CAUSTIC SODA

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 56, 30 November 1926, Page 3

CAUSTIC SODA

ALLEGED CAUSE OF THUMB INJURY Dominion Special. Auckland, November 29. Some home-made soap prepared according to receipt printed on a tin of caustic soda was the principal subject of discussion in the Arbitration Court to-day, when Mabel Adelaine Oakes, domestic servant. (Mr. Sullivan), asked for compensation against Alfred Holliday, hotelkeeper, Warkworth (Mr. Sellar). Plaintiff was employed in defendant’s hotel from April to July last, and she alleged that through using soap macle in the hotel and containing caustic soda she had suffered injuries to her thumb. She said she had complained to Mrs. Holliday that her thumb had swollen and an abscess had formed. She claimed that the injury was due to caustic soda, and said that as a result she could not milk a cow as easily as she bad previously been able to do. "Plaintiff also said she signed a receipt for £7 ‘2s. 6d. and gave full discharge of liability, but she. tojd the Court slie believed that all she was signing for was six weeks’ sick pay. She did not read the document. She signed and did not know she was giving a discharge of liability. Mn Justice Frazer said that unless plaintiff acted under competent legal advice the signing of the discharge would not be binding. It was laid down in the Workers’ Compensation Act that there must be competent medical and legal advice, this procedure being designed to prevent workers from agreeing to terms that might not be a fair settlement of their claims. The defence was that the plaintiff had no claim under the Act, that she had not suffered any incapacity, and that *he payment made to her was in full settlement. His Honour said the plaintiff had to get over the legal difficulty that, she must adduce evidence that her iniury was caused directly by some incident arising out of her employment. If caustic had got into her thumb through a crack in the skin of her thumb, she must show that the crack was caused by her employment. Decision was reserved, nending legal argument on this and other legal aspects of the case, which counsel agreed to submit to the Court in writing.