WHARF MISHAP SEQUEL

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 119, 10 August 1927, Page 13

WHARF MISHAP SEQUEL

INJURED MEN’S CLAIM The claim by Frederick Hoy and Robert Lee Bennett (Mr. P. J. O’Regan) for £SOO each against John Ernest Anderson and William Edward Webster, carriers (Mr. L. P. Leary), was continued in the Supreme Court before Mr. Justice Stringer and a jury this morning. The action was the sequel to an accident in which the two plaintiffs were injured while assisting to load the Wingatui by a falling bale of goods, weighing 701 b. It was alleged for the plaintiffs that the bale was sent down a chute, and that it struck first one plaintiff, and bounced off him and hit the second plaintiff, inflicting in both instances serious head injuries. It was contended that the bale should have been lowered by means of a crane or a rope. Lengthy evidence was called for the plaintiffs yesterday, and to-day the case for the defence was continued. It contended that the accident was due to the failure of the Auckland Harbour Board to provide higher sides on the chute. It denied negligence on the part of Herbert Tate, who sent the goods down the chute, and held that the plaintiffs did not exercise enough care in passing beneath the chute. (Proceeding.)