A WIDOW'S CLAIM.

NZ Truth, Issue 123, 26 October 1907, Page 4

A WIDOW'S CLAIM.

Once more has this paper to direct the attention of the d iblic to the case of the widow woman Stenerson and her claim against the New Zealand Government for a compas- 1 sionate allowance for '.he death of ' her bread-winning husband „nd Vhe father of her children. Nearly eighteen month- ago who tle&easedV

wko was master of the scow Rangi, met his death, with three or four of his crew, by drowsing, whilst ea-g-aged sounding at the Karamea tar. Theuatimely ends of tkese men was unquestionably due to the ignorance of some beardless youth wkom Government sent down to superintend matters, aad who would have been more profitably employed at college finishing of! his education. -Anvkow, the fact remains that Stenerson's life was sacrificed, and his wife and orphans were thrown on the cold aad cruel mercy of the world, and the Government "took the mean and paltry advantage of some equally mean and petty legal technicality to deprive the struggling, * sick, and heart-broken widow and mother of what was her due under the Worker's Compensation Act. True, a sum vested m trustees, has been allowed the woman with whick a home on the West Coast might be built for her. A Parliament Committee have recommended a further allowance of £50. this might appear that Parliament is imbued with a sense of justice, but it has quite overlooked the rather important and unfortunate fact that the woman for oyer twelve months has had a terrible struggle to maintain herself and children, and a struggle m the circumstances m which she has been placed means hardships difficult to imagine. The poor woman has been almost at death's door. She stands a chance of being parted from her . little ones, the crudest and most unnatural calamity that could btfall any mother, and m such circumstances Parliament thinks £50 will hial the wounds of h^: heart. Why, greater value is placed on the lives of cattle, and the if the Government of New "Zealand are content to value the life of a bread-winning, sober, and industrious husband at a few paltry pounds, then indeed is the outlook a poor one for those engaged m hazardous occupations, particularly where the Government is the employer. Sir Joseph Ward should interest himself m this widow woman's claim, and he would surolv find that her claim for simple justice is based on very good erounds.