FIREMAN’S MOTHER PAID COMPENSATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 416, 26 July 1928, Page 18

FIREMAN’S MOTHER PAID COMPENSATION

OIL-FIRE TRAGEDY COURT ALLOWS £6BO The great oil Are at Freeman’s Bay on April 1 last, which caused the death of engine-driver Rholda George Beuth, a young fireman, was recalled in the Arbitration Court yesterday, when his mother, Louisa Ellen Beuth, a widow, sought compensation from the Auckland Fire Board. The plaintiff claimed compensation in terms of the Workers’ Compensation Act, which in this case, if she were held to be totally dependent, would reach a total of £956. There was also a claim of £l9 10s for funeral expenses.

Mrs. Beuth said she had one daughter, a nurse in the Wellington Hospital, who was unable to contribute to her mother’s support. The deceased was her only son. He had regularly paid her £ 2 a week and other amounts as she required them. She was a qualified nurse, but was now unable to carry on with her profession. She had certain heavilymortgaged properties which returned nothing. Mr. Addison, for plaintiff, said the only question to be decided was the degree of dependency. Mr. Richmond, for the Fire Board, said that one could not b© other than keenly sympathetic in such a case, but it was not for the Fire Board or any insurance company to make any gratuitous payment. Such payment would be a breach of trust. Mr. Justice Frazer said the Court could not say it was a case of total dependency, although in their opinion it came very close to it. They were satisfied the deceased contributed very largely to his mother’s support, and Tiad decided that this was a case where they might allow the maximum five-year claim. On the basis of £l3O a year this would give £ 650. Judgment would be for this amount and for £l9 10s funeral expenses and £l2 12s costs.