ELECTROCUTION OF BOY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18757, 13 July 1935, Page 16

ELECTROCUTION OF BOY

ENGINEER'S REPORT CLAIM AGAINST BOROUGH The borough electrical engine)', Air. L. Griffin, has submitted a report to the Thames advisory committee in connection with the .raiding and comment of the coronex, Mr. \V. Bongard, at the recent inquest mto the death by electrocution of 'the nine-year-old boy Alexander Frederick Feisst at his parents’ home in Beach road.

The engineer reported that in this particular cast the earthing, system was lound to be efficient at the time of tiie change-over from direct to alternating current, and corrosion was the cause of the poor earth at the time of the hitality, us the earth wire was found to be - intact. All wiring work that had been canned out in the borough under the present regulations by local wiremen was well up to the standard required. The electricity committee reported that an inspection of all the electrical installations connected to the borough supply bad been in progress for some weeks and nothing of a dangerous nature had been discovered. The committee recommended that the electrical engineer be directed to have the inspection completed us soon as possible, and that he bo instructed to devote special attention to ensuring that all requisitions of the inspector are carried out. by the consumers. The report and recommendations wore unanimously adopted. At a later stage notifications of a claim for damages by the boy’s father, Mr. F. Feisst, was received and dealt with in committee. At the inquest the coroner found that death was due to electrocution on March 9 through coming in contact with an inefficient earth wire, which had been made live by the inadvertent crossover of the main lead-in wires by some person approximately 18 months before the fatality. The coroner added a rider recommending that a more efficient system of inspection and attention to effective electrical installation be adopted by the, borough authorities, also a stricter enforcement of regulations governing electrical supply and wiring.