STATUS OF SOLICITOR

Evening Star, Issue 25083, 26 January 1944, Page 4

STATUS OF SOLICITOR

EMPLOYMENT AS CLERK INTERESTING MAN POWER CASE A case of particular interest to -the legal profession was heard by the Industrial Man Power Appeal Committee this morning, and it provided an interesting sidelight oil the difficulties being experienced in the legal administration of wills and estates through the heavy drainage on staffing because of tho war. The appellant was Frank Paul Evans, a barrister and solicitor, formerly of jDunedin, and his appeal was made against the refusal of tho man power officer in Wellington to allow him to terminate his employment with the Public Trust Office in Hastings in order to accept a position with the Dunedin branch of the Perpetual Trustees Estate and Agency Co. Ltd. Mr Mark Hanan represented the appellant. '* Decision was reserved by the committee—Messrs M. W. Grantham (chairman),' and Messrs S. D. Macpherson and H. H. Gillard. The appellant, who said he was a qualified barrister and solicitor' since 1933* graduating Master of Laws in 1936, gave evidence that he joined the Public Trust Office in 1934 to obtain general experience. For four years prior to that year he was employed in a legal office in Dunedin before proceeding to Balclutha as an administrative clerk in the Public Trust Office. In 1938, said witness, he had .been transferred to Hastings with tho classification of a clerk, the salary being £335 per annum. After he had joined the Army in 1940 and was passed fit for overseas . service, the . Public Trustee, Wellington, informed him that his work had been classified as a reserved occupation, and without wit : Mess's knowledge or consent he was sent to Gisborne in a relieving, capacity until March, 1942. It was in that year that he was commissioned, and later he was discharged from the Army, grade 2. Alfred Ibbotson, general manager of the Perpetual Trustees and Agency. Co. Ltd., said the total value of business handled by the company involved £15.000,000. The work transacted was similar to the business handled by the Public Trustee. The company was agreeable to employing Evans as head of the estates administration department, which now had only two clerics left out of a staff of seven. If Evans s services were obtained, he would commence at £550 a .year, with good chances of financial advancement. Considerable difficulty would be experienced in carrying on the department if his services were not secured bv the company. . " Work has increased in all directions as the result of the war," said Percy R. Winchcom'b, chief inspector for the Public Trust Office. Because of the exigencies of the war, the office had engaged female clerical workers to attempt to relieve the shortage, there being 442 servants throughout the Dominion in the armed forces. .The witness said that for the first six months of last year £4.372 had been. paid out in overtime, which was an indication, in itself of the volume of work handled by the Public Trust Office. Evans had now been reclassified from April 1, 1940\ and his salary would be £355 a year, with a maximum of £3BO. which would be equivalent to the Salary of au officer after 15 years' experience. Replying to Mr Hanan, the witness said that the Public Trust Office had not notified the public generally that it would have to ' lestriot the volume of its business. He admitted that the Public Trustee had accepted 14,000 soldiers' wills, which had been prepared by the staff of the office. The classification of: Evans was that of an estates clerk, and he did not indulge in legal work. ~.„,■' Mr Hanan said that the Public Trustee was not entitled to priority of employment, as the Perpetual Trustees and Agency Company rendered the same service to the public, the only difference being that it was a private organisation. The Public Trustre had 62 on its staff before the war, which had caused a reduction to 55. On the other hand, the company had nobody on its legal staff in Dunedin to perform specific work. .' RESERVED DECISION.

An appeal was entered by the Dunedin City Corporation Gasworks against the granting of permission to Louis John Pepperell, fitter and turner, to terminate his employment at the gasworks in order to take a position at the. South Otago Freezing Works Co. Ltd., as a. shift engineer. Decision 'was reserved.