FAR-REACHING DECISION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 97, 24 April 1912, Page 7

FAR-REACHING DECISION

CLASSIFICATION ON THE RAILWAYS DIFFERENCE OF OPINION, At a sitting of the Railway Appeal Board this morning, the Chairman (Dr. Al 'Arthur, S.^l.) gave his decision in the case of W. Thompson, stationmaster, Greytown, who appealed against his position on the Classification List, 1910, two other members with less service having been appointed to higher positions. His decision, he said, was that the appeal be dismissed, owing to the fact that the General Manager had not given the certificate which was a necessary prelude to the 'promotion. H« held that there was no power to compel the General Manager to give a certificate that might mean that the classification was not worth the paper it was written on. He might be wrong, but he thought the remedy, if any, lay in getting the regulations altered. Mr. Ryan, on behalf of the other members of th© board, said his Worship's decision would have a far-reaching effect. He did not pretend to consider the question from the legal point of view, but he considered it from, th© common-sense aspect, under which th© department had always read th© regulations and acted upon them. Originally the officers were classified on a service basis, and promotion depended largely upon long service And efficiency. The regulations etatea that no promotion should be made unless the general manager issued a certificate required by regulation 40 (which dealt with vacancies or new positions made). The case under review, to their minds, did not como under either of those categories. The added salary would be simply an added emolument given to a position already created, and which had increased in value. They found that tie whole system of classification depended upon length oi service. It appeared to them, thereforsj that Mr. Thompson, having been certified by his immediate 6uperior that he had fulfilled the conditions, was entitled to promotion. The fact of the department, taking the right to make indiscriminate appeared to strike at the root of classification and to be inconsistent with the Act. Their decision was that Mr. Thompson should be promoted to hie correct position over the other two members who had been placed over him. The two decisions will be forwarded to the Minister "ir his decision. ■