ASSESSING COMPENSATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 206, 26 May 1920, Page 7

ASSESSING COMPENSATION

LAD'S LOSS 01? AN BYE. By Telegraph—Press Association. Dunedin, May 25. • The Arbitration Court has filed its decision in a claim by Lowrie Marshall by his guardian ad litem (New Zealand Coal and Oil Co., Ltd.). Plaintiff is a lad of seventeen, and it was admitted that ho met with an accident arising out of or in the course of his employment by defendants, as a result of which he suffered total loss of his left eye. Tho question submitted for the Court was whether compensation was to bo assessed under tho provision of section 8 of the Workers Compensation Act, 1900, • it being contended for' the' defendants that by virtue of section i of the amending Act of 1913, section 8 of. the original Act was excluded from operation in the case of a minor where an injury resulted in permanent or partial incapacitation. With this contention. the Court did not agree, the President stating;— "It is clear that section 4 of the Amendment Act cannot be construed as a self-' contained and complete 'code for the assessment of compensation for injuries to minors resulting in permanent, partial, or total incapacitation." The Court ruled that plaintiff was entitled to' compensation on tho basis of his average weekly earnings, to be ascertained as provided under section i of the Amendment Act for a period of total' incapacitation, and, further, to a lump sum in accordance with section 8 of tho Act for loss of his eye.