CHILD DANGLING FROM SPOUTING

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24798, 12 February 1946, Page 6

CHILD DANGLING FROM SPOUTING

RESCUED BY FATHER 50FT DROP TO CONCRETE YARD (P.A.) WELLINGTON, February 11. Attracted by screams, Mr P. Moron last evening saw his four-year-old son, Paul, hanging by his hands from the spouting running round the top of a two-storey building in Cuba street, Wellington. Beneath the child was a sheer 50ft drop to a concrete yard. The father stood below with his arms outstretched in the forlorn hope that he might break the fall expected at any second while he shouted for help. Neighbours held a stretched blanket beneath the dangling child while Mr Moron raced up a fire escape and over two roofs to rescue him. It is estimated that five minutes elapsed from the time the child was first discovered until he was reached by his father. How long he had been hanging to the spouting before then is not known. Apparently the child had gone up a 50ft fire escape, walked across the roofs, and lowered himself by the spouting, expecting to find another ladder there. When rescued he showed no signs of shock, although his father did.