SHOCKING ARREARS

Evening Star, Issue 22804, 12 November 1937, Page 11

SHOCKING ARREARS

302 AWARDS AND CASES AWAIT DECISION WHY SECOND COURT IS NEEDED [From OCR 3?ARia amentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, November 11. “ If something is not done in the near future to give workers the opportunity to get before the court, we cannot reasonably expect them to observe the law much longer.” This was one of the vivid statements by Mr Armstrong, Minister of Labour, as a preliminary to demonstrating the extraordinary accumulation of award and compensation business for the Arbitration Court. He was replying to Mie discussion on the second reading of the measure, which authorises the setting up of a second temporary court, and the delegation of business to stipendiary magistrates.

To give members an idea how long it would take for the single court to catch up on the arrears, the Minister said it had been sitting at Auckland for over two months, but still had 47 awards and 24 compensation cases pending. Wellington had 44 awards and 59 compensation cases waiting. He did not have the Christchurch figures, but in all probability they were about equal, while in Dunedin there were 21 awards and nine compensation cases.

It would take the court until March next to wind up the Auckland business without going anywhere else. Wellington business would occupy three months, and there was a considerable amount of work awaiting it elsewhere. Altogether there were 302 compensation cases and awards awaiting decisions, including Christchurch business. Discussing the suggestion that the court should visit the secondary towns, the Minister said it was likely this would be done, as it was less expensive to take the court to a town than to send all the witnesses to the city. However, this was a matter of administration.