A NARROW ESCAPE

Hokitika Guardian, 26 June 1929, Page 3

A NARROW ESCAPE

MAN NEARLY ELECTROCUTED. RUBBER .SHOES SAVE LIFE. PALMERSTON NORTH, June 22. When the power supply failed for about a minute and a half late yesterday afternoon nobody guessed that a man had nearly lost his lile. Only the prompt working of the automatic switches at the Power Board’s substation prevented a carpenter named W. Whisker having the full 11,000 volts current through his system. Air Whiskers was working on the freezing works at Feilding, repairing one of the buildings that had been damaged in the recent earthquake. The 11,000 volt lines of the freezing works’s substation ran close to the corner of the building, and while Mr Whisker was handling a length of down-pipe on the scaffold it overbalanced and fell oil the 11,000-volt wires. There was a flash and a roar, as Waikaremoana and Manga lino fed about 60,000 horse-power on a short circuit, and holes were melted in the pipe, which was still held by Air AVhisker. He undoubtedly escaped being electrocuted by the fact that he was on a tall wooden scaffold and wore tennis shoes with rubber soles. He was not burnt at all, and apart from shock, was no worse to-day after his lucky escape from death.