Claim By Matron After Fall At Girls’ School

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30286, 12 November 1963, Page 14

Claim By Matron After Fall At Girls’ School

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 11. She suffered serious injuries when she fell from a fire escape while dealing with pupils who were breaking bounds at night, a former matron of a girls’ school alleged in the Supreme Court, Wellington, today. The plaintiff, Myrtle Olive McFarlane, aged 54, married, of Masterton, is claiming £20,000 general damages against the St. Matthew’s Collegiate School for Girls, Masterton. She is also claiming £lO3O special damages.

The hearing is before Mr Justice Hutchison. Mr F. D. O’Flynn, with him Mr R. J. Graham, is appearing for the plaintiff, and Mr N. A. Morrison, with him Mr W. A. Dent, is appearing for the St Matthew’s Collegiate School’s Trust Board.

In her statement of claim Mrs McFarlane alleges that in the course of her duties, she was injured in a 16ft fall from a fire escape opening from one of the first floor dormitories last October. She claims that at the time she was carrying out instructions to ensure the safety and comfort of pupils and to re-sto-e order and discipline. There had been a disturbance centred on the use by some of the pupils of the fire escape as a means of breakinc bounds at times when the college rules required them to be in bed. -Rail Too Low" She alleges negligence on the part of the trust board in having a fire escape platform not constructed tn such a way as to prevent a person using it from over-balanc-ing. with a rail too low to arrest the fall of a person slipping, and too small and C She alleges also that the platform had an unprotected cavity leading to a v ® rtl .® a ’ ladder instead of a sloping approach to the ladder. She alleges also failure to take precautions against the floor of the platform becoming slippery and failure to light the platform adequately She claims she suffered an extensive fracture of the skull, concussion, a fractured nose and permanent mental impairment. . She claims also total blindness of the right eye and almost total blindness of the le She' 6 suffered also, she claffns. loss of control of movements of both sides of the body, fractures of both wrists. permanent loss of the use of the right hand and almost total permanent loss of the left hand, fractures of the ribs and general bruising and lacerations.

Negligence Denied The defendant board denied negligence or any breach of duty. It claimed that if the platform was dangerous plaintiff should have known the danger, and that her injuries were caused or contributed to by her own negligence In failing to take reasonable precautions for her own safety. The board further claimed that the plaintiff at the time of the accident was not performing any of her duties as an employee, having regard to the terms of her employment and her instructions at the time. In his opening address. Mr O'Flynn said a former Chief Fire Service Officer would say in evidence that the fire escape was defective and dangerous in all the respects alleged and was contrary to modem approved practices and designs. It might not have been strictly in breach of the Masterton borough by-laws but it was in breach of the standard building code which Masterton did not adopt until 1959. Mr O’Flynn said the plaintiff’s claim was primarily one of negligence by an employer. An alternative claim was failure of a duty on the part of the defendant, as the occupier of premises, to warn people of unusual danger. No Recollection Because of retrograde amnesia, the plaintiff did not have any recollection of the accident or events that preceded it. Four of the girls who were in the dormitory at the time would be called so that it would be possible to piece together what happened on the fire escape, said Mr

O’Flynn. The events were set in train by one girl who put a dummy in the bed in her cubicle and went down the escape. There was nothing sinister in that girl’s action as she was worried about her mother's illness. Before she left the dormitory she spoke to another girl and asked her not to lock the inside door. The second girl thought the matter should be reported to a senior girl who in turn informed the plaintiff. Mrs McFarlane then reported it to the headmistress and a search was made of the grounds for the missing girl who was taken to the headmistress’s room. The headmistress told the plaintiff to return to the dormitory and quieten the girls. There she found several girls out of bed, clustered in groups and talking excitedly about the incident. She told them not to get upset and then went through the door on to the platform of the fire escape. Heard a Clang The girls heard a clang, the plaintiff called out and then disappeared, counsel said. James Kennedy Elliott, an orthopaedic surgeon, said he examined Mrs McFarlane on October 10. She said she was unable to use her left hand and complained she was unable to dress herself or do up hooks and buttons. Owen Fordham Pryor, a medical practitioner, of Masterton, said he had known the plaintiff for about five years in the course of her nursing duties in hospitals. On the night of the accident he called at the college to see a girl patient, and Mrs McFarlane was

present. She appeared to be her normal self. Witness said Mrs McFarlane weighed about 141 stone at the time of the accident. That did not interfere with her nursing duties so far as he knew. Breaking Bounds Patricia Rose Price, aged 16, a boarder at the school until she left about five weeks ago. admitted she was breaking bounds on the night of the accident. “I wanted to be alone so I climbed down the fire escape and went and sat near the swimming pool. Before I left the dormitory I told another girl not to lock me out. I left a dummy in the bed so my absence would not be noticed. “I later heard Mrs McFarlane call me in. the ground and I immediately reported to her,” said Price. Jane Susan Mannington. aged 17, said Price approached her in bed telling her she was going out and not to tell anyone. “When she left I told Mary McHardy. We considered it would be best if we reported the matter to Mrs McFarlane. We did. “After Patricia had been found Mrs McFarlane came to our domitory. She walked on to the platform. I heard a gasp and then a thud,” said Mannington. Mrs McFarlane gave evidence late this afternoon but did not finish. Plaintiff said she had been employed as matron of the school for about two years Before the accident she considered her general health “very good.” (Proceeding)