DREDGING COMPANIES MUTUAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE.—A SUGGESTION.

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 27

DREDGING COMPANIES MUTUAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE.— A SUGGESTION.

TO THE EDITOX.

Sir,— The unsatisfactory nature of dredging companies' relations with the accident insurance companies, and the eagerness with which the latter catch at straws to evade paying compensation in the case of fatal accidents on dredges evidently call for a drastic remedy. The late fatal accident to one of our firemen is a case in point. We have been duly notifed by tthe manager of the New Zealand Accident Insurance Company that, in the opinion of its legal advisers, Mrs Hoskings is not entitled to compensation. Well, Sir, lawyers, as well as doctors, differ in their opinions, so the case will have to go to the Arbitration Court. Considering the heavy premium of £3 per cent, on its year's wage-sheet paid by every dredging company (our 12 months' wages tot up to ;£1877), the amount secured in premiums from the dredging companies of Otago and Southland is enormous, and yet the insurance companies seldom pay compensation to the widow and orphans without being compelled to by process of law.

I beg to suggest that a conference of the managing directors of the various dredging companies in Otago and Southland be held with a view to initiating a scheme to insure their einploye-es themselves on the same principal a3 that on which the Union Steam Ship Company insures its crews against death and accident. As there is a large fleet of dredges, and the number of men employed on each averages nine, I consider that the premiums now being paid to the insurance companies should be paid into a- trust fund. That this should be managed by competent and trustworthy gentlemen is a sine qua non. Whenever an accident, fatal or otherwise, occurs, aud apparently these are inseparable from the dredging industry, I propose that the warden of the district the accident occurred in, and two dredgemasters, one from Otago and the other from Southland, should adjudicate on the case, and fix the amount of compensation to be paid. This would secure provision for the dependents of the injured or deceased person at a minimum of cost and delay in granting compensation, compared to the system at present in vogue. A small percentage off each employee's weekly wage might be deducted if found advisable, but this and other details could be settled at the proposed conference.

Trusting that my suggestion, although in .i crude- state, will meet with the earnest consideration of all persons interesting in the dredging industry.— l am, etc., Lewis Hakbis, Secretary Rising Sun G. D. Co. (Limited). Cromwell, August 18.