AWARD FLOUTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 671, 24 May 1929, Page 18

AWARD FLOUTED

SHIPPING COMPANY LOSES ACTION REFUSED MEDICAL BENEFITS “This seaman was entitled under the award to the medical benefits provided by the Act, and the defendant in refusing to grant him these benefits has committed a breach of the award.” {So Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., found for plaintiffs in an action brought by the Federated Cooks’ and Stewards’ Industrial Association (Mr. Schramm) against the Northern Steamship C 0.., Ltd. (Mr. Cocker). The defendant company was sued by the plaintiff in the Magistrate’s Court for a penalty of £lO for an alleged breach of clause 2 6 of the Cooks’ and Stewards’ (Northern Steamship Co., Ltd.) Award. A steward employed on the defendant steamer Taniwha, while the vessel was at Auckland, became ill and had lo be left on shore to undergo an operation for appendicitis. The breach alleged was that the company had failed to grant the steward medical benefits under clause 26 of the award. Defendant denied liability to grant the steward medical benefits. Defendant had brought a considerable quantity of medical evidence to the effect that the stewards’ illness dated from attacks he had suffered two years before and claimed that, consequently, it was not contracted in th© service of the ship. “I do not think the point is important in this class of case,” said Mr. Cutten. “The object of the Act is to make reasonable provision for a seaman who is left on shore owing to illness. The important points here are that the seaman has become ill in the service of the ship; he is incapacitated from the performance of his duties and has had to be left on shore.” Judgment was for £2 and costs.