MINER'S COMPENSATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19415, 25 August 1926, Page 14

MINER'S COMPENSATION

MONEYS NOT ASSIGNABLE. CREDITORS REFUSED ORDER. INTERESTING WAIHI CASE. On the ground that money awarded under the Workers' Compensation Act are incapable of being assigned gt attached or of becoming assets in bankruptcy, Mr. Justice Stringer, in ati interesting judgment in the Supreme Court yesterday, granted an application by Mr. P. J. O* Regan for relief in respect of claims for the payment of certain sums out of compensation moneys held by him on account of Joseph Mannix, miner, Waihi. The application was mado to determine whether the sum of £3OO held by Mr. o'Regan was affected by assignments made by Mannix in favour of James Walters and Hawkeswood, Limited, agreeing to pay certain amounts " out of compensation moneys payable to me in respect of a recent accident in the Waihi mine." As Mannix, who had been adjudicated bankrupt on December 21, 1925, refused to agree to the orders being paid out of the £3OO held by Mr. O'Regan, proceedings were instituted under the Judicature Act to determine the right of the claimants to be so paid. Compensation was granted as the result of an accident in the Waihi mine. Mr. O'Regan, on behalf of Maunix, claimed that by virtue of the Workers' Compensation Act the moneys were not assignable. It was contended by Mr. E. H. Northcroft, for tho claimants, that the money was not payable under the Act but was really the settlement of an action, commenced under the Mining Act in the Warden's Court. An action had been begun in the Warden's Cout't and in addition another action was taken in the Arbitration Court. His Honor held that the money was in fact paid under the Workers' Compensation Act and was therefore not assignable under section 60 of the Act. He ruled against the contention of the claimants that the commencement of the action in the Warden's Court prevented Mannix from proceeding under the Workers' Compensation Act. Under those circumstances he held that the order made on Mr. O'Regan for the payment of the money was valueless. No costs were allowed.