VICTIM OF NEURASTHENIA.
o CURIOUS COMPENSATION CASE. CHRISTCHURCH, August 26. While working on the Waitemata at Lyttelton on July 29 of last year, Ellis Barraclough, a waterside worker, was struck by a lump of coal which fell from a basket, receiving a fractured rib and injuries to his back. He has been unable tn work since. The Union Steam Ship Company paid him compensation up to March 6 last, but then refused to pay more.
In the Arbitration Court to-day Barraclough claimed further compensation under the Workers’ Compensation for Accidents Act. He stated that his avr-'ge weekly earnings had been £5 4s 6d. The company opposed the claim, it being contended that Barraclough's only complaint was acute neurasthenia, which would not disappear completelv or tend to improve until final compensation was settled by the court.
Addressing the plaintiff on the conclusion of the medical evidence and after a brief retirement of the court, Mr Justice Frazer said : “Y’ou must have been convinced by the medical opinion expressed this morning, and now I want you to understand that there is nothing wrong with you physically. I do not mean to sav that vou are ‘swinging the lead,’ but when you were injured the nerves of the body conveyed messages of pain to the brain, and although you are well physically your brain still records messages of pain. This is due to your nervous condition known as neurasthenia, which really is a sickness of the mind. The medical men who have given evidence this morning are all reliable, and their opinions are valuable, so I want you to get the idea cut of your head that you are in nain. Yours is not an exceptional case. We are going further than usual, not because of your physical injuries, but because of the state of your mind. You will receive compensation for four and a-half months instead of the nsual period of three months.
Compensation was awarded on a basis of £3 3s lOd a week, which amounts approximately to £122, together with costs and witnesses’ expenses.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 23
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344VICTIM OF NEURASTHENIA. Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 23
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