ELECTROCUTED

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2338, 7 January 1926, Page 6

ELECTROCUTED

MANAWATU-OROUA POWER BOARD EMPLOYEE.

WORKING ON HIGH-TENSION POLE AT FEILDING.

Shortly before four o’clock yesterday afternoon, a middle-aged man, Joseph Southee, a resident of Pelld. ing, and a member of the ManawatuOroua Power Board’s Felldlng staff, was electrocuted while working on a high-tension pole in Manchester street, Feiidlng.

An examination of the body re. vealed two small burns on the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, and that the trouser of his left leg had been burned through, a similar wound being apparent on the part exposed, it is evident the contact was effected by deceased touching a wire with his leg, the shock causing him to take hold of the upper wire, which was practically In front of him. The voltage was 280. From Inquiries made Immediately after the accident. It was gathered that a gang of five men. under the foreman, Mr A. H. Henderson, were engaged on work in connection with the transformer which stands at the corner of Manchester and Grey streets ,on the Bank of New South Wales corner. The original high tension wires erected when the Borough produced its own electrical supply are in the course of being replaced and new poles with fittings have already been erected In Manchester street to take on the new wiring. Deceased was working on a pole carrying 230 volts when the fatality occurred. The hightension wires were beyond his reach. It was while Southee was working on this pole which, is situated in front of Harford and Son’s shop, that another member of the gang, Frank Spooner, who was in the street below, looked up and said “Look at Joe,” meaning the deceased. The, others looked up and saw Southee hanging from the pole by his safety belt. They immediately proceeded up the ladder and cut away all wires surrounding the deceased, and removed him to the roof of a verandah just below where Southee had been workihg. The deceased was aparently breathing his last when laid out on the verandah, for artificial respiration, applied immediately, had no result, and when Dr. Cameron arrived a few minutes later, he could only pronounce life extinct. A longer ladder was then pro. cured and the body lowered and removed to Mr Eade’s premises near by Mr T. Burns, another member of the gang, stated that deceased was engaged In removing an old arm off the pole and fitting on a new one. He was sitting on an arm immediately below the one which had to be replaced, and -was i secured to the pole by his safety belt. It was stated that deceased’s wife was among the first to gather In the crowd which assembled when the no. cident occurred. The late Mr Southee was 81 years of age and leaves a wife and tw'o children. He Is well known In Pelldlng, and at one time followed farming pursuits at Kopane. Prior to his transfer, he was on the staff of the Board in Palmerston North for some time, and had bean In its employ for over two years. Mrs southee Is a daughter of Mr C. Peck, of Fitzroy street, Pelldlng. An Inquest will be held.

SHOOK PROM 0000 VOI/TS. WORKER BREAKS THIGH IN FALL. fPef Preqs Association 1 CHRISTCHURCH, January 6, While working on an electric line poie at Mount Somers yesterday, an Ashburton Power Board employee named Mai shall rece «ed a shock from a 6000-volt wire. He was unscrewing a nut, when the v spanner dropped and his shoulder came ,in contact with a live wire. He was badly burnt and. i» falling to the ground, a distance ol 20 feet broke his thigh.

FATAL PALL FROM POLE. AN OUTRAM CASUALTY [Per Press Association.! DUNEDIN, Last NlghtAn electric linesman, Alex Miller Duff, aged 17 years was killed, by falling from an electric pole at Outram this afternoon. H e was conveyed to Dunedin hospital in an unconscious condition and died at the institution about 2 hours'after the accident.