COMPENSATION DELAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 214, 10 September 1931, Page 6

COMPENSATION DELAYS.

The remarks of counsel and of the President of the Arbitration Court about the delay in the hearing of compensation cases re-direct attention to a serious fault in the compensation system. In this particular case plaintiff had been injured in May, 1930. Mr. Justice Frazer said the Court regretted as much as anyone the infrequency of its sittings, and declared that "something ought to .be done to overcome what really had become a scandal in the administration of justice." This scandal is not new. Such complaints came before the Commission on Compensation that sat last year, and the Commission unanimously recommended that a separate Court to hear compensation cases be set up. Had times been normal probably this recommendation would have been adopted by the Government, and it is easy to understand why the Government is unwilling to add to the cost of the arbitration system. There is no doubt, however, that the present arrangement produces injustice. Mr. Justice Frazer points out that compensation cases have increased 150 per cent, and if they go on increasing the scandal of delay will grow with them.