RAILWAY APPEAL HOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 16

RAILWAY APPEAL HOARD.

PLAIN SPEAKING BY MR HASELDEN. CHRISTCHURCH, August 6. A sitting of the South Island Railway Appeal Board this morning gave the chairman (Mr W. R. Haselden, S.M.) an opportunity to speak very plainly in regard to witnesses called on behalf of an appellant named John Sweeney, wharf foreman at the Bluff. The stat/ionmaster at the Bluff had declined to recommend Sweeney for an increase in pay as he was not satisfied with Sweeney's performance of his duties. He a.Ko blamed Sweeney for acthely engaging in agitations. j To refute these charges appellant, through Mr M. Thomas, of Invercargill, called a.s witnes«e^ several porters, shun- ( ters, and other officers, most of them subordinate to the appellant, to say that they j were satisfied with the way in which Sweeney earned out hi<= woik. ' After hearing seveial witnesses Mr Haselden taid : I say this, and I say it deliberately, that if this procedure is adopted in appeals the better way would be to call a public meeting of all the railway servants at Blulf, w here the appellant is employed, and take a voto a.*- xo whether the meeting Lb of opinion thai the appellant is a oood man or otheiwi--e. ThLs proceduie cannot possibly endure. It will break down from the burden of its own inconvenience. Mr Thomas : We can only have practical men, who have had experience, to give evidence. r I Mr Haselden : I commend my remarks to the consideration of lailway servants, j Mr Davidson (who appealed for the department) : All this evidence U quite out- ' *id 9 the point at itbiie. Mr Ha^elden : I would not have made the remarks I have made if I did nob ; think so. j Mr Thomas said that the i^ueri intro- ' duced into the appeal had compelled him to call the evidence referred to. i Mr Haselden: I am speaking generally. ' There must be an alteration. It would I be intoleiable that the whole department ' should be brought in order to sustain or j refute, not a charge of incompetency, but a refusal to recommend for an inci-ea.se. • All this evidence is having no effect on my mind, and I am accustomed to weigh matters judicially. Mr Haselden then proceeded to read" the felationmastei's letter, which expressed regret that the writer could not recommend Sweeney tor an increase tbat year. He was not alto- j gether satisfied with Sweeney's conduct, i and he proceeded to quote specific instances of acts of omission and commis- ' sion. "We have sat herß all this morning," Mr Haselden continued, " and I have not heaid one single sentence that is relevant to any one of the matters mentioned by_ Mr Guy (the stationmaster)." I

Mr Thomas paid that he had had to call witnesses who could speak as to the ' control of men and as to the alleged agitation. Mr Haselden : It is explained that this agitation is not a political agitation, but an agitation among the people of the Bluff. Mr Davidson : That will be brought out by the department. Mr Haselden : You bring a number of shunters, porters, and others to pay that j they are perfectly satisfied with Sweeney. 1 Mr Thomas: We wanted to hold the fitting at the Bluff. ! Mr Haselden explained that be had been under the impression that this was to be a similar case to that of Ramsay's, involving a technical point of law. If he had known that witnesses were going ', to be called he would have gone to the I Bluff, and allowed his magisteiial duties , to stand over. I Mr Thomas resumed his examination of the witness, an acting ehunter, but was 1 again stopped by Mr Haselden, who said that he would have to consider the propi iety of making a written recommendation to the department. "There must be some alteration in the bringing of wit-jip-.*es." he said. "You must see tlie abiw-rdity of bringing the evidence of poitei* and an acting shunter against thai of a .stationmaster. traffic manager, and, in fact, the general manager. It is a veiv .-erious matter, and I really commend it to the Council of the Society of Railway Servants. They will allow a few obatinate appellants to destroy a most | valuable privilege." i Mr Thomas : The department calls wit- j nesses also. j Mr Haselden : I am not speaking to \ou alone, Mr Thomas ; I am speaking to the whole of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. I tell them, having their interests at heart, and trying to do my duty honestly and fearlessly between them and the authorities, that if appeals are conducted in this way th© most valuable privilege of appealing must be destroyed. It is producing au intolerable state of affairs. The department called Mr C. A. Piper, previously traffic manager at Invercargill. Mr Haselden, in intimating that the board did not wish to hear further evidence, said that unless an appellant against a refusal to grant a certificate of efficiency was able to fchow that the certificate had been withheld from, corrupt or improper motives his appeal could not j possibly be successful. The Appeal Board : could not comjoel a general mana-ger to | give a ceitificate of efficiency, and it would i be a manifest absurdity if it could. A J re-port to that effect would be s-ent in, j also a suggestion that Sweeney be transferred.

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