A DIFFICULT PROBLEM

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1926, Page 9

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM

COMPENSATION FOR INJURY.

Christchurch, Nov. 16.

Before Mr. Justice Frazer in the Arbitration Court to-day, Richard Bernard Parker, an ex-fireman, proceeded against the Christchurch Fire Board under the Workers’ Compensation Act for compensation for injuries received on March 3 of this year, when plaintiff was struck on the head by the winch handle of the extension ladder during weekly drill at the Christchurch Fire Station. Parker, who is 26 years of age, served in the British Army during the Great War and in the Mounted Police for over two years after the war, and while out in India he had been shot through the neck. In December, 1925, he arrived in New Zealand. « “This is one of the most difficult cases I have been called upon to decide during the six years of my term of office,” said His Honour. ‘The question of fact turns upon a matter of which medical science is not able to Jell us a great deal. The diverse nature of the symptoms tends to make an analysis of the plaintiff’s condition more difficult still. It seems clear that until the end of January he was apparently a normal man in a good state of health, but it seems clear also that he had some cerebral trouble such as a tumour, which was developing slowly. This condition was going on slowly, and then came the accident, which was certainly nothing very much in itself. “A little afterwards the .symptoms become aggrayated. We are forced to the conclusion that the accident caused an exaggeration of the existing symptoms and caused the mental trouble to develop far more rapidly than if the accident had not occurred. It is clear that sooner or later aimilar symptoms would have made themselves apparent. We have come to the conclusion that some portion of the plaintiff’s disability was due to the accident, but we «eannot attribute all the trouble to that sause. Some compensation must be given, and we are inclined to err on the side of liberality.” The court announced that Parker would be allowed full compensation from April 9, when he was discharged from the wages sheet, until March 3, 1927, equalling £llO, plus £lO 10s costs and expenses.