DEATH OF FARM LABOURER.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18817, 4 March 1931, Page 8

DEATH OF FARM LABOURER.

VERDICT OF HEART FAILURE. An inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Daniel George Isaac Sargent, who died suddenly at Maungati on Sunday, was held before ]yir p B. Foote, J.P,, and a Coroner s jury at the Timaru Courthouse yesterday. The jury comprised: Messrs M Little (foreman), H. J. Washer, A. Z. Hill and A. Lindsay. Senior-Sergeant I. Mathieson conducted proceedings for the police. Francis Arthur Sargent, farmer, of Maungati, gave evidence of identification He said that deceased was about 57 years of age, and was a farm labourer employed by witness. Witness and deceased were working in a paddock on the afternoon of March 1. They were occupied in loading oat sheaves on to a dray and witness was forking. Suddenly he missed his brother, and on looking into the dray, saw him lying on his right side. He apparently was dead. Witness communicated with the police and the body was conveyed to the morgue at the Timaru Hospital. Deceased had been with witness for 12 months, and prior to that had been working in various places throughout the country. Deceased had usually enjoyed the best of health, and had not to receive medical attention. He was a single man. Dr G. H. Ussher stated that he carried out a post-mortem examination, and found the body to be that of a muscular, well-nourished man. There were no marks of violence on the body. There was a very large goitre on the left side of the neck. Internally there was no sign of haemorrhage, and the organs generally were fairly healthy, although they showed some degenerative changes. The lungs were quite healthy, but the heart was somewhat enlarged and showed evidence of a thickening of the arteries of the heart. In his opinion, deceased died from heart failure. A verdict was returned in accordance with the medical evidence.