WIDOW LODGES APPEAL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1933, Page 7

WIDOW LODGES APPEAL

HUSBAND KILLED AT WAITAKI. COURT RESERVES DECISION. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The hearing of the appeal of Minnie Solomon against the Crown was continued to-day. Mrs. Solomon’s husband was killed while working at the Waitakj hydro-electric works, and she alleged the accident was due to the negligence of a fellow worker, Rawson. The jury awarded £l4OO damages, but the judge held that the party to which Solomon was attached were independent contractors, and there being no contract of service there was no cause for the action and the Crown wag not liable. It was from this decision that the widow appealed. Mr. W. D. Campbell, counsel for the Crown,; contended that the appellant must establish the relationship of master and servant which she alleged to exist from the agrement alone without recourse to other evidence. He submitted that an examination of the' agreement disclosed that Solomon and his associates were independent contractors, and not servants, of the Crown. Even the evidence of an outside contract did nothing to weaken the Crown's contention in that respect. The Chief Justice referred to the deduction of unemployment tax on a Public Works Department payment voucher and pointed out that that deduction was a duty only if the payment was wages. The court reserved its decision.