Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and successor: Registered Files: Accidents and Compensation (EC Series)

The EC file series deals with the claims of personnel of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and successors arising (1) from traffic accidents; (2) in respect of the Workmen's Compensation and Industrial Injury Acts; (3) from other injury and personal loss whilst on duty. The first deposit in this series deals with the compensation of agricultural workers under the Workmen's Compensation Acts.

Several files deal with this 'loss of earnings' aspect of compensation both for established ministry officers and for part-time casuals. In the case of the former they show how a successful prosecution of a third party in respect of an accident would result in a refund to the ministry, in total or in part, of a salary paid during the period covered by the action. In the case of the latter they illustrate how compensation was often claimable under the Industrial Injuries Act. Sometimes however, when the ministry was itself liable to compensate fee-paid workers, Treasury authority for an ex-gratia payment would be sought.

The files also deal with the 'knock for knock' and 'knock holding' agreements between the ministry, various private insurance companies and government departments. These relate to traffic accidents, but also include accidents at sea. Other files deal with the legal question arising when civil servants are involved in court cases as plaintiffs or defendants. There is also a group of files that deal with ministry rights and responsibilities towards a) non-ministry personnel who participate in ministry activities and b) ministry personnel who on an official, or a quasi-official visit, participate in non-ministry activities.

A few papers in the series were taken over from the Ministry of Food.