NEW- ACTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1914, Page 4

NEW- ACTS

RECENT LEGISLATION \ MAIN PROVISIONS Following is a digest of the main provisions of a further batch of the Acts placed on the Statute-hook durftig last session of Parliament. WORKERS' COMPENSATION Unde* the Workers' Compensation Amendment Act several important changes in the law are made. In the case of the death of a worker, a sum up to £50 (instead of up to £20, as under the previous Act) is payable for medical and funeral expenses. In no case of total incapacity is the weekly payment to be less than £1. When a worker is at the time of the accident under 21 years of age, or is an. indentured apprentice, and his incapacity is permanent, his average weekly earnings (on which the .compensation is, based) wilj be deemed to be the weekly wage which he would probably have been able to earn if he' had then been 21 years of age, or had completed his apprenticeship,, or had ' ceased to be an improver, being in no case less than £2 a week. Provision is also made for the recovery, of compensation by dependents in the. case of a New Zealand ship being lost with all hands. Such proceedings .must be comnieiiced within eighteen' months of the date at which the ship is deemed to have been lost. By agreement 'be-, tween the parties, proceedings for compensation for injuries not resulting in death may be taken before a magistrate, whose decision will be final and, • binding. Compensation money awarded in respect to' the death of a worker- is to be paid to and disbursed by the Public Trustee, or any person authorised by him. _ The scale of compensation for injuries is amended and added to as under :— Total loss of the sight of one eye,' 50 per cent. ; the total loss of two joints of a finger : if the fore finger of the right hand 12i per cent., if the fore finger of the left hand, 10 per cent., if the middle finger of either hand 8i per cent. , if the middle or . ring finger of either hand 6i per cent. Except in certain specified cases, the liability of an employer is not affected by agreement made between himself and the employee. The Act also repeals section 8 of the Crown Suits Amendment Act, 1910, which provided that no claim could be made on the Crown in respect of the death or injury of any person if the Crown ' was also liable under the Act of 1908. LAW OP DISTRESS The Distress i and Replevin Amendment Bill was introduced in the House by Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh and subsequently adopted by the ' Hon. A. L. Herdman and passed. It amends the original Act, with a view to bettering the_ condition of poor debtors, by providing that the personal and family Clothing, the bed clothes, bedding, furniture (furniture is a new provision), and tools of trade to an amount not exceeding in all £50 (it was formerly £25) shall be exempt from being sold or disposed of under any distress for rent. THE JUDICIAL BENCH The Judicature Amendment Bill, dealing chiefly with the salaries of Judges and the constitution of the Court of Appeal, wil] come into operation on Ist. February of this year. It provides that the Supreme Court shall consist of the Chief Justice and s.even other Judges, , and, power is retained to appoint temporary Judges. This means that the Supreme Court bench is to be increased by two additional Judges. The salaries will be the same as at pz'esent : — Chief Justice, £2000 ; puisne Judges', £1800. Superannuation allowances will be made on the following scale : — Aften ten years' office, six-twenty-fourths of the salary, increased by one-twenty-fourth for every additional year, but not exceeding in any case an allowance of sixteen-twenty-fourths of his salary, On the administrative side the Act provides that the Court of Appeal shall consist of two divisions, each to consist of five Judges. Any Judge may belortg to both divisions at the same time, and all appointments will be made by the Governor in Council. No temporary Judge may be appointed to the Court of Appeal. In cases of special difficulty or importance the Governor in Council may authorise all the Judges of both divisions to hear the case TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES The measure provides that temporary employment in the Government service shall not include (a) Employment of persons specially engaged for summer or other sessional work ; (b) employment of persons casually engaged at an hourly rate of pay or at daily rates for less than one month. The Public Service Commissioner is empowered to continue the employment for such period as he may consider necessary of temporary clerks who wel'e employed when the Public Service Act came into operation, and whose employment has since been continued. It is provided, however, that such temporary employees shall not obtain precedence over public officers appointed before them. HOSPITALS & CHARITABLE AID This amendment of the existing law is chiefly of a machinery nature. .It provides (by way of addition to the existing law) that a person who is not an elector of • some contributory local authority within the hospital district shall not be capable of being appointed a member of a Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. No appointment' of the secretary of a board may be made until the expiration of 21 days after the Minister 1 has been notified of the, intention to make such appointment, unless the Minister has' previously approved. ' The Minister is empowered to make advances to boards on account of subsidies' up to two-thirds (instead of one-half as at present) of _ the estimated .' amount of the subsidy. Before apportioning its estimated expenditure among the contributory local authorities the board must give to each authority not ' Jess than fourteen days' notice of (a) the estimate of expenditure for the year; (b) the estimate of income for the year ; (c) the proposed apportionment of the estimated expenditure among the contributory authorities. Loan moneys are to be paid into a separate account and expended solely for the purposes of the loan. Power is given to a Hospital and Charitable Aid Boaid to make grantsi or subsidies to such Medical or Nursing Associations, Benevolent Institutions, or private philanthropic associations as the Minister approves. The board's balance-sheet must contain a statement of all contracts entered into during the financial year, all moneys received or expended during the year, the income and expenditure of the board, and its assets and liabilities. A copy of such statement must be sent to every contributory local authority. A board is empowered to set aside during any yeai such sums as the Minister approves to form a building fund, and to- invest the same in such securities as may be approved by the Minister. It will in future be the duty of tho board to rt>* fund money; expuaaed by * SMiftUbla 'ia ,

rendering aid to indigent sick persons. If any dispute arises between two boards as to liability for relief granted, the matter is to be referred to the Minister, whose decision will be final. If any officer of a board falls to perform his statu tory duties he will be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding £50. Power is given to the Governor to make regulations for the reception into any institution under the principal Act of persons suffering from any contagious or infectious disease, and tor their detention until they may bo discharged without danger to the public health. Any person feeling aggrieved at such an order may appeal to the Magistrate, whose decision will be final-