Boy’s Fatal Fall.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1922, Page 1

Boy’s Fatal Fall.

fnv TFi,K<:uAT*fi —run chess association] WAIMATE. May 25. Strong comment by Coroner I'.- D. Mosley S.M., was passed on the action of a man in permitting his 11-year-old •ion to assist him in his avocation ot night soil ■ -untrite tor at an impie-t oil \tbill Stevens, aged 11. to-day. Thomas Henry Stevens, borough contractor ii,iu| farmer, said lie took the boy with Mm to bold tic horses. 'Hie hoy went to bed at (I o'clock in the evening, and awakened after It), and returned to bed

again about 2 o’clock in the morning, lie was allowed to sleep till 3 o’clock. Witness sometimes took one son and sometimes the other, aged 111. The.r never assisted in any way with his work. Witness was only out two nights weekly.

Further evidence showed the boy was ordered to get down from a dray one night to adiust the harness. The father beard him cry out, and took him homo. IK summoned a doctor. Ihe boy s kidn v was removed later, but he died a fortnight after. The verdict was that deceased ile'd as a result of injuries received in falling off a night (art. The Coroner added that the father should have had more thought for his children. Legislation prohibited hoys under 14 working in factories, but be thought it didn’t applv to the present case. However. the law should absolutely prohibit children being employed in such a manner which should not he tolerated in ft civiiiscd country such as New Zealand.