Gordon Anderson Parks, (1923-30/1/1944). "regulations preclude"

DEATHS 

PARKS. — On January 30, 1944 (accidentally), at Paretai, Gordon Anderson, loved fifth son of Mr and Mrs E. M. Parks, of Paretai; in his twenty-first year. Deeply mourned. — Friends are invited to attend his Funeral, which will leave his parents’ residence To-day (Monday), at the conclusion of the service commencing At 2.45 p.m., for the Balclutha Cemetery. — W. Lovie, funeral director.  -Otago Daily Times, 31/1/1944.

Gordon Anderson Parks, aged 20, single, was electrocuted near Kaka Point, Dunedin, early on Sunday morning. He was returning by car from a dance when he saw by the roadside another car which had collided with a power pole. Going to render assistance in the darkness, he made contact with a broken power line and was instantly killed.  -Wairarapa Times-Age, 1/2/1944.

MAN ELECTROCUTED

CONTACT WITH LIVE WIRE 

Comment on the fact that the breaking of a high-tension electric power wire did not result in an automatic cut-off of the whole circuit was made by the district coroner, Mr W. Roy, when he presided at an inquest in Balclutha yesterday into the death of Gordon Anderson Parks, aged 21, who was electrocuted on January 29. Constable Boyle conducted proceedings for the police, and Mr J. T. Walter represented the parents of the deceased. 

James Douglas Aikenhead, farm worker, aged 16, said he was driving a car from Kaka Point on the night of January 29, when it collided with a power pole. 

William Noel Alex Murdoch, cheese factory assistant, said that he was a passenger in Aikenhead’s car. After the crash passing motorists stopped to give assistance, and one of these, the deceased, apparently came in contact with a high-tension wire which had been broken by the impact and was lying across the door of the car. Death appeared to have been instantaneous. 

John Findlay Gardiner, electrical engineer for the Otago Power Board, said that the indicator at Stirling would not show unless the broken wire had touched another wire, and then the power would go off for about 10 seconds, as it did on this occasion. The power would then go on again. The public works regulations did not allow for the power being completely cut off in such cases. It was sometimes difficult to know whether a cut-out was due to a broken wire or simply to an opossum up the power pole, witness explained. 

A verdict was returned that the deceased had been accidentally electrocuted. The coroner added that it seemed a pity that the power could not have been cut off entirely when the wire broke, but apparently the regulations precluded this from being done.  -Otago Daily Times, 19/2/1944.

Balclutha Cemetery.