STRUCK BY STONE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23491, 31 October 1939, Page 5

STRUCK BY STONE

•BLASTING ACCIDENT, j - INJURIES TO A WORKER CLAIM FOR OVER £2OOO ■ • • . An accident to "a stone worker at Ellerslie 011 April 24 last;was the;snb- ]• ject of a claim for damages heard by Mr. Justice Fair and a jury in ..tho Supreme Court yesterday. The injured, man was Ivan Jurieh (Mr. Sullivan and Air. Winter), who "brought'a claim for £IOS special and £1950 general damages against James Young v - contractor (Mr. Terry). . Jurieh was working on April -24- for the State . Advances Department build--ing a stone wall on the Cleave, estate. off the Great South Roackat Ellerslie, and Young had a gang of men engaged on the other side of tho road on work that included some blasting. About noon, Jurieh was struck by a piece' stone from a blast, and claimed that

he had suffered grave internal injuries. He claimed'tliat 'the accident Was due to tho negligence of defendant and his workmen.

Contentions by Defence Defendant asserted that every due . warning was given. This' . stone was thrown out, as it was on account of a fault in the, strata, which could not reasonably. have been discovered. Fur- t ther, the defence contended, plaintiff :, had voluntarily accepted what ;j risk there was, and had ' been guilty of contributory "negligence. „ * Mr. Sullivan said that Young's Rang, was doing drainage work abo'ut 40yd9. or 50yds. from where plaintiff's, gang was working. Small blasting operations that morning were harmless, but a big blast camo just before noon, and Jurieh was struck by a stone weighing over 81b. and badly injured. Mr. Sullivan claimed that defendant had not taken proper precautions to warn plaintiff and the men with him. Plaintiff had been earning £6 a week, and since the accident the State Ad-. vances Corporation had paid him £4; weekly as compensation. Plaintiff in Witness Box Plaintiff in evidence said he was struck in the ribs by this rock without any warning at all. .He was a very sick man now, but before the accident he could work, like a lion. - An officer of the City Council said that defendant had no blasting permit. : A quarrv foreman of 32 years' esperi-,-> ; ence, Lachlan George Dunn, expressed, the opinion that if this shot had. been properly covered, no one would have been injured. Aj • Several men who had been working, with plaintiff said they had heard no warning just before this explosion,which was much louder than earlier in the morning. . / • The case was adjourned until to-day.