FARM HAND’S DEATH

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 136, 5 March 1938, Page 13

FARM HAND’S DEATH

Compensation Claim By Father Fails ARBITRATION COURT JUDGMENT Reserved judgment for defendant was given in the Court of Arbitration yesterday by Mr. Justice O'Regan in a compensation case recently heard in Gisborne. The case was one in which George Howard Moore, Gisborne, labourer, sued Roderick Francis Leigh, Tokomaru Bay, farmer, for £2OB compensatiou, and £26/14/6 funeral expenses, in connection with the death by accident of his son, George Frederick Moore, while in the employment of defendant, on March 29, 1936. 'Che judgment stated that deceased had been working for defendant for 12 weeks when the accident occurred. Ou the fatal morning his employer woke the boy as usual between 4 and 5 o’clock, and lie left on horseback for the cowshed., where he assisted at the milking. HT> did not return to breakfast, but as it was the custom to have morning tea at the cowshed during the milking, he hud already mentioned to his employer that he proposed going to inspect a horse with a view to purchasing it from its Maori owner, there was no uneasiness at the homestead. When he failed to put in an appearance at the cowshed for the evening milking however, his fellow employee, le Kani Poata, became uneasy, and left on a cycle for Mr. Leigh’s homestead to inquire On the way he met Mr. Leigh, who had also become apprehensive when the boy did not arrive for the evening meal. . „ ~. Early next morning Constable O'Callaghan, Tokomaru Bay, arrived and proceeded to search. In the meantime, the horse on which deceased had left the cowshed was found in a paddock on the same side of the rider as the shed, saddled, but without a bridle. On further investigation the boy’s boots were found in the riverbed a few yards from the stream, and the tracks of a horse were found proceeding from that point up the riverbed. Between the course taken bv the horse and the edge of the stream were found bare human footprints, and it would seem as though the boy had been endeavouring to head the horse. The tracks went round a bend of the stream, then terminated at a deep hole. The body was found after some hours dragging in the deepest water. As the body was fully clothed, it was evident that he did not enter the water for the purpose of swimming. , The court was asked to hold that deceased was drowned by accident arising out of and in the course of employmen.. “That deceased deviated from his usual route is clear,” stated Mr. Justice O'Regan. “Why he did so it is impossible to say, and in the absence of evidence, we must hold that he ceased to be in the course of his employmen. when he did so. There are no known facts which enable us to infer the reason why he went several hundred yards further up the stream. It follows that the accident neither arose out of the.employment nor occurred in the course theieof.”