DAMAGES SOUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23507, 18 November 1939, Page 14

DAMAGES SOUGHT

ACCIDENT IN SHIP CLAIM BY WATERSIDER FURTHER EVIDENCE HEARD The hearing of a claim for £lsl special and £3500 general damages, brought bv Cathclus Macpherson (Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Winter) against the Union Steam Ship Company (Mr. Barrowelough), was continued by Mr. Justice Callan and a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday. Plaintiff was injured on the afternoon of February 7 whilo he was helping to unload bags of wheat from the hold of the Waipori at Queen's Wharf. Plaintiff claimed that while he was making up a sling he was struck by a sack of wheat that fell from another sling and received injuries to the back, chest, ribs and shoulder, from which ho was still totally incapacitated. Ho alleged that the accident was due to tho "negligence of the company's servants. Denial of Negligence The defenco denied negligence, and alleged that plaintiff had been guilty of contributory negligence in not'keeping clear and in failing to pack properly the sling from which the sack fell."

The plaintiff, aged 57, said the discharging of wheat in the manner ho described was very safe. He had no warning when ho was struck by the bag of wheat. He had since suffered continuous pain. Ho thought looso wheat between tho bags had helped the bag to slip. A man could not keep under shelter and do his work, too.

A Hatchman's Evidence The hatchmau, David Allan, said it was the seventh bag on top of tho sling that fell out. He would not have hoisted the sling if ho had had any idea it was dangerous. Ben Bray, waterside worker, said ho and another man made up the sling that caused the accident. The bag 011 top was a slack one. Beforo the bag was placed there lie, knew that it was the wrong thing to do. He was a bit tired at- the time, and had ho been feeling fresh he would naturally have taken more precautions. Macpherson had no chance of avoiding the bag. Alder Francis Walding. who worked with Bray in making up the sling, said it appeared to him to he perfectly safe or ho would not have lot ifc go. The hag that fell out could not have been caught by the sling, and the wheat must have shifted in it.

Tlie case for: plaintiff had not been completed when the hearing was adjourned until Monday morning.