EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 18 February 1901, Page 4

EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY.

(per press association.)

Invercargiul, Feb. 17

A magistrate’s court action which has been watched with interest has been settled. One O’Connor sued the MacCullum 00., sawmillers, for £2OO damages. Plaintiff was slabby and sawdust man at the mill and had no previous experience. The dust from the saw was removed by the dredge bolt, which got choked and stopped, O’Connor went to the belt at the end under the bench, and while pulling at it with his hands, raised his arm against the under side of the saw, which gashed it. The doctor’s evidence was that it would bo two years before he would recover the use of it and then only parti ally. The hearing was lengthy, and the decision was looked forward to as a test one by sawmillers. Defendants, relying mainly on the fact that plaintiff could and should have gone to the other end of the beb, where there was no danger, and that no workman would think of clearing away sawdust by putting his hands in such a place. To-day it was announced that defendants (an old and respected firm), while still denying their liability, had offered plaintiff, whose misfortune they regretted, a sum which he had accepted.