FELL INTO OPEN DRAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 591, 18 February 1929, Page 13

FELL INTO OPEN DRAIN

PEDESTRIAN SUES COUNCIL MT. ALBERT ACCIDENT When Albert Inglis Wallace uei cepted the invitation of a Mount Albert | resident to follow the Tasman flight by j radio, he met with an accident which | transfromed him from a healthy man ! o a physical and nervous wreck. In the Supreme Court this morning, before Mr. Justice Kennedy and a jury. Mr. Wallace tMr. A. H. Johnstone) claimed from the Mount Albert Borough Council tMr. H. M. Kogerson) the sum of £SOO damages, arising out of a fall into a drain in Truro Road on the evening of September. Two hundred pounds was set down as loss of earnings. £75 as medical expenses, and £225 general damages. It was claimed that the defendant was negligent in leaving an excavation unlighted and insufficiently guard* VThe night was dark, and the footpath coupld just be seen, said Mr. Wallace, who is 49 years of age. and a salesman, living at 130 Victoria Road, Devonport. in describing what happened. He was accompanied by his son, aged 17 years. He saw what appeared to be a large puddle. He stepped aside to avoid the obstruction, found himself on a tipping board, tripped, and fell into a drain, landing on his back on a boulder. After his son had helped him out they examined the place and found a hole about four feet wide at the top and eight feet deep. It was covered by what seemed to be th lid of a box or packing case. Rock and debris was heaped alongside. For a fortnight witness was in bed, under medical attention. He went to Helensville Springs for a while, and had used two sticks for two months. Tc Mr. Rogerson; He was earning from £2 to £2 2s a day, selling a petrol saver. Dr. H. C. P. Bennett, of Devonport, said that the plaintiff exhibited, on the following day. symptoms of shock apd concussion. He was bruised considerably on the back. Francis Dalton, the radio host of Septembr 10, gave evidence as to the condition of the drain.