HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
The House continued its sitting yesterday afternoon. SECOND BALLOT. Consideration of the amendments made by the Legislative Council in the Seclond Ballot Bill was deferred till next sitting day. ARBITRATION BILL. At 5.15 p.m. the House went into committee to further consider the Arbitration Bill. In clause 19 the Minister moved an amendment to provide for appeal from the magistrate (in breaches of award) to the' .Arbitration Court (instead of lo the Supreme Court, as proposed in the Bill), that court's decision to bo final. Mr. Wilford urged that the clause should be postponed, so as to give them an opportunity of stating what appeals should bo on points 6f law and what on questions of fact. Also, he pointed out, that under the Declaratory Judgments Bill the Supreme Court could make an order which would bind the Arbitration Court and make its position a very difficult one in certain circumstances. v ! The Minister for Labour was understood to say that ths Declaratory Judgments Bill would not apply in regard to the Arbitration Bill. In answei to further remarks, he added that there was no intention in the Bill to allow appeal against penalties for small fines. The inspector could go straight l& tho Arbitration Court for breaches punishable by heavy penalties; smaller cases would go to the Magistrate's Court. APPEALS AND JUSTICES. Mr. Barclay moved an amendment to provide that, appeals should come under the Justices of the Peace Act, so that they could bo mado when the penalty was over £5, which, after dission, he withdrew in favour of a proviso moved by the Hon. A. R. Guinness, that there should be right of appeal on law and <f act in all cases where the amount claimed is up to £5. The Minister said he could not accept the amendment. The Hon. A. R. Guinness said that that simply meant this — that as the Minister proposed to give appeals under the Magistrate's Court Act, the full right of appeal would be given to emplcyers, and employees would only have the right to appeal when the amount was £5 or over. The Minister denied that anything in the Act gave a right to employers which it did not give to employees. The reason for the opposition to his proposal vraM that lawyer* were prevented from appearing in 1 certain cases. The Bill was absolutely fair and just, and gave every one — employer and employee — the right of appeal. Mr. Izard said the Arbitration Courtwas "no "place for lawyers," and he would do his best to assist in keeping the lawyers out of it. After further discussion, the Hon. A. R. Guinness's amendment was lost by 49 to 14. An amendment proposed by the Minister, making the Arbitration Court's decision fina l in appeal cases, was agreed to. Clause 19 as amended was added to the Bill. ATTACHMENTS. In clause 20, "enforcement of judgment," the Minister moved an amendment, .providing for the attachment of wages in cases where a fine has been imposed — being a variation from the words of the original Bill. One proposal in the clause was that wages should be attachable — in the case of a married man, to what he earns over £2 a week, and in the case of a single man, to what he can earn over £1 a week. Mr. Barclay moved an amendment, providing that, all round, the attach able amount should be anything over £2 a week. In the meantime, however, the Minister moved to limit the operation of his new clause by providing that a widow 01 widower with children should be exempt. This was agreed to by 54 to 13. All the clauses up t« 7, including 24, were passed with minor amendments. CONCILIATION. The committee then dealt with part 111. of the Bill- (Conciliation Boards). Clause 25 sets out that "after the commencement of this Act no industrial dispute shall be referred to any board of conciliation under the principal Act." Mr. Barclay inovod to have the word "110" struck out of the first line with a view to inscribing "every."' He declared that the boards had never been given a chance to do the work they could perform. Mr. Barclay tailed to get a teller when he called for a division, and his amendment lapsed. » The* new clause, 26b, rglatjiifl ifi the
appointment of conciliation commissioners, was postponed. A good deal of discussion took place on subsection (o), section 4, clause 27, when the Minister' said he was prepared to accept an amendment providing that, "not n>ore than" three persons ' should sit as assessors with the commissioner. Dr. Chappie said 'it would be better to have the commissioners presiding over certain industries rather than over localities. Mi- Wilford v Am I to understand that under <he clause you could appoint one assessor v The Minister: Yes. Mr. Wi) ford : Then the assessor might be neHher a worker nor an employer, * and that is what you are endeavouring to prevent. Mr. Millar's amendment was eventually carried. Minor amendments were made in the clauses up to and including clause 28. Tho Minister moved to add to section 4 of clause 29 in the direction of providing that aach party should appoint an equal number of assessors. This was agreed to. Mr. JarSes Allen called for a division on the motion to add the clause to the Bill. Clause agreed to by 47 voles to 5. VICTIMISATION ? Mr. Poland moved a new subsection to clause 29 providing that if any assessor, acting on behalf of an industrial union, should have his services disperisod with by his employer one month before or six months after sitting on an industrial council, the Inspector of Factories should be empowered to summon such employer before a magistrate with a view to ascertaining the cause of such dismissa.l. Tho Minister said he could not accept the proposal. The right way to proceed would be to amend the $ection of the principal Act relating to victimisation. Mr. Poland thereupon -withdrew his amendment and said he would have if re-drafted and moved at a later stage. •Clause 31, subsection 3, provides that the council, if it is of opinion that any application is trivial, may dismiss same and make an order for costs. Mr. James Allen objected to the Council being turned into an appellate court with the right to fix costs. The Minister said he was prepared to strike out the subsection. The clause was struck out. COMMISSIONER'S POWERS. A discussion took place on subsection 4 in connection with the difficulties that might arise through a deadlock on the Council. The Bill provided that the Commissioner should have no vote, the three assessors on each side having one vote each. The .Minister said that the purpose of the clause was conciliation. If the Commispioner could not bring the parties together, there should be no forced settlement ' ' Subsection 4 was adopted on a division by 51 votes to 5.. PUBLIC ENQUIRIES. On section 6, the Hon. A. R. Guinness moved in the direction of making all the inquiries public, the clause leaving this at the discretion of the Council. , The Minister said that publicity would often defeat attempts at conciliation. Dr. Chappie asked what would happen if three assessors wanted publicity and three desired privacy ? The Minister replied that a deadlock of any sort would render abortive the attempt at conciliation. 'Ihe amendment was reiected on the voices. Sections 6, 7 and 8 were adopted. • Section 9 provided that "the derisions of a majority of the asses jors prtsnit at any meeting" should be the decision of the Council. At the suggestion of Mr. Davey, the Minister consented to the deletion of ihe words "of a majority." Dr. Chappie moved to add a proviso that for the purpose of determining questions of procedure the chairman should have a casting vote, but this amendment was negatived. Sections 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 were approved, and clause 31 as a whole wtws adopted. At 1.45 a.m. the Leader of the Opposi> tion moved to report progress, and was defeated by 33 to 16. Glauses 32 and 33 were adopted, the latter, which provided that if tho parties failed to appear the , Council should still proceed with the 'enquiry, being made permissive instead of mandatory. Clause 34 was adopted, and progress 'was reported. The House rose at 2-5 a.m.
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Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1908, Page 2
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1,403HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1908, Page 2
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