MINER’S DEATH

Northern Advocate, 5 November 1932, Page 6

MINER’S DEATH

ELECTRICAL FAULT.' A LEAKY COIL. VERDICT OF ACCIDENTAL DEATH. The inquest into the death of Harry Parr, aged 30, the miner -who w r as electrocuted in the Waro mine on Thursday, was held at Hikurangi before Mr. K. Macbeth, J.P., and a jury of four to-day. A miner, William Graham, said he was working with Harry Parr, preparing a face for hewing coal. Paul Hart, who was working nearby, gave a shout and Parr ptit his hand up and gripped the bell wires. He said: ‘‘Oh, Bill, they are alive.”

‘‘l slashed the wires with my shovel, and that, was the last, I knew' about it,” said witness. ‘‘When I came round I was in the middle of the road. The other two men wmre lying there, apparently unconscious. ’ ’ Witness said he then called for help, and when it arrived got out of the mine.

In reply to a member of the jury, witness said they were wet with perspiration and w’ere standing in a puddle.

Paul Hart said Graham, and deceased were working a short, distance away from him and George Gilbey. Witness caught hold of the wire to ring for the skips to bo pulled up. He was knocked hack against the coal rib. He looked up and saw deceased hanging on the Avires and caught hold of them to try to release him and w T as knocked out.

Replying to a question, witness said ordinarily there was only a small amount of current going through the bell wires, and it could not be felt. An electrician at the mine, Frederick Raymond Meyer, said ho was told by his brother Arnold Meyer that the bell would not ring and that they were getting a shock off the wires. ‘When he got up to the place ho found the engine driver had the main switch out. Witness started to look for the trouble and found it in the relay. He changed them and just when that was finished a man, J. Scott, came rushing

out from No. 6 level and asked him to ring for tho doctor and the manager, as there had been an accident. Ho went into No. 6 and found deceased lying on the ground and started artificial respiration. Parr did not recover, and then the doctor arrived. The Inspector of Mines, William Barclay, said he had examined the working place. There -were two independent circuits in the, signalling system. The bell was operated by a 400 volt A.O. circuit, direct from the mine supply cable. This bell was eonueetod through a switch and fuses to the relay and the relay was eonnected through the battery. To set the bell in motion, contact was made on the wires. The wires normally carried 20 volts, but apparently on the day of the accident, the full voltage passed through the relay on to the lines.

The parts in the relay cabinet appeared to lie in f;6od order with no moisture on them. Mr. Meyer was asked to reinsert the resistanee eoil of the relay, whieh lie had removed.Tie was asked to do that in order to give a practical demonstration of the actual use of the system on the day of the accident. When the old coil was reinstalled the armature failed to operate and the 400 volts passed . through the coil hack on to the signalling system, indicating there was a serious fault in the resistance coil. The electrician removed the coil and tested it with a voltage of 200, which'passed through the coil. The coil had passed the Home Office test. “I have never known anything like this to happen in all my experience,” added Mr. Barclay. Mr. Barclay produced a report pre. pared by Frederick Charles Purvis, Superintendent of the Wairua Power Station, who said he had examined the bell-ringing relay which had apparently caused the fatality. On testing the two circuits he found that the insulation had broken down.

Mr. Barclay said there was no doubt that the faulty coil allowed the 400 volts to pass through the bell wires. Denis Frank Armstrong, a. medical practitioner, said deceased was lying on the ground in No. 6 level when he arrived. Deceased was unconscious. Ho was not breathing. Artificial respiration was tried for about two hours, but deceased failed to respond at all. Death was due to the passage of an electric current through his body. A 400 volt shock would be enough to kill a man.

A verdict was returned that deceased met his death while handling the bell wires through whieh a 400volt current was passing, due to a fault in the electrical svstem.