CLOTHES IGNITED

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20986, 13 December 1939, Page 6

CLOTHES IGNITED

BOYS’ CLAIM FOR DAMAGES COMPROMISE APPROVED (By Telegraph.—Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. A boy’s dash down a Hokitika street with his clothes afire after he had been accidentally sprinkled with burning petrol was recalled in the Supreme 4ourt this morning. Fulton Hogan, Ltd., of Dunedin, pavement specialists, brought an originating summons asking the court to approve a compromise of a claim against them by Andrew Tulloch, aged nearly 16, of Hokitika. Counsel for the company said £250 damages for the boy, to be held by the Public Trustee until he was 21, and £l9 for his parents to pay their expenses, had been agreed on as settlement. It was stated that one of the company’s employees was trying to start a lorry. He asked another for assistance, and as one primed the carburettor from a bottle of petrol the other pressed the starter. The spark ignited the petrol, and the man holding the bottle hastily flung it away. Unfortunately, Tulloch, a message boy, was standing near and his clothes were ignited. He dashed away, but luckily two men caught him quickly and extinguished the flames. Tulloch suffered bums on the chest and arms. The court approved the comprom-