A "LOWER COURT."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1937, Page 8

A "LOWER COURT."

INDUSTRIAL CASES.

RELIEF OF CONGESTION. THE ARBITRATION PROBLEM. The appointment of industrial magistrates ir. various parts of New Zealand to deal with industrial questions of minor significance, thus reserving to the Arbitration Court only major issues, has been suggested by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong. *• So far the Minister has not placed this suggestion before Cabinet.

In a statement in Wellington yesterday, Mr. Armstrong said he could not divulge his complete scheme for reform of the Arbitration Court. The burden 011 the Arbitration Court would have to relieved. Recent legislation, and the mushroom growth of unions, had made such relief essential.

The suggestion that there should be two Arbitration Courts is not viewed with favour by the Minister. Two Courts might mean two different viewpoints, he said. That might mean that the workers of one part of the country might get a better deal than those in another. The creation of such an anomaly must be avoided.

No solution of the problem of relieving congestion was to be found in the suggestion that a separate tribunal be appointed for the hearing of conciliation claims. There would not be half enough work for such a tribunal or half enough relief for the Court.

A suggestion favoured by Mr. Armstrong was that c6nciliation commissioners might be given power to make decisions. They could be entrusted with the settlement of technical points. The Government had that point of view in mind.