SWEEPER TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1936, Page 12

SWEEPER TRAGEDY

A FAULTY FLEX

AMATEURS AND WIRING

A statement that the Wellington CityCouncil's Electricity Department was concerned only with the distribution of current, and that it did not consider the human element, was made today by Mr. H. E. Swindell, secretary of the Electrical Workers' Union, at the inquest into the death by electrocution of Mary Caughley. The accusation was indignantly denied by Mr. J. O'Shea, the City Solicitor. The. Coroner, Mr. E. Gilbertson, found that Mrs. Caughley, who was aged 56, was accidentally electrocuted on October 13, 1936, at her home in Wellington when handling a defective-ly-assembled electrical extension cord. Frank Gordon Caughley, husband of the deceased, an assistant chemist by occupation, said that in response to a telephone message from his stepson, Warner Fannin, at about 12.15 p.m., he telephoned several doctors and returned home to 20 Norna Crescent, Kelburn, by taxi. His wife was lying on the floor of the breakfast-room. She had an extension cord in her hand. Artificial respiration was employed by the Free Ambulance officer until Dr. D. Whyte, summoned by witness, arrived. Witness found that the electric extension was still plugged into the hotpoint. His wife often used the cord extension to join on to the cord of the electric sweeper. She had not to his knowledge had a previous shock from using the cord.. The extension cord had been in use for at least three years. : ■ . ' . CONDEMNED MATERIAL? Mr) Swindell: Would it be material condemned by the City Council? (Addressing the Court)—lt is astonishing— the number of fatalities brought about by amateur interference and by condemned junk being used in electrical extensions is becoming second only to road fatalities. . The witness said that he assembled the cord himself about two months before, and that his wife had often used it without shock. Warner John Fannin, aged 14, son of the deceased, said that he. left the Kelburn School at 12.5 p.m. on October 13. The- bagwash man came up the path to the house with him. When witness went in, he saw his mother lying on the floor with a broken jug by her. He called the bagwash man, who switched off the current at the meter. James Henry Hepburn, a driver employed by the Victoria Laundry,, ■ said that after the boy came running from the house again, he went into1 the kitchen and saw Mrs. Caughley lying on her left side with a connection clasp; ed in her right hand. He tried to pull the cord away, but, finding that it was "alive," switched off the current and sent, the boy for a neighbour. The cord was plugged into a hotpoint, and the switch was on. A small pool of blood was on the floor near the woman's head, and a broken jug was on the floor. -. j Dr. D. Whyte said that on examination he discovered that the woman was dead, and that rigor mortis had set in. There were electrical burns on both hands. The pool of blood had come from the nose when she fell. The .appearance of the body was consistent ■ with • death from electric shock. . INSPECTOR'S EVIDENCE. Walter Ramsay, an electrical inspector employed by the Wellington City Corporation electricity department, said that on October 14, at the request of the Coroner, he inspected the installation at,.20 Norna Crescent, Kelburn, including the vacuum cleaner, which was fitted with a length of cabtyre flex and bakelite adapter, the plug on the wall, and the switch controlling the plug. These were in good order. ' Later the same day he examined the extension cord at the Police Station. It consisted of two sections, one terminating in a brass and wood adapter and a brass keyswitch holder. The two latter fittings were of obsolete types, and the flex was of ordinary twisted type. The two brass holders had apparently been fitted by an amateur, and each in turn was making contact with the conductors, which caused a potential -of 230 volts between the cases of the two holders. He understood from the police that the holders were found one in each hand of the late Mrs. Caughley. If she had only held one, no shock would have resulted. . ■ Cross-examined by Mr. Swindell, witness said that the connection was of an old type and that, if seen, it would be condemned by the City Council. It was a breach of the bylaws for unlicensed persons to interfere with the fixed wiring of an electrical installation. In the course of his business, he had come across cases of interference by amateurs. Constable .M. Hunt also gave evidence. - '•ANY NUMBER OF BYLAWS." "We have any number of bylaws, but who •is to enforce them?" said Mr. Swindell. "There is a temptation among householders to.carry out their own repairs and alterations, and this cannot very well be checked," replied Mr. O'Shea. "The City Council is only concerned with the distribution: of its current. The'human element doesn't come into it at all," said Mr. Swindell. "That is an unwarranted misstatement and exaggeration by a man who does not appreciate the responsibility of his position," was Mr. O'Shea's reply. ' Mr. Swindell gave instances of deaths and narrow escapes due to faulty wiring. . In announcing his finding, the Coroner said that it was an instance of carelessness. "Quite a number of us tamper with electrical connections," he said. "It was just bad luck that the woman happened to be holding both connections with the current switched on. I hope this will be a lesson to others. As the council has advised, yo,u cannot force people to take precautions, but they are very foolish if they don't." . "It is quite the general trend for shops to sell out-of-date appliances for assembly," said Mr. Swindell. "An accident has got to occur before an investigation is held. The time for a closer inspection must arrive. The public works must put on more inspectors." He'asked the Coroner to add a\rider to.his finding. "This is quite an unbalanced statement," said Mr. O'Shea. "There are irregularities of sale, which the City Council does all in its power to correct. .Owing to patents, etc., the price of good electrical equipment is'high. You cannot stop people from .-buying cheap stuff." ' ~ The Coroner advised Mr. Swindell to.go to the Minister, if he considered he had a just oomplaint. "I-cannot add a rider," he' said. "It1 is not my.business." ' ' Mr. Swindell:. Yes, but you'll be sitting here over similar Courts through similar accidents if something is not done.

William Kale, an office boy, fell off his bicycle early this morning and fractured his leg. The Free Ambulance received a call at 8.30 a.m. and took him'ito"j'ho6pital.