POWER TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22271, 20 November 1935, Page 12

POWER TRAGEDY

ADMISSION OF WATEE THEORY OF CORONER OPENING BUTTON PRESSED TWO MEN IN VALVE HOUSE [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] CHRISTCHURCH. Tuwday . The tragic accident at the Lake Coleridge power station on Monday, in which three men lost their lives when water from the lake was admitted accidentally to a pipeline in which they were working, waR investigated by Mr. H. A. Young, coroner, at an inquest into the deaths of the men, held to-day at Lake Coleridge. The men were Eric Thomas Cockburn, single, aged 39; William Henry Crowe, single, aged 46; and Frank Coates, married, aged 43, all of Lake Coleridge. The coroner found that they died from injuries received through the pipeline in which they were working being accidentally filled with water. "I am satisfied on the evidence that the electrical and mechanical equipment used to control the entrance of the water to the pipeline was in good order," said the coroner in announcing his verdict, "and I am also satisfied that it was not affected by lightning." (It was mentioned in the evidence that lightning had been thought of as the agent which released the water, but after consideration and testing jof the machinery the theory had been discounted.) "Accidental Pressure on Button" "It seems to me from the evidence," said the coroner, "that the closed gate at the head of the pipeline was opened through the 'open' button in the valve house having been pressed. From the circumstances set out in the evidence of two of the witnesses, Michael John McHugh and William Henderson, who were in the valve house when the button was pressed, and after inspecting the valve house, I think the button was accidentally and unknowingly pressed by Henderson. I also think that when men are working in a pipeline the power should be cut off from the gate controls affecting that pipeline." Henderson and McHugh were memÜbers of the gang employed on painting and repair work on the pipeline. McHugh went into the valve house to shelter from rain. Henderson later entered the valve house to rest, and according to his evidence, tried to approach McHugh from behind, intending to surprise him. Suggestion Not Admitted Henderson was unable in his evidence to tell exactly how he walked through the valve house in approaching McHugh, but it was suggested by the coroner that he walked past the switchboard, in front of which were several obstacles. This the witness did not admit. The coroner suggested that in passing these obstacles Henderson might have put out his hand to steady himself, and so accidentally put his thumb or a finger on the starting button which raised the water gate, releasing the water into the pipeline. Witness did not admit this. The buttons* which set in motion the electrical machinery to open the gates are recessed, so that they could not, it was agreed by witnesses, be pressed by an accidental brush of an arm or shoulder.