SEQUEL TO THE PENGUIN WRECK.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2568, 31 July 1909, Page 4

SEQUEL TO THE PENGUIN WRECK.

A SAILOR’S MOTHER’S CLAIM. {Pek Pkess Association.] WELLINGTON, July 30. A curious sequel to the Penguin disaster was brought up in a case mentioned to His Honor Mr. Justice Cooper by Mr. O’Regan in banco. Margaret Rafferty, of Newry, Ireland, is the mother'of a seaman who was drowned in tho wreck of the Penguin. For some time previously she had been dependent on his assistance for her livelihood. Tho law debars her from claiming under the Workers Compensation Act, 1908, the provisions of which restrict tho right of claiming compensation to persons domiciled or resident within the Dominion. She intends, however, to claim damages under the Deaths by Accident Compensation Act. Mr. O’Regan, who .put the facts of the case to His Honor, explained that the defendant company had informed him that If they were satisfied that a person domiciled outside New Zealand could maintain an action under the latter Act, a settlement might be achieved without further dispute. The present proceedings wore taken under the Declaratory .Judgments Act. Negotiations wore in train which might obviate the necessity of bringing the case to Court. Consequently His Honor made no fixture.