SECOND ARBITRATION COURT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 21 September 1938, Page 10

SECOND ARBITRATION COURT

REAPPOINTMENT NOT YET DECIDED No decision has yet been made by the Government on whether the Second Court of Arbitration will be reappointed for another term, according to the Minister for Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong* who arrived in Christchurch yesterday. "This means that as the position stands to-day. the Court will go out of existence in November," said the Minister. "The Government will make the final decision, but my personal feeling is that it will not be necessary to reappoint the Court." The Second Court of Arbitration was brought into being by legislation which was passed in November last year, and was constituted to deal with the heavy arrears of work that had accumulated owing to the large amount of reorganisation in industrial agreements and awards made necessary by the legislation of the Government. Mr Justice Hunter was appointed president of the Court.

An industrial Magistrate, Mr J. A. Gilmour, was recently appointed, and Mr Armstrong said that Mr Gilmour had been able to relieve the Courts of a great deal of routine work. Mr Gilmour was at present in Auckland, but would later travel to other parts of the country. "I think another industrial Magistrate will be appointed," said Mr Armstrong. "The difficulty is to find another man with the outstanding knowledge of Arbitration Court procedure and decisions that is possessed by Mr Gilmour."

The Minister explained that industrial Magistrates had wide powers. In the main they would deal with routine matters, but the Court could delegate any part of its work, including the making of awards, to the industrial Magistrate. There was a right of appeal to the Arbitration Court against the decision of a Magistrate.