A PLUMBER'S CERTIFICATE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2221, 6 August 1914, Page 8

A PLUMBER'S CERTIFICATE

i A, ' v; : . .;•* i CUEIOUS POINT IN LAW. , ' . - j An. interesting case to plumbers was de-" ] cided in the Magistrate's Court yesterday . afternoon on an appeal by Vincent Barry from, a decision of the Plumbers' Board, lefusing to give, him a cer'tificato of regis- ' : tra'tion, .on the. ioound that ho had: not; , satisfied 'the boaTd that lie was compe- '■ tent, at the time of tho coming into opera- j tioiipf. thV-'Act to'do sanitary plumbing. The case came before Mr. W. G. Riddell; S.M., and two assessors, Mr. P. W. Petherick for the appellant, and Mr. C.. W. . Martin for the board; The board s caso. was conducted by Mt. Alexander Burt, a member of the board. Mr. P; 15. Peth- ; erick appeared, for the appellant, and ' requested leave to be heard on tho ground that, one of the regulations of the board excluding 'solicitors or . counsel was ultra vires.. The Magistrate said that in-such cases it was not right tliat a; layman,-and ■ possibly' ah uneducated tradesman, should lie eompelled, to conduct his caso himself, when he was probably ignorant of both law'and-of Court procedure, aud therefore, laboured under a great disadvantage. He referred to 'framway appeals whero "counsel:were allowed to appear, .and said .that appeals from the Plumbers' Board should be in'the same position. He could ,not; .decide:, that the ...by-law V:as . ultra vires, but" he strongly-' emphasised .-the fact'. that:the by-law- was unreasonable, :and'tliat-it;was an advantage'to tlie Court in."suctf'ease's to .have-the assistance- qf ,counsel'.both for patting the cases of-the parties clearly, and for saving- the ;time of . the Court;: and, in reply to an objection _by-Mr.,Burt, lie said that the.sooner, the by-law 'was removed the better..... The Mr.: Barry, had. thereconduct'his own .'case. He showed : evidencing his engagement, ill tlio work of . a'plumber over more than the seven years required by the Act, and that he had be6n selected after examination -as- official pluniber for Port. Darwin, by the Couimonjvealth-Government, which engagement .-he had held for 12 months. He had , been in England, and Australia .fo;'„t)\7l, 1 jear,s, during which the Act 1 was "passed: " -•••- ~ "" : ! The Conrt unanimously decided against, the appellant,'on the gi'ound that it could not say thfe Ijoard acted wrongly in folding that the appellant's evidence'submitted to the -board: at the, time of:-its'deci-sion did.-not-inclusively satisfy- "the; board that he^w ; as"competent to do sani'tary plumbing at'the .tinie of-the passing., of'the Act, as the/testimonials w ; ere 'general in their form; and did.uot exprcssly,: state that he, had; been engaged in doing sanitary, plurnbing',- but '.thnt;:th6,' Gqiirt' was satisfied 'upon'the cvideiico submitted by him that he had-a practical knowledge bi' the workCand tho evidence was just oil tlio border line. It also said that he-was n person of considerable intelligence, and it'hod no.dpnbt that if he presented him-self-for examination there would be no 'fear of ttiftesnlt, and that the apnellant had'some reason for thinking that ho was registered .under the-Act. It'was; pointed out that evidence submit-. ■ ted to tlio-board after its refusal, and to tho Court,, showed that ho had been, engaged in -sa.Tiita.-y plumbing before the Act was' "passed. ' ; The case, turned upon the omission of the word "sanitary" from the testimonials, though the testimonials had uecesiarily to be given before the Act was passed, when that word for the first "'time ' received-' its statutory iiiiport--<ince; ' thewriters could not have -known the. virtue. to. be attached to, it. The testimonials showed'that he was fully qualified in all branches of the trade, and evidence ; was tfiveii * thai thvee-foiirtns of the trade consists of sanitary, plumbing.