BOY ELECTROCUTED

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3824, 28 July 1928, Page 2

BOY ELECTROCUTED

CLIMBED TRANSMISSION LINE POLE. Rotorua, July 26. The adjourned inquiry into the death of Ratu Rapana, a boy nine years of age, on July 18, was held yesterday by Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., District Coroner. John McAlister, a linesman in the employ of the Public Works Department on July 18, said that he was patrolling the line. He arrived at Mourea about 12.45 p.m., and was told by a Maori woman that she had seen a flash on the Rotorua -Opo tiki transmission line, which had a voltage of 50,000. On going along he saw the body of a boy on top of a structure about 35 feet from the ground. His head was severed from the body, and lay about 50 yards from the pole. There were steps on the pole by means of which the boy could have climbed. He might have got on to a telephone hut and then started to climb the pole. He appeared to have climbed up and then to have come in contact with the live wire. It was dangerous to go within three feet of a wire carrying 50,000 volts. The telephone hut was a permanent structure, about 10ft. high.

The verdict of the Coroner was that the deceased by misadventure came into contact with a high-vol-tage electric power line and was electrocuted. He also said that telephone huts or similar structures should not he placed so close to poles carrying power lines as to permit persons to step on to the steps placed on the poles.