TWO MEN ELECTROCUTED

Chronicle (Levin), 21 December 1949, Page 4

TWO MEN ELECTROCUTED

Fencing Wire Contacts High Tension Line NEW PLYMOUTH, Dec. 20. ~ Two brothers were electrocuted while fencing under the State Hydro-Electric Departmenfs Arapuni-Stratford 110,-000-volt line on Cleland Brothers' farm, Gordon Road, Toko, about 12 miles east of Stratford, at 10.10 a.m. today, when a fencing wire flicked up and struck the power line. They were: NORMAN CLELAND, ag?d 32, a returned servieeimaih?i married with three children, tliving in Stratford. COLIN CLELAND, aged 24, married with three children, liv- * ing on the farm. . • With an employee,. Walter R. Dunn, they were fencing across a gully at the top of a ridge at the back of the property. They had a barbed wire attached to one side of the gully and were pulling it taut to cl^ar it from the scrub in the dipCoi the gully, when it flicked up out of the

scrub and contacted the power lines. Both brothers had hold of the wire and were apparently killed instantly.Dunn was standing a few feet from Colin Cleland and felt a shock although he was touching neither the wire nor Cleland. Dunn went down the ridge and attracted the attention of Mr. R. Cleland who was at the house. He telephoned the police at Stratford who arranged for Dr. B. Rutherfurd to go to ,the scene. Senior-Sergeant J. H. Dennehy and Constable I. Donovan went out. They were followed 'by an ambulance from the Stratford Public Hospital and by Dr. Rutherfurd who, on arrival, said that death was evidently instantaneous in both cases. „ Mean while - ;neigiibours had been called and they took turns at administering artificial respiration. Later representatives of the State Hydro-Electric Department and the Taranaki Electric Power Board carried on with attempts at resuscitation until Dr. Rutherfurd arrived. Neighbours and others assisted the police to bring the bodies down to the ambulance which was waiting down on the road about a mile and a half from the accident. The force, of ,£he released power was shown by the fact that almost on contact the barbed wire Was burned completely through. The fact that there had been an escape to earth was recorded at the State hydro sub-station on East Road, Stratford, at the time of the accident but there was no breakdown in supply.