ARBITRATION COURT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1166, 29 June 1911, Page 3

ARBITRATION COURT.

COMPENSATION CASE. A COUNCIL AND ITS CLERK. The Court of Arbitration continued ils sittings yesterday. Mr. Justice Sim presided, ami with him uoro Mr. W. .Scott (employers' representative) and Mr. J. A. M'Cullough (workers' representative). Prior to the hearing of the carpenters' and joiners' dispute, whicli took up mnsl. of tiio day and is reported elsewhere, a case under the Workers' Compensation Act was heard. The executors of the will of (lie laic Alexander M'llntchoii, who was killed in a buggy accident near Tenni last November, .claimed ,£SOO compensation and .£'2o medical and funeral expenses from his employers, t'no Castlepoint County Council, to bo paid to his widow and adopted daughter. Sir. T. Jordan appeared for plaintiffs, and Mr. E. B. Brown for defendant. The dcccased was county clerk, rate collector, treasurer, and road overseer t:i the county. On November 23, li) 10, while driving from his home at Whakataki to ■Tenni, whore the county office was situated, in order to meet his foreman there and make an inspection of the Langdalo roads with liim, deceased met with a fatal accident. Something went wrong wit a the harness, and deceased was thrown out and killed. John T. Philliys, vicar of Tenni, said ho left Whakaltini with deceased in tho latter's buggy on the day of tho fatality. Deceased was on his way to his duties at I'enui. When they lvero going down a hill, about half-way to Tenni, something in the harness gave way and tho horses bolted. Deccafeil was jerked ont or dragged out by the reins, and witness was thrown out further on. Before that they passed a roadman, and deceased spoke to him. Deceased had been working at his books until 3 o'clock that morning. Thero wore some of the county books and a plan in tho buggy. Frederick William Groves, farmer, Tenni, and ono of the executors, said deceased's salary was at first and later .£IBO. lie used to do a good deal of work at home on tho books at night. His Honour: It sounds rather like sweating, Mr. Groves, to keep a man working all night. Witness: Well, ho used to do it. Ho had a lot to do, and I have known hiin do that repeatedly. Deceased was 69 years of age. He had to superviso nearly 70 miles of roads, inspect bridges, and writo reports for the council. To Mr. Brown: Deceased's estate was sworn at £2000 ocla.

'Further examined: Tho funeral expenses were .El 1 "}.

Michael Collins, road overseer to the council, said he had been'foreman under deceased, and took all orders from him.

Hubert Henry S. Ryder, farmer, tho present chairman of the County Council, also gavo evidence.

Mr. Brown contended that tho case was not one for compensation, as the accident did not occur in tho course of employment. Tho deceased was not at work when tha accident occurred, but was merely going to his work. He lived at Whakataki by his own choice, and selected his own means of going to and fro between that place and Tenui. He had taken the books home for his own convenience, though there was a proper place for them at the county office. It would be absurd to say that whenever a. road overseer went out of doors, he was inspecting roads. Tho accident was not due to tho employment; anybody else who drove a buggy along the road was in tho same position. Tho accident must have been due to defective harness, and tha harness did not l>eldug to the county. Mr.Jordan emphasised tho point' that tlio road was under the control of the employers of 'deceased, and submitted that this facl put the case into a different category from other cases of a man going to work. Deceased's duties began as soon ns ho got on the road. If anything were wrong with a road over which lie was travelling, and he did not notice it, it would be no excuse to say that he was on his way to inspect some roads in another part of the county. Further, the deceased had been sent by his employer on some bnsiniss of the employer, and was on his way to attend to it at'tlie time of the accident, and therefore, according to a dictum of Lord Justice Farwell, tho employer was liable. . The accident sprang directly from his employment. What he was doing was necessary to his employment and usual in it. • The Court reserved its decision. Too Late. On behalf of tho Stationary Engine Drivers' 'Union, Mr. Foster asked whether the Court could at these sittings deal with the recommendations of the Conciliation Council in the engine drivers' dispute, and convert them into an award. Mr. W. Pryor said tho matter was not settled, as some exemptions were to be applied for. His Honour said that -under those circumstances, , the matter could not l;e taken thes-e sittings. The union should have taken the proper steps in time. The Court will sit again at 10 a.m. today.