Adventure on a Wire.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 241, 8 September 1884, Page 2

Adventure on a Wire.

An exceedingly unpleasant experience betel a younaj. miner named William Burley yesterday week at Reef ton. It appeals from the account of the occurrence given m the Inangahua Herald of the ' 26 th ult. that the Globe Gold Mining Company has an aerial tramway nearly ft mile and a half long connecting the mine and the battery; The quartz is conveyed along it suspended m a bucket, which carries from 601bs to 70lbs weight at a time. The bucket travels over abrupt ascents and steep descents .; and at one spot the spall of wire between the two supports is about 1000 ft. In traversing this wide j gully the bucket swings m mid-air more than 800fc above the surface. On Tuesday evening Burley made the rather rash attempt to travel on the bucket up to the mine. He started about 5 p.m., and his progress met with no check until reaching the gully just described, when the wire ceased moving. The cause was due to the man at the break m the mine having stopped work for the day, and the poor follow was left suspended through the dark hours of the night until ne«rly 9 o'clock the following morning. The narrow iron bar of the bucket made it impossible for him to remain long m one position, and all through the weary hours he had to be constantly changing his seat, fortunately. the njght was mild, but had there been a heavy frost, as on the previous Thursday and Friday, it is very doubtful indeed whether the man would ever have reached the mine alive.