ARBITRATION COURT.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17120, 15 April 1921, Page 4

ARBITRATION COURT.

YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS.' The Court of Arbitration—Mr Justica Frazer, president, Messre Wm.!: Scott, employers' representative, and J. A. McCullough, employees' representative—resumed yesterday morning. ■ A PLUMBER'S DEATH. Catherine Annie Soman and Doris Soman (Mr W. J. .Hui'lcr) Eought compensation from George Stening, plumber (Mr R. Twyneham) in respect of the death of Leonard Richard Soman, eon of the firflt ■ and brother of the second plaintiff. Deceased was erup'oyod as a plumber, aim on August Ist, 19-20, whilst carrying a, 401b pipe up a ludder fell and sprained his hack; auut'e .miliary tuberculosis (galloping consumption) set in, and lis died on September l-2th, 1920. In the previous year no suffered from nleurisy, and counsel submitted that in all probability tuberculosis was left. Tho plaintill's. case, was that death was appreciably hastened by tho spraining of h. 13 ! tack. Deceased was a .halt-caste Hindoo, and a.t the time of his death was 25 years joi age; plaintiffs were entirely dependent upon clsceii£«tL who, at the timo of his death, 1 was earning £i 19s per week. _ I Catherine- Annie Soman gave evidence in I support, and stated that her' son, on reacai ing home on the day of the accident de- ! scribed the accident to her, and EBid ha ! had told Mr Stening that tho job wa» one ; for two men,- and that Mr Stening had said he was too busy to send another man. To Mr Tv/yncham: Witness did not know .that deceased, went back to work for five days after the accident. ; . Doris Soman gave similar testimony. Dr: R. W. Anderson gave particulars of deceased's illness from pleurisy; and. de- , scri&ed. 'the,condition of deceased, after the ncciderit 'till to—the - hospital. ' The - day 'before he Was sent to the- hospital the symptoms were so severo as to point to spinal meningitis. The immediate cause of death was miliary tuberculosis, wliich witneso stated had been lit up as the result of the sprain sustained in the accident; where there was tubercular tendency a very little injury lit, up the.disease. -"Witness quoted several, medical authorities in support. • To Mr Twyneham: In bone- cases a slight injury was very' .'iable to light up tubercular trouble; in the present case a slight injury had been sufficient to light up the disease, and there had been a specific injury, and from that time the man was incapacitated, and it was reasonable, to •assume that tho cause was tho accident. Witness did not agree with Dr. Bennett's opinion, expressed in hie report of the posti mortem examination, that tie possibility of the sprain having lit up the disease was unlikely- Assuming that deceased wont back to work the morning after the accident and remained at work for four or five days itte sprain could not have been ■ a severo one, To his Honour; "Witness could not state, definitely that when ho was called in he had asked deceased' whether ho had any chest symptoms prior to the accident. Deceasod's then condition was coueistant with miliary tuberculosis having been lit up about the timo of the accident. He thought that only a small proportion of tuberculosis cases, developed galloping consumption. Dr. T. L. Crooke ,stated that he did not have any knowledge of deceased's case, but from the clinical history and the report of the post-mortem examination witness believed that it was a. case of the accidentt lighting tip latent tuberculosis in the man's system'. To his Honour: There werb three possible histories of galloping consumption (1) that it was lit up by an accident, (2) it might follow as the result of achill ox a cold, and (3) it mighty come on as the gradual lowering of the resisteuce of the system. C. Renn, secretary of the Plumbers' Union, gave evidence as to the state of deceased'H health about the timo of tho accident, which witnesl stated appeared to be normal. Mr Twyneham said he admitted quite freely that if the disease was lit up by tho accident then defendant was. liable, but that fact must bo proved to itho C'purt'B satisfaction. George Henry Stening, the defendant, stated that deceased did not complain to him regarding the sprain to his back having brought on the tubercular trouble. Witness produced deceased's time book, entered up by deceased. This showed thai* on tho ailoged date of trie accident (August 2nd) deceased worked 9 hours: according to the sums record deceased worked five full days after the accident.. To his Honour: Tho time entered after the date of the accident could not bo old overtime due; any overtime omitted was entered after the time entered for tho last - day of tho working week. Of his own knowledge witness knew that deceased did two' and a half hours' work on August 7th. Dr. P. Stanley Foster stated that.there had been confusion of terms in using acute miliary tuberculosis as synonymous with "galloping consumption." Acute miliary . tuberculoid was a general infection of the blood stream carrying tubercular bacilli; it person suffering from the disease avould not show anv outward Bymptoms until a certain stage in tho disease was reached, the determining 1 factor of that stage being difficult to state. He had seen deceased before and after re- | mcval to tho hospital; the spinal meningitis spread to the brain after his admittance to tho hospital There was no visible sign of injury to deceased's back to connect up the tubercular trouble with the accident. Dr. A. B. Pearson, bacteriologist and pathologist, endorsed generally the evidence of Dr. Foster as to tho nature of acute miliary tuberculosis. A sprain that wouJd hive caustd the rupture of the blood vessels in the pleura—a part which is protectee, by a bony structure—must have been very severe; it wua more likely, he thought, that it was tho natural development of latent tuberculosis thßt caused deceased*s death. The Court reserved its decision. OPERATIVE BUTCHERS. In this dispute Mr F. Cooper appealed for tho employers and Mr A. W. Ciosbie represented the union. A complete agreement was arrived at bt>foTe Ilia Council of Conciliation except in respect to pork butchers' shops. iur CTOstne staled that, in conference with thj pork butchers, they bad arrived at an adjustment of the matters in dispute. He handed in the terms of the agreement of the parties. Mr Jones, representing the rfiaster butchers, asked that,' in the case of pork butchers, who also dealt in beef and mutton, they should be compelled to' observe the siime hours of closing their shops as the meat butchers. His Honour said that pork butchers .who did a mixed butchering business would bo bi.und under (he award to observo tho hours of closing that butcherß had to observe. The Court stated it would consider tHe trans of the award.

SHIFT EXGECEEBS. J}f ,t m , a!gma . ted Socie{ y «>' Ensineew applied to have struck out of the award the portion of the preference clause giving equal preference to members of the Australasian Institute cj Marino Engineers. 4 J c •'. s appeared for the Amalgas?JtaU«? r and -^ F - cooi)w for ,hc Mr Wallace representing the Australasian Institute of Marine Engineers, gave reasons for memoers of the Institute receiving .-qua! preference. ° * Mr King gave reasons why members of the Institute should become members of the Amalgamated Society of En"incer= Mr Cooper said that tho "employers would no. have agreed to the high wages fixed r ?iV. P, t0Tlsl0 » for equal preference. h. lluchcoek, manager of the Christclwrch City Councils electricity department, gavo evidence to the effect that marine engineering i was the training ground for shift engiueers, I and gave reasons why marine engineers should have- equal preference Theodore Barker, head office engineer, Sew Zealand Refrigerating Company, gave evidence as to the better qualifications of marine engineers for positions as ehift engineers. The. Court reserved judgment. AX INJURED ARM. ■William Hamer, by John Hamcr. his guared m that there was a bowing outward of compensation from Savaso and Clemens, general engineer (Mr J. 11. Buchanan). Plaintiff had his left arm injured last Juno, and alleged that it was partially incapacitated in that there was a bowing outwards of tho lower fragment of tho humerus of the arm, limiting the flexion and extension of the arm. The defendants denied that plaiutiff was permanently partially incapacitated, but assuming that he was, tho defendants were, prepared that the Court should make a declaration of liability. Plaintiff gave evidence, and also demonstrated the manner in which the use of the arm was limited. Dr. John Guthrie stated, in evidenco, that he estimated that <it present tho lad's earning capacity, was diminished bv 40 per rent, To Mr Buchanan: The lad's decreased earning power was between 15 and' 20 per cent.: his reply to Mr Alpeis referred to diminished physical capacity. Mr Buchanan called the defendant, W. Savago, who stated that the lad with his present ability could earn the award rates for journeymen at the end of his time, and there was ! no necessity for him to get an under-rate worker's permit. Dr. Nedwill gave evidence as to tho lad's loss of physical capacity, nie earning power was reduced by 15 to 20 per cent, in respect of"a. small proportion of his duties. To Mr Alpers: The lad was not a cripple, hut had some deformity as the result of th« accident. The Court reserved its decision. The Court rose till 10 a.m. to-day.

A serious pest-of tho oyster—a shellfish known as the slipper limpet—which was imported accidentally from American waters, and overruns oyster beds as weeds overrun a garden, is being put to economic use as shell-grit for poultry by the British Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which obtained ■a grant of £6OOO to deal with the intruder. A new industry has been established, and tho cost of clearing the beds is heing recovered by means of a factory, which is turning out about 100!) tons of grit a year. This quantity involves the destruction of about 2000 tons of slipper limpets.