ARBITRATION COURT

Otago Witness, Issue 4085, 28 June 1932, Page 7

ARBITRATION COURT

PUBLIC TRUSTEE v. WAITAKI COUNTY COUNCIL.

The Arbitration Court—Mr Justice Frazer (president L Mr A. L. Montenth, and Mr W. Cecil Prime —on Wednesday continued the hearing of the claim by the Public Trustee (as administrator of the estate of Alexander Robert Mather, of Maheno, surfaceman) against the chairman. councillors, and .inhabitants of the County of Waitaki, for £7BO compensation in respect to the death of the said Alexander Robert Mather. Both parties were represented bv counsel. Medical evidence was called in support of the plaintiff's case. Counsel agreed that witnesses need not be recalled to speak of the clearing out of. the drain running into tliq stream. There was no question of infection from that source. Dr W. Marshall Macdonald said that in the case of a man getting a wetting the incubation period might be short, or it might be a week. An authority stated: “ There is no way of determining the mode and time of infection in an individual case of pneumonia.” He had seen the case of a railway worker who was working inside a boiler in extreme heat; he came out and as he was not allowed by the railway regulations to wear his coat he shivered in the cold wind ; at 3 o'clock on the following morning he developed pneumonia, and he died in five days. The pneumonia was due to the lowered temperature and the consequent depression of vitality. A wetting of the body would cause loss of heat, and the lowering of the temperature in that way was an important factor in producing lessened immunity from disease. Exposure to wet was more likely to bring on pneumonia than mere exposure to cold. Alcohol caused lack of body heat, and a man who lay out while drunk was specially liable to pneumonia.

To counsel for the defence: The railway case was an exceptional case. If a man was wetted 10 days past and was then found to be suffering from pneumonia it would be a reasonable inference that the wetting had caused the pneumonia. If the wetting was going to cause pneumonia the effect took place at the time of the wettiug, but the germ might take from six to ten days to incubate. The process of infection began at the time of the wetting. In most cases the period between infection and the appearance of the disease was five days, but it might be shorter. From three to eight days was the normal limit.

Dr Frank Fitchett said that if a man developed-pneumonia within 10 days of a wetting he would be inclined to say that the onset of the disease was due to the wetting. Dr Charles Ernest Fergus gave evidence on similar lines. Medical evidence was then called on behalf of the defendant. Dr Carmalt Jones said that if a man was wetted and developed pneumonia five days later he would be inclined to connect the one happening with the other. A great deal would depend on the conditions intervening between the exposure and the commencement of the illness. It was a question of lowered vitality. It was not theoretically possible to fix an absolute maximum period for the appearance of the disease. If a man was exposed on Monday and developed illness 10 days later, being well in the meantime, he would not associate the one with the other.

Dr E. F. D'Ath said the general period for the appearance of pneumonia ranged from one day to eight days. The state of a man’s health in the time between an event and the onset of the pneumonia was an important factor. A period of incubation up to 10 days or 12 days was highly improbable. It was a matter of lowered vitality. In this case unless the man had a severe wetting two or three days before an onset witness would be disinclined to associate the pneumonia with his work. Counsel addressed the court.

His Honor, in giving judgment, said the court was of the opinion that Mather’s death was due to pneumonia which he contracted as a result of getting wet on June 9, 1932, while in the employ of the defendant, and judgment would be given for the plaintiff for £7BO and costs.