INJURED AXEMAN’S CLAIM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 583, 8 February 1929, Page 11

INJURED AXEMAN’S CLAIM

TOLD HE WAS WORKING A SWINDLE

S.M. HINTS AT PERJURY (From Our Own Correspondent) WHANGAREI, Thursday. The statement that one side or the other appeared to have committed deliberate perjury was made by Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court to-day at the conclusion of the case in which Topi Baker claimed from Maurice Griffen compensation, according to the statutory award, in respect of injuries received while working on Griffen’s property at Pikiwahine. The plaintiff said that he was employed at Pikiwahine, near Waiotira, to cut props for Griffen. The accident occurred between 30 and 11 o’clock one morning while he was chopping a tree down. He chopped it through and it | hit the ground and sprang up again. His right hand caught the weight of the body, and the axe, which he held in his left hand, dropped and severed his first finger and thumb. He bound his injuries up with a piece of the lining of his coat, and after going home went to Whangarei Hospital, where he was for four or five days. Griffen told him he was working a swindle. H-: absolutely denied that he had offered a man £25 if he could pull the case through. The defendant said he was not satisfied with Baker’s work, and told him he had no more wages for him. bin* offered him a job on contract. When he heard that Baker had lost his fingers he interviewed him. He went up with 1 Baker to see the place. The tree which was supposed to have been the cause of the trouble was squared on the end and no work had been done for some time. He told Baker his mind in a very forcible manner.

Dr. John Williams Hall said he had treated Baker at the Whangarei Public Hospital. He considered that the fingers had been severed by some sharp, heavy instrument such as an axe. It was not possible for the injury to have been done by wire, and he did not think that it had been self-in-flicted. The magistrate said there appeared to be deliberate perjury on one side or the other, one side even having gone as far as to try to bribe one of the witnesses to help him through the case. It was a very serious matter, and he proposed to adjourn the case to give mature consideration to all the points.