CONCILIATION WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 292, 10 December 1936, Page 15

CONCILIATION WORK.

MR. HALLY'S RETIREMENT.

PRESENTATION YESTERDAY.

Thirty-three years' continuous service, during which time he served under twelve Ministers of Labour and eight presidents of the Arbitration Court lie behind Mr. P. Hally, who rece/itly resigned from the position of conciliation commissioner for the Auckland district. Mr. Hally was complimented on his service for the Labour Department at a function held yesterday.

The assistant secretary of the Labour Department, Mr. H. E. Mostyn, presided at the meeting yesterday afternoon. As a conciliation commissioner, Mr. Hally ihad been conspicuously successful, he eaid, and had been associated with the settlement of most of the major industrial disputes during his term of office. As a result he was held in high esteem throughout New Zealand. The officers of the Labour Department had always found him a friend who was willing to ihelp them whenever he possibly could. Mr. Mostyn also pointed out that Mr. Hally had been one of the three original commissioners appointed under the first Industrial • Conciliation and Arbitration Act.

The officer in charge of the Labour Department in Auckland, Mr. W. Slaughter, claimed to have worked with Mr. Hally for 26 years and to have always found him a friend to the workers, the employers and the members of the Department's staff. Further tribute to Mr. Hally's work was paid by his successor, Mr. R. E. Price, who said that he had been asked to convey the good wishes of employers and workers who had been associated with Mr. Hally. The esteem in which Mr. Hally was held and proof of his. popularity throughout New Zealand were shown by the fact that he was known in all quarters as "Pat." Several former colleagues of Mr. Hally added their congratulations, and Mr. Mostyn read a number of apologies for absence, including one from the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, and another from Mr. T. O. Bishop, secretary of the New Zealand Employers' Federation. He then presented Mr. Hally with a cheque and Mrs. Hally with a 'handbag. Mr. Hally amused the staff by a few reminiscences and paid a tribute to the splendid support he had always received from the Minister of Labour, whom he described as the most overworked man in the Dominion. Mr. Hally attributed the present state of labour in New Zealand to the work of Mr. Armstrong.