playing on the stone wall at a point \yhere the current runs strongly under the wall. The only ill Effect suffered by the child, who was rescued within three or four minutes, was shock.' SOLDIER FALLS FROM TRAIN (F.0.0.R.) GREYMOUTH. June 8. A soldier, George Walter Taylor, aged 24, single, of Duller bridge, Westport. suffered slight concussion when he fell from the West Coast-Christ-church express on Saturday on his return to Burnham Camp. He was attended by Dr. Tombs (Gisborne), a passenger on the express, and later taken ; to the Grey Hospital by ambulance. His condition is now quite satisfactory. Feeling unwell, Taylor went out on to the train platform, and approaching a sharp turn near Stoney Creek, between Kaimata and Aratika, was, in spite of the fact that the gate was closed, pitched out on to the side of the permanent way. His fall was seen and the train was delayed for half an hour. FOOTBALL PLAYERS INJURED Three footballers injured in games on Saturday were admitted to the Christchurch Hospital, the condition of each being reported yesterday as satisfactory. They were James Sambrook, of Kaiapoi, who suffered concussion at Sydenham Park; Thomas Sheahan. of Clarence road, Riccarton, who suffered concussion at Hagley Park north; and Gordon Hobson, of 76 Randolph street, Woolston, who suffered injuries to his right arm at Sydenham Park.