£l000 CLAIMED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23130, 31 August 1938, Page 18

£looo CLAIMED

DEATH OF OFFICER DROWNING NEAR TIMARU EARNINGS ON BOARD SHIP PROBLEM OF ASSESSMENT The value as board and lodging of the accommodation and meals provided on a ship for an officer was argued in the Arbitration Court yesterday during the hearing of a claim by a widow for £IOOO compensation for the death of her husband. The assessment of the value of employment was the only point in dispute. Plaintiff was Gladys Margaret Watts, of Ponsonby (Mr. Allan Moody and Mr. Henry), and defendant, Alexander Frederick Watehliu, master mariner, of Auckland, trading as the Watchlin Line (Mr. Elliot). Mr. Justice O'Regan presided, and with him were Messrs. AY. Cecil Prime and A. L. Monteith.

Mr. Moody, in opening, said plaintiff was tho widow of Roy Douglas Watts, second officer on the Port A\aikato, who was drowned near Jack's Point, four miles uouth of Timaru, on August 3 ; 1937, when he fell overboard while assisting in tho dumping of dunnage. The weekly earnings of deceased calculated in accordance with the provisions of tho Workers' Compensation Act, 1922, were £6 7s 4d a week. Allowance tor Accommodation Plaintiff, in evidence, said hor husband at the time of his death was 32 years of age. He had been with the Port Waikato for four years and held a first- mate's ticket. Plaintiff and her child, aged two, had been totally dependent on her husband and sinco his death she had gone to work. Captain William John Keane, secretary of the Auckland section of the Merchant Service Guild and formerly Government surveyor of ships at Auckland and Wellington, said £1 a week was the accepted allowance for keep on a ship of the Port Waikato's class. As on other vessels, much food was wasted owing to the system followed. It was not the fault of the men. The defence denied that deceased's weekly earnings had been £6 7s 4d a week, and contended that they were in excess of £8 a week.

William Gerald Carstens, senior clerk of the Northern Steamship Company, Limited, agents for the AVatchlin Line, said the total cash payments to deceased from August 3, 1936, to August 3, 1937, were £315 15s 4d. The food and accommodation on the Port Waikato were very good. The cost of providoring the vessel per man per year, including cooking, was £lO9. the award an officer on shore was allowed 5s 6d a day for accommodation. Nuts and Cream Supplied

John Woodward Lowe, in charge of the providoring department of the Northern Steamship Company, Limited, also gave evidence of the quality of the food supplied to the Port Waikato. On some occasions, he said, the provisions included nuts and cream. Mi'. Henry submitted that the providoring figures given by the defence wore excessive and that the high standard of food iu the Watclilin Lino could not be taken as general. The question of board, counsel contended, should bo approached by the Court as the value to the deceased. Mr. Elliot submitted that the value of board should be based on the cost to the employer. He denied that the providoring figures were excessive. His Honor: This case might have very serious complications. 1 have acted in cases where £1 a week has been the accepted scale. It will put a lot of seamen workers' compensation cases out of Court. Mr. Elliot: I submit that the Court must apply the law. His Honor: That is so. We can't usurp the functions of Parliament. The Court reserved its decision.