THE MOERA FATALITY

Hutt News, Volume 3, Issue 24, 6 November 1930, Page 3

THE MOERA FATALITY

On the ii'rstt dtiy of tiie inquest of Thomas David Allanson, aged 14, who died afteT touching a live wire-'at Wqjburn;; it. was • suggested that deceased iiiay have died, not from electrocution, but from a' fracture of the skull. When -the inquest was resumed on Saturday in^Ehe Lawei" Jlurtt Ma<gisti*ate's /Court, the suggestion of death through a fractured' skull was not proceeded.with, and after hearing ftfrther evidence the coroner, Mr. "J.'.'S. Barton, S.M., said he had' n-o dodbtbut that death was caxised byl electrocution. ,

a :finacsture of the fcluiil.^'iyvhen the miSergeant, J. "\V. McHolni conducted the inquest, Mr. C. J\O'Began appeared, for Mio relatives of the deceased, l£r. I>." H. Hoggard represented the - H«Jtt Valley Electric Power-Board, Ma-. P. B. Cooke the State Tire and Accident Office, and Mr. J., Webster the Poafc and Telegraph Department. 3br-± Dudley, to whose surgery the boy w«u3 taken after the accident, -was recalled by-Mr. Hidg-g-ard^: Tirlib said, ho,weyor^ that he had not the slightest idea wfeat the witness -would say. ' The witness described ftJie appearance of the boy "Vfhen ibrouglt,. to him, aiid tho burns orr^the *ln3ex Siadd J t&Bacnlb on the left hand; He had no hesitation in view of those, and of tl\o history of the case as explained to him, in. coming to the conclusion that death was caused by electrocution. He was so satisfied that he did hot cohsMef a post-mortem necessary, although had the boy. been found dead, and there had been no history of the circumstances, i Ire woiiid have advised. a post-mortem: ; examination. Witness coulCl not tell' tko voltage of electricity that caused ifce death, whefclier it was tlie 11,000, volt wire, 660-volt wire, or the 2?0 wits. The burns, which rah lengthwfee up the first finger and tnxunib, fitted together exactly. In his opinion death, was instantaneous. .• Ernest DeLaney, a lines foreman. employed by the Hutt Valley Electric

Power Board, and who removed the stay^wires from the 'post after the accident, continued his evidence from.'the previous week. The* stay wire which deceased had touched was, he said, a bare galvanised one, which ran from a c,ross-)bar on. the pole; down to a culvert/ and.was earthed by being atibached to -a prpp buried/in the .bed of a ••creek. A fi~its riqarest point Tits distance from the 6600 volt wire would "be aibout 11 inches, and from- tite 11,000 volt wire aJbou't 16 inches. There was no guarantee that- insivlation was an effective safeguard against leakage in a ■hig-h. voltage wire,' and. lie would not woi-Oc on"the 11 jOOd or 6600 volt wires unless tho current was turned off. The* ■insulation■"■was effective against the 230 volts. If th.c gap between the stayl wire and the high. voltage, wires wJaro bridged, by1? water or otheii. conductor, tihe cuiT-ent would run through the stay* wire to earth.' That leakage would immediately 'be recorded on the ■ • iristrumeiit's .tytvthd pbiwe'i^ stationy^^■.^hieh were so finely s-et that tney would react •to even s'Qfflrac|as a $wig inaking conitaGt with, the wire, It was possible for Tain blown T>y the wind to ibridge the say- x ' ■■: .'■.'..

Replying .to the witness said the stay wires had been ma,de very •tight ~fcy t&e. use of a. vice- The flash!; ' des(^abed^th^^re\n^tfe^ecrlH^^he two ! ■ women witnesses could only have 'been' eaiused by th>e s:tay-,TVire coining in-eon r tact with a live wire. He was satisfied! the stay -wires -were properly earthed , foec^se he had done them himself only ;. |oj%: :monitMk \ pyevroiis i>6 the Occident. He did ndt lodk :aJt tiUp i earthings after lie hadA cut; the; •wires from the pole. ; !Ho granted; to,. get the wires «ut dawn ;\as isppn'as.pissible, so thait the current could be turned on agahh He saw nothing on the cross-a.xni.of th« pole that i would indicate that a stay-wire and a live wire had been in contact. There were many such stay?wires in the Power Board }s district, but never before had he heard of one of them coining inito ■con'ta/ot wit*! a live w^ire. "Ais indicarted by the medical evidence," said the coronei*. "the cause"

of iloaHi will be set down as. electrocution. J. have no doubt at all about it, taking into account the evidence of eye ■witnesses and the medical evidence-— the flash, tihe screams, and the boy drop ping dead. "The verdict will be thait deceased was killed at Wolburn, Liower Hutt, on September 27 by electrocution caused' by the contact of stay wires attached to electric light and power poles erecfr ed and controlled by tii« Hutt Valley Electric Power Board. "I do not propose to add any rider, for we have enough evidence to ensure that any poss'iJble lessons to ba learned will be lamed and heeded."