ARBITRATION COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 140, 22 September 1910, Page 5

ARBITRATION COURT.

THE SHEARERS' DISPUTE. By Telegraph.— Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Ine Wellington sittings of the Arbitration Court opened to-day. The Bench comprised His nonour Mr. Justice Sini, and Messrs. W. Scott and J. A. McCullough (assessors). Most interest was centred round the shearers' dispute between the Canterbury sheep owners ludlu bcyf g' lek ego bury Sheep-owners' Union and the Canterbury Shearers' Union. Mr. W. Pryor appeared for the sheep-owners, and Mr. Laracy for the shearers. -Mr. Pryor said the employers had been under the impression that the Oourt was to sit on September 22, and arrangements had been made accordingly. Besides certain negotiations were still proceeding. In reply to His Honour, Mr. Pryor said there were three Wellington shearers' disputes, but as they depended on one another it would be quite practicable .that they should all be heard at | the same time.

His Honour: Is there much evidence to be called in connection with these? Mr. Pryor: We will not have much evidence here. His Honour: Yoh propose to call evidence in the other centres, Napier, Palmerston North and Wanganui? Mr. Pryor: Yes. _lt was agreed that all of the shearers' disputes should come on for hearing at 2 o'clock to-morrow afternoon. A WIDOW'S CLAIM. A widow's claim for compensation in connection with the death of her husband was the first case heard by the Court. It referred to an accident at Miramar cutting on June 6th last, the parties being Mrs. Elizabeth Jones (plaintiff) and Sanders Bros, contractors (defendants). It had been agreed that £SOO compensation should be paid, but a point arose as to the identity oi the claimant.

Mr. P. J. O'Regan, for Mrs. Jones, said claimant's husband, James Jones, had oeen married at Waitekauri, Auckland province, in 1899, and there were three children of the marriage. While in the employ of Sanders Broe. Jones earned an average weekly wage of £3 5s 4dHe had been known generally as James Phillips. His mother had married twice, and he, a son of the first marriage, adopted the same name as his stepfather. Already £IOO had been paid by the imdemnifiers, and claim was made for the balance, together with £lB 7s funeral and medical expenses. The Court gave judgment for £4lB 7s, the amount to be paid into a common fund to be held by the Public Trustee for the benefit of the widow and her three children. Five guineas costs wert allowed. A BAKER DRIVER'S CLAIM. An injury sustained in a fall from a baker's cart was the foundation of a compensation claim brought by Wm. Yarlett against John Reid and Frederick Frederics, bakers, of Wellington. Yarlett had been employed at £2 8s per week, and on March 24th last while driving on his usual round the harness broke and the horse, running clear oi the cart, Yarlett was thrown to the ground. He sustained severe spinal injury, resulting in partial paralysis of his lower limbs.

Mr. O'Regan said there was absolutely no hope of his recovery, and the imdemnifiers had accepted the certificate of Dr. Bowerbank as final. .He was a sober man, and had a wife and three children'. A little while ago the amount of £303 lis 3d compensation had been agreed upon, and several weekly payments had already - been made. The Court was asked to order the payment of the balance due in a lump sum. Judgment was given that £298 15s 3d should be paid to Yarlett. The Court allowed three guineas coats. A BUTCHER'S CLAM. Seeking compensation from the Wellington Meat Export Co. for injury received in their employ, George Darling, a single man, of forty-one years, asked for payment in a lump sum. Darling, while employed at the company's works at Ngahauranga, suffered injury to his spine. He now suffered from epileptic fits, and would require somebody to take care of him. Having no relatives k New Zealand, he desired to go to his father, a small farmer at Dubbo, New South Wales. His compensation was to be at the rate of 25s per week for six' years. He had already been paid for seventy-five weeks. ( The Court decided there was no reason why Darling should not receive a lump sum. An order was made accordingly for the payment of the amount to be agreed upon with five gutoeas costs. RAILWAY EMPLOYEE'S CLAIM. A railway employee named Wm. Henry Hibbert, painter, claimed from the Railway Department £238 lis' as compensation for injuries to his right hand received while working on a bridge at Makotuku in December, 1909. The Railway Department had paid into court the sum of £125. After hearing evidence, the Court decided that Hibbert was not entttled to receive more than the Department had paid into Court A CLAIM SETTLED. Settlement was announced to have been effected in the case of J. J. Meikle v. New Zealand Shipping Co. Originally Meikle's ( claim was for £376 as compensation for total incapacity, through having sustained injury to tie muscles of his back while working on a wharf. The terms of settlement were -the. payment of £Bl 16s. Of this amount the company has already paid £4l 13s, leaving £33 3s still to be handed to Meikle.