WORKERS’ CLAIMS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 12 June 1926, Page 8

WORKERS’ CLAIMS.

JURIES DISAGREE WITH JUDGE. Per Press Association. HAMILTON, June 11. In the Supreme Court a claim for £IO4B damages for injuries allegedly received whilst employed at the 'l'e lvawa quarries, near 'l'e Awannitu, was heard before Dir Justice Herdman and a jury. Plaintiff was James Floyd, labourer, of Te Kuiti, and tho defendants Thomas G. Martin, farmer, and William Dunedin Ross McGurdie, engineer, formerly carrying on business in partnership at Te Kawa under the name of the Te Kawa Quarry Company. \ In summing up, His Honour described the claim as a ridiculous one. He thought that some of the jury might even regard it as preposterous. Plaintiff, to His Honour’s mind, suffered only from a bruise, and after sleeping on a claim for six months now came forward and brought, an action for this largo amount of money. After a retirement of 3} hours the jury returned a verdict in favour of plaintiff, awarding him £3OO. William Alexander Annan was awarded £BSO damages in a claim for £IO3O for the loss of three fingers, on the right hand, which were severed by a saw while cutting slabs in the Ongarue Sawmill Company's mill. The judge summed up in favour of the company.