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RAILWAY SERVANTS' CLAIMS

MR. JUSTICE STRINGER'S FINDINGS.

iTo.the Edtor.'i

Sir,—ln this morning's leader of your paper, in dealing with the railwuyiuen s demands, you make the following statement: "The findings of an impartial tribunal, appointed to investigate and report on the claims of the men, have brought forward nothing but further protest." This statement is not only calculated to mislead the public, but is untrue. The tribunal you refer to consisted of a Judge and two advisory assessors. I. as advisory assessor representing the men, was not consulted and had nothing whatever to do with tlw finding. As to whether the Departmental representative was consulted, v am unable to say, but the finding is that of tlio Judge of tho Arbitration Court only. Of this fact you were fullj aware, because on January 13 you Ivrot ®' "These assessors wilt not, as do tlio assessors in the Arbitration Court, deliberate with His Honour in the compilation of the report to lie. made to the Government. Possibly His Honour may prefer to consult with tho assessors, but the report from tile board wall be. the report of. the chairman only. The intention of Parliament was, and the public also understood, that a thorough investigation of the wages and service conditions would be made by tlie I board, with a view to redressing legitimate grievances, but we were met by obstruction at every turn. Firstly, an effort was made by the Railway Department to restrict the men's representative to a member of the service. Secondly, when application was made lor leave for my executive to come to \Vellingtonj it was declined, and we had to appeal to the Minister. Thirdly, the order of reference was not received by us from the General Manager until 10.30 a.m. on Saturday, January 8, notwithstanding tho fact that the Minister had signed same a fortnight previously, and the board was being called tpgcther on the Monday morning at 11 o clock, l'ourth lv, the Judge ruled that the order of reference excluded the Press, and this difficulty had lo be m-ercome. Finally, we were allowed to discuss all our.claims for two wholo days in public, and two whole days in camera, to be told by tlio Judge in his report that the majority •of our claims did not come within tho order of reference. .Surely we should h'lve been told this on the first, day of sitting, or when we filed our claims, instead of wasting our time and that of a Supremo Court Judge for four days. Briefly, tho whole tiling was a sham and a snare. . • , In your article referred to, you ask two questions, i.e., is thero room for !: economies which would lighten tho burden on tho public: would retirement in numbers in tho servico be necessary? To ; the former I say yes, but that is not j'my business at present. To tho latter I 'say that the servico is being so dopleted by voluntary retirement that the question' that. is exercising the miuds of the practical men, and the men who know, is when will tho collapse come.— I am, etc., M. J. MACK, General Secretary A.S.R.S. ■Wellington, March 20, 1920, fifr. Alack somewhat rashly challenge* our statement that the findings on the I raihvavmen's claims were the findings of !an "impartial tribunal." Apparently he I contends that bccauso a Judge of tho Supremo Court alone prepared the report and findings it was not an "impartial tribunal," and his ground for this contention is that the assessors who sat with Mr. Justice Stringer for tlio purpose of assisting him during the inquiry on_ technical questions, were not consulted in regard to the findings. Yet Mr. Mack knows from tho quotation lie makes from our own columns that it new was contended that the assessors should deliberate with tho Judge in tho compilation of the report. The report to lx> presented to the Government was to ba the report of tho Judge alone, and this lias been made quita clear throughout. As to the other points raised by the secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, with certain of them we aro in agreement. Our own opinion is, as expressed in onr article of Saturday last, that the Government should at onco give consideration to tho question of tlio pay of the whole of tho Public Service, not merely one section of it. and that the question should lie considered in all its bearings with a view to laying down a general line of policy to meet the needs of the present abnormal times.]

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200322.2.19

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 151, 22 March 1920, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
761

RAILWAY SERVANTS' CLAIMS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 151, 22 March 1920, Page 4

RAILWAY SERVANTS' CLAIMS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 151, 22 March 1920, Page 4

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