Second Edition. THE RECENT FATALITY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 24, 20 May 1914, Page 6

Second Edition. THE RECENT FATALITY.

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. ft- I An inquest was lield this morning into the circumstances surrounding the death of Henry James William 'Webberley, who was electrocuted on Monday afternoon. Mr S. B. Hunter, J.P., acted as Coroner. The following jury was empanelled: Messrs W. Lander (foreman), A. Moon, C. W. Martin, C. E. James, T. Marshall and M. C. Aagaard._, '* '- ■ Mr P. Thomson appeared on behalf of deceased’s family, and Mr Spratt on behalf of the Electrical Supply Co. Sergt. MeNeely said lie had called as witnesses, most of the employees of the Electrical Supply Co., who would be able to answer any questions the jury might put. William Webberley, laborer, Opunake Road, father of deceased, said he last saw deceased alive on Monday ' morning just before he left for school. The boy usually arrived home from school a few minutes ‘ before 'four o’clock. The distance from his residence to the school was a little-over three miles. 5 To ft juryman: Deceased was not wearing shoes or stockings. Witness did not search for the boy, as he •Ad not return home from work until, 5.30 p.m., when the doctor Vas at the house. There were no other children with deceased at the time of the accident. Witness; The line is broken again to-day. :• " > Sergt. MeNeely: Did you inform the company? Witness: I did not. I heard that Mr Corbett hud notified them. Sergt. MeNeely: I would have taken steps at once to tell the i company. ,

Ena Robinson, whose parents re- , side at Cardiff, gave evidence that that she left Cardiff on Monday about 2.30 p.m. She was driving.;-jSh#.no-ticed that at one point an electric light wirfe was dowiwifeAf^^. t pftftouching the bank, it. There was a clay . side of- the road at the bank was not very high. This..was between a mile and Ife and three-quarters from Stratfdrdi jOoj. reaching Stratford witness drove straight to the And stated what she the lady clerk tjje wire was down. It WEe?: ; jabout 3.30 when she reached the company’s office. On the way in witiless passed three or four boys slightly on the town side of Brecon Road. The lady at the office said she did not think any notice had been given of the line being down and that she would let the men know. : Sergt. McXeely said 4 Vtli© l ‘Nyltnqp deserved some prompt action in Hie" matter. The

wire had been seen by others, including men, iVho had not thought fit. to notify the company. If she hadj|p&sii sed sooner she might have saved the boy’s life. The Coroner said the witness. certainly deserving of siiqh fojfiin(|fidation. In reply to questions from the jury witness said the line cous JJot; hay# been touched by "a person walking along the road, though it could he easily touched if the bank was climbed. The lines ran along the right side of the road, well away from • ordinary traffic. Mr Lander asked if it would be easy for passers-by to see the wire. Sergt. McNeely said the witness could only say that she had seen it.' He had seen the locality and was convinced that persons could pass without seeing the, wire. The Coroner said that other*people bad seen it. No doubt, if people had looked in the direction they would have seen it. Bryan Malone, solicitor’s clerk, said that on Sunday morning he left his home on Opunake Road by motor car abOut 10.30. The car was covered in and the wire was not observed on the run to Stratford, nor on the return journey. Witness again did not notice the wire when he passed towards Stratford a little before 3p.m.,’ but on returning a little later, MiReader, who was in the car, drew his attention to the wire. Mi: Reader said he would tell witness’ father. Witness did not tell anybody about it though he intended to tell Mr N«wton. The bank on which the wire rested was from eight to ten feet high.’ It was not easy to gee/the wire unless one looked specially in the direction. Mr Thomson: Are you a shareholder in the Electrical Supply Co? Witness: Xot myself personally. To the Jury: Neither witness nor Mr Reader undertook to inform the Company. Witness had often seen deceased taking his time going uome from school. To Mr Thomson: The wire was c-Itfse enough to the bank to enable a child to grasp it. The wire seemed to bo resting on the bank. To the Jury; Witness noticed the wire down when lie passed on Monday morning. He thought then that probably the wire would be dangerous if children should meddle with *t. Alice Dickenson, clerk at the Electrical Supply Co.’s office, said she took no note of the time, but she thought it was between 3.30 and 4 o’clock when Miss Robinson called at the office. The manager was out at. the time though witness expected j him to return at any minute. There was nobody else in the office. Phe, . manager returned about a quarter cf j

an hour later, at about four o’clock, and witness at once told him about the wire being down. The manager immediately left the office to get the repair staff. After ten or fifteen mint' utes the manager again returned, and just afterwards, Bickerton, the head linesman; rang up the office. The manager’ hold Bickerton to go at once to Opunake Road. Previous to Miss Robinsoji coming in witness had heard nothing about the wire being down. , To Mr Thomson: The power-house was connected with the office by telephone. , To Mr Spratt: She would not take the responsibility of ordering the current to be turned off. She doubted if the men would take any notice of her, and she had no authority to do so. They often received notice of wires being down, but in some, cases they turned out to be telephone wires or “dead” wires.

The foreman said there should be some person in authority at the office to decide what should be done. 'Mr Spratt said’he was sure that if Miss Dickinson told the staff that a live wire was on the road in a position dangerous to passengers they would a(. once attend to it.. . ... Witness said that she reported to the manager all reports received about wires being down. The manager always investigated immediately. Walter Joseph Newton, manager ot the Electrical Supply. Co,, said he reached 'the office about 4.15 on, Monday afternoon. After being notified that the line was down he went round to Mr W. Henry’s house in Cordelia Street, where he thought the linesmen were working. They wore no; there, nor at another;’ place where Witness thought they might be. Oi reluming to the office he wont to the telephone to ring up his own house, but just as lie reached the machine, the 1 hell rang. The ;ring wag from Bickertdn,wlio had rung, as he often did, tb ask if he was wanted. Witness told Bickerton to get away at once to Opunake Road, where a line was down a little past Dingle’s, Bickerton said

he would leave at once. From the porter-house the whole service would liaVe to be shut off to take current off a particular line. Sergt. McNeely: Did you not think that the best way would have been to order'the current to 'b® turned off ? : Wietnes.4 ::•! did not know that such ;a- would be warranted V J knew that. ,0111- men would withdraw the' ~™dlatio^; ! plhgs as soon as they gdt to Wecon Bdfed. . • * r " Seitt> ‘Mc^Neelj: They didn’t do Witness: They did as soon as they s knew it was necessary., . It ; i$ not in every'case. f ''V "fritness, continuing, said that the "ffrsf notice he had 'from Miss 'bfdtmson. The 'men were along, the line on the previous Saturday. " On the pole from which the wire came the high-tension wire had got below the petticoat of the insulator. The wire should have been lying alongside the body of-the-iilsul-ator. Current was conveyed along the wet cross-arm to the iron pole, thereby burning the arm through at the point where the bolt attached it to the pole. -Both -wires lost their support and sagged between the poles on each side. The pole Was on the top of,„;a bank eight to ten feet high and was*only ac r feasible to a person whq the bank. The wire l was ihifkdd'vbelbw. the petticoat of the insulator by: the heavy fwindt This might'Happen oh any ipo'ski The'Opunake Road line was particularly exposed. Tho wires were insulated in accordance with Cfovern.meuti requirements, and Mr /Parry,Chief Government Electrical Engineer, ‘ had approved the mariner of suspending the wires on the Opunake Road line. '

Sergt. McNeely: If the wires trere insulated why Was the boy killed? Witness: That’s what we all want to know. Sergt. McNeely: Is the object to juake the Avire safe? - Witness: Yes. It makes the 'wire safe to a • certain extent. The boy caught the bearer wife, which was hot 'insulated and which was electrified. If the boy had only handled the nib-ber-covered Avire it is hot probable .that he would have got a shock. Continuing, Avitness said • that the Opunake line had been erected fof about four years. The line Avas inspected on Saturday, and it was usualto make an inspection after every storm. ■ . , .. .. .. , The foreman : Is there’any employee of the company Ayho has the duty o. inspecting the lines periodically? \\ iteness: Jt devolves on me to see that somebody goes over the lines. The foreman; Is there nobody Avhose duty is to go round the lines? , • Witness: We could not keep a man solely to do so. If we heaped up expenditure in that vyay it Avould mean that there would be no light. The foreman: There is nobody who goes round the wires? Witness; There is hardly, a week hut the 'whole of the lines are gone over. * The foreman : Do you rely on private persons to give notices of bfeakages ? Witness: We are ahvays thankful to receive these reports, even though they sometimes turn out to lie false alarms. -f- . The foreman: I still think the company should have a.man on patrol. *rhe Coroner said that similar fatalities bad happened ele.seAvhere where high-tension wires AA-ere alloAved to be cafried 1 in the air. ,in the older countries it was usual to demand that tile Avires should be taken underground. The jury could make a representation to the Government.

Dr. Steven gave evidence that lie avia’s called out to Opunake Road on Monday and saw deceased, avlio av» s lyong on his back by the side of the road. Artificial respiration wag being carried out by Mr Bickarton. The boy, lioAvever, avhs dead. There Wore two charred avoaitkls on the left hand across the front of the first tAvo fingers. From the marks on the body

and what he heard on the spot lie was .satisfied .that a charge of electricity through tire body was the cause of death. To Mr ThomsonHe could approximately how long the hoy had been dead, Hb appeared to have been dead about 'an hour.. Witness arrived bn the sc6ne ; about 4.45; Ernest Bickorton,linesman employed by the Electrical Supply Co., said he had been with the eohipany*for about a year past. There was a pretty-severe gale prior to'Saturday last. The Opunake Road line being : more exposed than any other it received the most attention. ,On f Friday 'and Saturday last they inspected the line’ for its full length;nout to Mr It was in the morning of Saturday that the inspection" was made. Where the accident happened, the most exposed part of the line, '.everything was right when he left it. A great, trouble of; the company’s was the breaking of insulators by children. Wires came down very easily whbii -.the insulators were broken. In the present case the.-in-sulator was not 1 broken; v The only thing he could suggest to stop acci-; dents of .‘the sort was, to shorten, at the insulators', the leather straps holding the live- wire to the hearer wire. The straps were at .present about as short as they could be. If the straps were shortened it would lesson the chance of the live wire..hanging; below the. porcelain, portion of. the insulator. At '4.25 on Monday witness received a message from Mr Newton regarding the break on Opunake Road. The repair cart was ready loaded and witness left immediately. The hbi’se was galloped nearly all the way. On arriving at the spot he found the high-ten-sion wire down. Smith, witness’ assistant, got out and stood by the line while witness turned to go about half a-mile- back to out the ourrerit off. When witness had gone about a hundred yards Smith called out to him' to return, which'the did at ortce. Just: before life got to the hank Smith -called put that there was a boy bn the lino and he thought he'was dead. _ Witness climbed the bUnk-Mid #aw ’a:hoy-lying bn his left "side 'hbiditig'- tb* onb 1 of the’ wires, with his left 'hand -probably. Usine his rubber gloves witnes| shifted (he boy off the wire.- The body wasiouite warm. The body was pulled off the wire not later Ilian *4.35; ifc being billy about ten minutes, after leaviijg, the power station. Steps were taken for resuscitation similar to those used in cases of supposed drowning, and a message was sent to Dr. Steven. The boy was grasping the hearer wire.' If he had grasped the insulated wire witness was positive the boy would not 'have been' killed. ■ : ‘ To the Coroner: Tile only really safe way to carry electric wires was underground.. , Witness had worked for seven years on the lines in Wellington and tliey came down there just as frequently as iti Stratford; To Mr Spratet: It would h£fcily be possible To shorten the' suspending straps, " The storm was <the chief cause of the present mishap..' To the jury: If ;.flie ; straps were shortened the risk bf induction of bearer ..wire would be increased. , Witfless stated that he had taken tne body tb -the, morgue.. v . .■ , ..; * Charles'Smith, assistant, tp the previous witness, gave similar .evidence. Sergeant McNeely gave evidence that he had made inquiries' at- the Stratford school and had ascertained that deceased left school a Id tie before 3 p.m. on Monday.. A boy named Haa.le.ton, who lived-;nearer town, was in company with, decoused, and arrived home about 3.35. Jf deceased bad gone straight on be would have reached the spot where he was killed about 3.40. The jury returned a verdict of accidental electrocution, no blame being attachable to anyone. A rider was added that . the , lines should be placed underground, or made safe by insulation-,»