WOUNDED WORKER.

NZ Truth, Issue 90, 9 March 1907, Page 4

WOUNDED WORKER.

BIBLE-BASHER BUSHMAN

BARRON

Repudiates Rightful Responsi-

bility.

There is a wowser and street-prea- ' cher m Gisborne who is continually telling people to have faith m the Loard and He will provide ; but who auite omits to remember that Jesus, of whom he blethers and bleats and blasohemes, said "sell all you have and "give to the poor," This sin-shift-ing Pharisee is named Barron and when he is not hollering to others to get washed m the blood and making himself a public nuisance and street pest, he is running a bushfailing business, on which he employs quite a number of hands. Indeed, he is said to be quite a "warm" man and it really is a matter for astonishment how many of these public Pharisaical pietists do successfully keep ONE EYE ON THE GOLDEN STAIR and the other, with infinitely more successful results, on the main chance. Among Biible-toanger Barron 1 s employees m the Whatatutu bush was a young fellow named Charles Hyde, and m struggling through the undergrowth one day m wintry and wet June last, the unfortunate fellow tripped and fell on his slasher wftich nearly severed the left wrist and fljarribly gashed the hand, so, ths^, m spite of surgical aid, that hancu i« now absolutely useless, m fact only an eyesore and encumbrance, he'd be better with a hook on the wrist. Naturally, under the law, which demands that all such workmen shall be .insured by their employer, young Hyflc made a claim m due course and demanded £400. He says that the law allows him £300 for total incapacitatiom and he asked for £100 for surgical and living expenses while laid up under treatment for THIS GHASTLY INJURY. Then the preacher and pal of Jesus of Nazareth, that Iriend, companion and counsellor of the poor, came out m his true colors and showed what a philanthropic follower . of the meek and lowly Nazarene HE is. He, after much dunning, offered the munificent sum of £50 as full combensation for lifelong disablement. This, under legal advice, the foxing man refused to accept. But he failed to get a Gisborne lawyet ,to take !his case up on' spec,' and had naturally enough, after such an experience, no funds tp pay fees out of pocket and an advocate's own 'charges., He came to Wellington and wrote Minister for Labor Millar asking for assistance m prosecuting his claim against Barron, but that friend of the < worker refused to have anything to. do with it. Maybe, it was, beyond his pow^ ers ; but he replied that Hyde should have insured himself before he went into the bush. ' Yet under the Act the employer is liable for the insurance of every man m the bush. '■■"

The case is one for both pity and indignation and it will be a burning shame if Wowser, Barron is allowed to thus evade his proper legal responsibilities.