ROYAL COMMISSION’S REPORT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 11, 7 October 1927, Page 11

ROYAL COMMISSION’S REPORT

ON JUDGMENTS OF MR. PIDDINGTON NO POLITICAL INFLUENCE Sydney, October 6. The report of the Royal Commission which inquired into the judgments of Mr. A. B. Piddington, K.C., Industrial Commissioner, found that Mr. Piddington was in no way influenced by the Government or by political considerations in his declarations of basic wage. The report adds that there was nothing in the “Herald’s” article or the statements of Mr. Allen, of the Graziets’ Association, that could be taken by any reasonable-minded man to reflect upon the personal rectitude of Mr. Piddington, and full consideration of them had satisfied the Commission, beyond all reasonable doubt, that Mr. Piddington was not only an able but an upright Judge -when discharging his judicial duties, and an able dnd upright officer of the Crown when discharging duties of a legislative or administrative character. Nothing had been elicited in the course of the inquiry which could in any sense be taken as a reflection upon his integrity.

The chairman of the Piddington Commission, Mr. Justice Edmunds, in a minority report, says that the Commission was in full accord regarding the integrity of Mr. Piddington, but he dissefited from his brother Commissioners regarding the interpretation of certain points of the 1927 Act. The report contains a statement from which Mr. Justice Edmunds dissented, namely, that in determining the living wage at £4 ss. the Industrial Commission acted upon a wrong principle and exceeded the powers conferred upon it by the amending legislation of 1927. [The Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into statements appearing in the “Sydney Morning Herald,” said to reflect on the integrity of Mr. Piddington, -who was appointed Industrial Commissioner by the Lang Government over a year ago.]