SPLIT SETTLED

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1927, Page 11

SPLIT SETTLED

IN RAILWAY SERVICE

MAGISTRATE DEFINES

POSITION

The dissension in the ranks of the Association of Baihvay Engineers, Firemen, and Gleaners, revealed in the Magistrate's Court a short time ago when Mr. E. Page, S.M., was asked to define Certain relationships between members of the association, was settled in a reserved judgment delivered yesterday. Dealing with the first point, as to whether ' David Greig had been duly elected a member of the executive and the Grand Council, his Worship held that the reasons given by the general secretary (Mr. W. M'Arley) as returning officer for his refusal to accept the nomination of Mr. J. Pennell, a former member of the executive and Grand Council, were untenable. There had, therefore, been no valid election, and Mr. Greig was neither a member of the executive nor of the Grand Council. In regard to the second point raised, as to whether Frederick John Lewin or Eobert Carroll, or either of them, was president of the association, Mr. Page said that the whole question turned on the meaning to be given to rule 77 of the general rules. Mr. Page said he had come to the conclusion that Mr. Carroll had been obliged to leave the footplate within the meaning of the rule, and, with his removal, he became ineligible to hold the position of president, which thereupon became vacant. With regard to the position of Mr. Lewin, it had been shown that the ballot for the office of president had resulted in the election of Mr. Lewin. That ballot, said Mr. Page, was a valid one, and Mr. Lewin was now president. His AVorship commented upon the fact that the general secretary had taken upon himself the responsibility of deciding (guided, no doubt, by the opinion of the association solicitor) that the office of president was vacant,and of holding an election to fill the vacancy. In the view of the Magistrate, his- appropriate course, as general secretary, was to have referred questions of such importance to 'the executive council to consider and deal With. Mr. Page held further, that as the office of president was vacant at the time, 6th February, 1927, that Mr. M'Arley was suspended, the meeting at which the resolution was carried was not validly called or validly constituted. In his opinion, therefore, Mr. M'Arley had not been suspended from the position of general secretary. No order as to costs was made. .At the hearing, Mr. C. A. L. TreadWell appeared for Messrs. Lowin and M'Arley, and Mr. Carroll and other members of the executive, were represented by Mr. P. J. O'Began.