COMPENSATION CLAIMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15944, 15 June 1915, Page 5

COMPENSATION CLAIMS.

WHITE ISLAND DISASTER.

UNIQUE LEGAL POINTS.

JUDGMENT RESERVED.

j The compensation claims arising out of the disaster which took place at White Island in September last came- before the Arbitration Court yesterday. Mr. Justice Stringer presided, and with him were associated Messrs. J. A. McCullough and E. F. Duthie, employees' and employers' assessors respectively. The particular case before the Court was that of Florence Maud Williams, of Ponsonby, who claimed compensation in respect bf the death of her husband, who was employed on White Island by the New Zealand Sulphur Co., Ltd., the defendants in the case. The legal argument which took place in regard to this case is applicable to the cases generally. Mr. A. E. Skelton appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. H. P. Richmond for the defendant company. Mr. Skelton submitted a statement regarding the circumstances of the disaster, which, he said, the parties had agreed •should be placed before the Court. The main points to be considered, he said, were : (1) Was death due to an accidertt within the meaning of the Act? (2) did it arise out of deceased's employment? and (3) did it occur in the course of employment ? Mr. Richmond, in contending that the three questions should be answered in the negative, said that, in the case of the White Island disaster, there were certain features of quite a unique character, which had not hitherto, so far as was known, been dealt with under compensation law. The whole of the small community on the island, consisting of 11 persons, had been annihilated, and there was an extraordinary difficulty in determining the nature of the disturbance. There was nothing, however, to show that the men working on the island were taking any risk other than that which was run daily by all the residents of a large portion of the North Island, where everybody was exposed to the risk of thermal action. The President : Would you not "say that a gardener employed in the sanatorium grounds at Rotorua, where there is "always thermal activity in evidence, 13 exposed to a special risk? He is always exposed to danger. Mr. Richmond : And so is a bank manager or other professional man at 'Rotorua.

The President: Yes; but in one case the man is only a few yards away from something which may be sufficient to cause his death. If, for instance, a surveyor ■was working on the slopes of Vesuvius, would he not be incurring a special risk? Mr. Richmond : If he were actually working about the top of the crater ho would be; but in the White Island case there is nothing to show the distance that the men were from the scene of the thermal activity. The usual scene of such activity was a considerable distance from the sulphur workings. Even if it were proved that the disturbance took place at a particular time, there was no proof that the men were then at work. In further elaboration of his argument, Mr. Richmond said that the case was analagous to that of an extensive flood or forest fire which destroyed a sawmilling settlement. Mr. Skelton said that the sulphur workings were known to be on the summit of an old volcano and that it was known to be the scene of constant thermal action. Seventy or fiO yearsthe time that New Zealand has been colonised— a mere fraction of time, and what took place at White Island last September was something which was bound to happen sooner or later. The men were compelled to live on the island and were actually engaged in moving the substance produced by thermal action. It Was a dangerous occupation, and the men were standing when working on a thin portion of the earth's crust. .

The President: Supposing there were an eruption of one of the boiling pools in the Rotorua grounds, how would you distinguish between a man who was working in the grounds and one of the ordinary inhabitants? Mr. Skelton : A man working on the grounds is required to work in close proximity to the danger. He would admit that it seemed reasonable to assume that the disturbance at White' Island occurred at night, and not during working hours. _ v Mr. Richmond argued that' if the defendants were held to be liable for the payment of compensation in the. White Island case, every employer of labour of any kind at Rotorua would be similarly liable in the case of an eruption there. The President: Does this island belong to the defendant company? ■ ■' ■•' ', ■• Mr. Richmond: It is leased by the company. ; ''.' '"' The President: Then the accident happened on the company's premises. W. H. Willoughby, attorney for the New Zealand Sulphur Company, who gave evidence as to the method of employing men on the island, said that immediately after the accident the company received" a large number of applications from men for employment. •.. -"' The President said that, as the points involved were purely legal, the assessors i had agreed to leave them to his decision. He intimated that, as the points were of such importance, it would be advisable to have the opinion of the Full Court, -~ Mr. Richmond said that in the event of the company being successful it did not propose to ask for any costs. >■;.?' ■''■ Mr. Skelton having referred to the fact that the plaintiffs were not persons of ; means, the president suggested that the | company might- make provision, for reasonable costs for the plaintiffs in attending the' Court of Appeal. It was desirable that the points involved should be settled for all time. V Mr. Richmond said that if Mr, Skelton would let liira know what was regarded as a reasonable amount, the matter would be considered.

Judgment was reserved.