RAILWAY APPEAL BOARD.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1208, 17 August 1911, Page 4

RAILWAY APPEAL BOARD.

MB. MILLAR DEFENDS TEE VETO. Mr. D. M'LareA M.P., gave notice a. few days ago to ask the- Minister for liailwavs Whether, seeing that th<S decision of the Tramway Appeal Board as contained in tlw Act of last Session is final, the Minister will mako tho samo provision in the Railway Appeal Beard. The Hon. Mr. Millar replied yesterday: "The position in regard to the Iraimvoy Appeal Board and the , Railway Appeal Hoard is entirely dissimilar. In the oaso of tho Tramway Appeal Board Hi* men are employed by corporations outside of tho Government, and it is not dcsirtd by. the Government to interfere) with the local control. So far as tho Railway Department is concerned,.l have already intimated, on more than oilo occasion, that (lie Government is not prepared to hand over to three irresponsible men (two of whom aro railway-employees) tho administration Of the largest of the State Departments. Every Minister for Railways' has in turn intimated emphatically that he would not couuleiia»ee such a' procedure, but Would exercise his right to veto tho decision of the board on all occasions when, in his opinion, suchi a step was necessary or desirable. Tho Act provides for the decision "of two members of tho board beiavg regarded as tho decision of the board. It, tlwrcfore, follows that in the event of the right of veto being waived there would be occasions when a junior member of the l'irst Division and one of Ik Second Division of the Railway Department would lyrncticallv override the decisions of the Minister and the administrative heads of tho Department. Such a condition of nlf airs would not bo in the interests of tho Public Service, and I am not, therefore, prepared to mako any alteration. The Minister also said ho was not prepared to make anv alteration in thi>_ procedure relating to Departmental inquiries.

A note has been published m the semiofficial "North German Gazette slating that the Kaiser when in England did mil express a desire to moot Mr. Hamsay MacDonald to bilk to him about his activity on behalf of better relations between Grout Britain and Germany, but, on tho other hand, the Kaiser had not the smallest objection to Mr. Mac Donald being among the gucsta invited to meet him at luncheon. Socialists in Germany liavo been making much of the fact that the Kaiser had met a British Labour leader and Socialist. A meeting of members of tho Wellington branch of tho New Zealand Society of Accountants will bo held m the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. August 22.