BUSH ACCIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1938, Page 8

BUSH ACCIDENT.

QUESTION OF NEGLIGENCE.

Direct conflict of evidence respecting a bush accident which occurred nearly two years ago at Kaiaua, in the Clevedon district, is a feature of the case Charles de Thierry, a young Maori bush worker, v. James Thomas Whitford, sawmiller, in which the former claims £301 special and £1000 general damages before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury in the Supreme Court. Mr. V. R. Meredith is appearing for claimant, and Mr. North for defendant.

Claimant's case is that when he was going about his usual business of log-

hauling, attending to the rope, an "anglestrop" broke and struck him, causing the injuries for which he claimed, in view of the fact that they had resulted in a permanent shortening of one leg, and disability as a bush-worker. Claimant alleges that defendant's hauling gear was defective in the quality of the rope and blocks used.

Defendant's case is that the injury wae. the result of negligence on de Thierry's part in stepping across the main rope at a time when he should have been careful to keep clear, and that a sudden upward flick of the rope, not a breaking of the "strop," had caused the- accident. Defendant was not present at the scene of the accident, but gave evidence to-day that when called from a distance of half a mile he was told that the accident was caused as he had stated, which indicated negligence on de Thierry's part. Witness denied thai he had rigged the particular strop which de Thierry said had- broken. The third day of hearing is in progress.