DEATH OF A MINER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18131, 1 July 1922, Page 11

DEATH OF A MINER.

CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION.

INJURED WHILE AT WORK.

WIDOW AWARDED £750.

A claim by Susan May Sanders, of Kiripaka (Mr. O'Regan), against the New Zealand Insurance j Comnahy (Mr. Richmond), for compensation for the death of her husband, Jamc3 Sanders, .coalminer, was heard by the Arbitration Court on June 8, wheal decision was reserved. The Court's judgment was announced yesterday, the plaintiff being awarded £760, with medical and funeral expenses totalling £25 10s, costs £15 15s, and expenses to be settled by the clerk of awards. Deceased was by the Northern Coal Company, with another miner, in removing the timbering from an abandoned portion of the Kiripaka mine. While he was in the act of unscrewing a nut from a bolt in the trestling of a bridge he slipped and fell against some of the timbering, as a result of which he sustained a slight wound- on the left side of the head. He went on working, appearing to attach no importance to the blow, though he did remark once or twice that be thought he had hurt himself somewhat. He worked on for ten when the job was finished, and on the night of September 6 he complained to his wife of severe pains in the head. He continued unwell, and two days later Dr. Good, of Whangarei, was sent for, who ordered him into the Whangarei Hospital. Deceased was admitted to that institution, soon after became •unconscious, and died the next day. Medical witnesses having differed in their opinions as to the cause of death, tho Court, with the approval of counsel for both parties, referred the case to a medical expert of its own choosing, and it selected Dr. Marshall Macdonaid, of Dunedin, who expressed the opinion that death was doe to suppurative meningitis, the result of a blow on the side of th 6 head. With respect to the fact that deceased continued his work for ten days after tho accident, Dr. Macdonaid stated that cases had occurred where men had continued working for even a longer period after such an injury. The probable explanation of Sanders' death was that the blow caused a hemorrhage, and as a result meningitis supervened.