PETITION OF RIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 38, 14 February 1930, Page 11

PETITION OF RIGHT

SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT

CLAIM AGAINST RAILWAYS

.A petition of right against tho Crown occupied the attention of Mr. Justice Ostler, and a jury of twelve in tho Supreme Court to-day. The case was <i sequel to an accident which occurred at the Moera Eailway Workshops on Ist May, 1929, and whicl. resulted in Henry Cooper, a railway employee, being killed, and three- other men-in-jured. The suppliant was Horace John Moon, a labourer, whose petition set out that at the time of the accident he was employed in the workshops pursuant to his contract of service with A. and I. Burt, Ltd., engineers, of Wellington. Ho was struck by a heavy metal heater which was overturned through a truck colliding with it. The heater was one of a number which had been left standing in close proximity to the track, and it was overturned by a projecting stanch ion on the truck. . It was alleged that the aecidont. which caused a f--acture of several bones in the suppliant's neck, was deu to tho negligence- of the Railway Department's . foreman, and a claim was accordingly made against theCrown for £2000 damages.

The Crown plea denied negligence on the part of the respondent's foreman or servants, and contended that the heater was overturned owing to its having been placed too close to the- track by the foreman or servants of A. and T. Burt, Ltd., who had disobeyed the express instructions given by the general foreman of tho workshops. As a further answer, it was urged that there had been contributory negligence. Mr. P. J. OMJegan appeared for the suppliant, and Mr. P. S. K. Macassey, with him Mr. C. Evans-Scott, for the Crown.

The medical evidence, was to the effect that Moon's injury had resulted in the loss of normal neck and back actious. He- would suffer permanent disability, and heavy work in tho future would be out of tho question.

Moon gave evidence that on the day of the accident he was employed in assembling the heaters alongside the railway track. Tho weight of the smallest heater was 15ewt, and the nearest to the rails, was 2ft 2iu away. Witness said he could give no details of the accident as ho was knocked down without seeing what had occurred.

The next witness, Thomas Keogh, a plumber, said he was working with Moon when the mishap took place. He. did not know of any heators having been shifted that morning. Witness denied having moved any stanchion on the truck just prior to the accident.

Hugh Patrick Inglis, fitter's labourer, said that he saw the truck passing out of the shop. One of tho stanchions was projecting from it, and he realised that it would strike the heaters. He called out, but was too late to prevent the accident, and he himself was injured.

Cross-examined, witness said that the truck was travelling at a walking pace. Ho could not remember seeing Cooper walking backwards with one hand on. tho truck. A number of heaters fell so quickly that he was unable to get away.

Joseph Saunders, who was employed by A. and T. Burt at tlic time of the accident, said that he was one of those injured by the falling heaters. He had not received any expressed instructions from anyone prior to the accident regarding the position of the heaters. About two days before, Cooper said "Give- us a couple of feet from the rails," and witness saw to it that the nearest hcatoi" was placed 2ft 2in from the track.

To Mr. Macassey, witness denied that Cooper asked him tv leave two feet clearance botweon tho heaters and theoutside of the. truck. ": . ' \ '

Arthur Munns, foreman'in A. and T. Burt 's employ, said that at no time was it suggested to him that tho heaters were too close to the line. The railway foreman had never approached him on that point. In witness's opinion, tho heaters were stacked in a perfectly safe way, and thero was' no change in stacking after the- accident. This closed the ease for the suppliant. (Proceeding.)