CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20175, 8 February 1929, Page 13

CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION.

ALLEGATION OF BRIBERY.

MAGISTRATE'S SEVERE COMMENT.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WHANGAREI, Thursday.

A case involving a considerable amount of complicated evidence was heard at the Magistrate's Court to-day before Mr. J. 11. Luxford, S.M., when Topi Baker claimed from Maurice Griffen compensation according to tho statutory award in respect to injuries received while working on Griffen's property at Pikiwahine. The plaintiff said that he was employed at Pikiwahine, near Waiotira, to cut props for Griffen. The accident occurred between 10 and 11 o'clock one morning while he was chopping a tree down. He chopped it through and it hit the ground and sprang up again. His right hand caught the weight of the body, and the axe, which ho held in his left hand, dropped and severed his first finger and thumb. 110 bound his injuries up with a piece of the lining of his coat, and after going home went to Whangarei Hospital, where ho was for four or five days. Griffin told him he was working a swindle. Ho absolutely denied that he had offered a man £25 if he could pull the case through.

The defendant said he was not satisfied with Baker's work, and told him be had no more wages for him, but offered him a job on contract. When he heard that Baker had lost his fingers he interviewed him. He went up with Baker to see the place. The tree which was supposed to have been tho cause of the trouble was squared on the end and no work had been done for some time. He tald Baker his mind in a very forcible manner.

John Williams Hall, medical practioner, said he had treated Baker at the Whangarei Public Hospital He considered that tho fingers had been severed by some sharp, heavy instrument such as an axe. It was not possible for the injury to have been done by wire, and he did not think that it had been self-in-flicted.

The magistrate said there appeared to be deliberate perjury on one side or the other, ono side even having gone as far as to try to bribe one of tho witnesses to help him through the case. It was a very serious matter, and he proposed to adjourn tho case to give mature consideration to all tho points.