COMPENSATION CLAIM

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11933, 13 September 1924, Page 16

COMPENSATION CLAIM

DEATH OF A FIREMAN. DEFINITION OF A WORKER. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, September 12. Arising out of air accident at Devonport on April sth, when Jule Emile Le Soelle, a member of the Devonport Fire-Brigade, was killed through being thrown from a motor engine, the widow, Alice Maud Tie Soelle, at the Arbitration Court, claimed from the Devonport Borough Council compensation and further and other relief and costs. . The statement of claim set out that the deceased was a general labourer and deputy-superintendent of the Devonport Fire Brigade at £5 per quarter and additional sums for each fire he attended. In outlining the plaintiff’s case, Mr Ostler said the question was whether a member of a .fire, brigade was a worker under the Workers' Compensation Act. In no sense could the brigade.be termed a volunteer brigade, as provision 'was made’for the-payment of salary to the officers, besides extra money for fires, and the officers were subject to a month's notice of dismissal. Deceased could only he an independent contractor, volunteer, or worker, And as,, he could not be called either an independent contractor qr a volunteer, he must be a worker.. His average weekly earnings, apart from the brigade, wae £4 8s but in addition hu had the right to sleep at the fire station, and this he did for nearly twelve years. The plaintiff and her husband had been separated by mutpal consent, and there was no court proceedings or deed of separation. From the aate of parting the f©ceased rad regularly "paid the plaintiff -*£l P er week maintenance, al«o dev ceased had continually paid sums to ,the children, and it would average not less than £1 10s per week. For the . defence, Mr Prendergast submitted that the deceased, as a member of the brigade, was not A worker as defined under the Workers' Compensation Act. Ue quoted section 259 of the Municipal Corporations Act, which provides that payments to members of fire brigades, out of municipal funds, be made by way of ffratuitv, or as the council thinks fit. Counsel submitted that a gratuity meant not wages but something in the nature of a gift or present. Members of the brigade were, he contended, in the position of volunteers, and the by-laws, although providing for the payment..of calary, did not constitute them workers. There was also <£2oo for which the council some years ago injured.members of,the brigade which would v be paid. On the question bf dependency, counsel submitted that deceased had not paid weekly maintenance to His wife* ‘ btifc towards the maintenance of the younger children since the parties separated. Mr Ostler submitted that one of the primary meanings of gratuity was payment for services rendered, but a payment which nobody was obliged to make. The court reserved its decision.