LEVEL CROSSING LIABILITY

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12804, 30 May 1914, Page 2

LEVEL CROSSING LIABILITY

* £ISOO COMPENSATION AWARDED. Press Association. —By Telegraph. CHRISTCHURCH, May 27. « An action was heard in the Supreme Court, in which Frances E. Binks, widow, of Ashley, proceeded against the King for the sum of £2OOO, as compensation for the death of her husband, William Alexander Binks, who was killed at Rangiora in a railway accident on September 12, 1913. It was stated that the deceased was a carrier, 31 years of age. O nthe day of the accident he was driving his team of live horses along High Street, Rangiora. Some high buildings and a high fence obscured his view of the railway line, and he failed to notice the approach of a train at a crossing. Since 1884, it was stated, it had been the custom of the Department to have, a crossing keeper wave a flag when a train approached, but on the jlay in question this was not done. The result was that when the horses were on the crossing,, the train came in at a rapid pace, striking the lorry and carrying it into the cattle stops, Binks being killed. The semaphore signal, which was usually used, was not on this occasion lowered, it was claimed. Counsel for the plaintiff alleged that the death of Binks was due to the negligence of the Railway Department. The widow, he said, had three children, and had been deprived of her means of support. The jury awarded £ISOO damages, one-third of which was to go to the widow, and two-thirds to the children.