ARMED FORCES BOARDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 July 1943, Page 2

ARMED FORCES BOARDS

NUMBER REDUCED a

CHANGES IN PERSONNEL

INVERCARGILL, July 14. The Minister of National Service (Mr McLagan), in a statement today, announced changes made in tne establishment of the Armed Forces Appeal Boards. These changes became effective as from Monday, July 12. A reduction is made in the number of Boards from 25 to 19,and opportunity taken to remove certain administrative and other anomalies which arose in consequence of tne change in status last year of former Manpower Committees, when they were specially appointed as Appeal Boards with jurisdiction parallel to that of the original Boards’ re-estab-lishment. a , , , TTT„! Six Boards only, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Napier, Greymouth, and Dunedin, will deal witn appeals on the ground of conscientious objection. For this purpose they will require to travel over extenclect areas. The reason for limiting jurisdiction over appeals on this ground to a few Boards is to ensure the maximum uniformity of decision in this class of appeal, which presents peculiar difficulties. Although the reduction in the number of Boards was found practicable, it is expected that for some time to come the remaining Boards will be kept particularly busy. There is yet a great deal of work to be done in keeping under careful review the very considerable number of postponements, and while tne volume of new appeals will not be considerable, a systematic review of postponements is a task which is becoming increasing difficult. . In the Northern Military District there will be five Boards in place of the former seven. For the Auckland military area, there will continue. to be two Boards, one under the chairmanship of Mr Orr Walker, and the other under 'Mr H. A. Anderson. There will be no change in the. existing personnel except that owing to pressure of work arising from his oilier duties, Mr Goldstine, deputychairman ol' the second Board, has asked to be relieved of his duties, and Mr C. A. Sneddon, solicitor, has been appointed in his stead. Military Area No. 2 (Paevoa): No change in personnel of Board, which is* presided over by Mr Edwards. In Area 3, the former Board, under the chairmanship of Mr E. T. R. Coates, has been reappointed, while the second Board has been disbanded. In Area 4, the two former Boards, have been disbanded, and a new Board has been established, with Mr R. Coulter (Te Aroha) as chairman and Mr Mackay as deputy-chairman. Mr V. W. Simms (Otorohanga) is a member representative of the employers, with Mr A. E. Manning, of Hamilton, as deputy. Mr R- ?• Smith (Hamilton) is a member representative of the employees, and Mr J. W. Neate (Ngatea) as his deputy. i For the Central Military . District seven Boards have been appointed, in place of the former nine. In the Wellington Area No. 5 two former Boards have been reappointed. In addition, Mr C. A. L. .Treadwell (Wellington) has been appointed deputy-chairman. In Area No. 6, there will continue to be two Boards, one at Wanganui, and one at Palmerston North. Mr F. Purnell (Marlon) continues as chairman of the Wanganui Board. Mr A. p. Melville (Fordell) will be deputy and member representative of the employers, and Mr H. Adams and Mr D. Dwyer, both of Wanganui, member and deputy member representative of the employees. In Palmerston North Mr T. L. Seddon and Mr G. A. Monk have been reappointed chairman and deputy-chairman, Mr A. Grigor and Mr J .Linklater, member and deputy member representative of employers, and Mr W. Sutherland and Mr D. McColl, representatives of employees. In Area No. 7 (Napier) it has been decided to disband the former Gisborne Board, and to handle the Gisborne district from Napier. In Napier there will be only one Board, in place of two that formerly operated there. Mr H. 13. Lusk (Napier) is chairman of the new Napier Board, and Mr E. Gibbard (Dannevirke) deputy. Mr F. E. Field (Havelock North), member representative of employers and Mr E. McLeay. (Port Ahuriri) and Mi - J. E. Benson. (Gisborne) as his deputies. Mr W. H. Barry, of Napier, is a member representative of the employees and Mr 11. N. Cook (Napier) and Mr W. Harnett (Gisborne) .are his deputies. The other Napier Board has been disbanded.

At Masterton, Mr T. Jordan asked to be relieved of his position as chairman, but. otherwise the personnel of the Board is unchanged. The New Plymouth Board continues under the chairmanship of Mr R. 13. Sutton (Inglewood) without any change in personnel. NELSON AND GREYMOUTH In the Southern Military District, Hie number of Boards has been reduced from nine to seven. For Area 9 (Nelson) there are two Boards, one at Nelson and one at Greymouth. The Nelson Board continues under the chairmanship of G. L. Page. C. T. Smith (Blenheim) is Deputy Chairman. G. Manson (Stoke) has been appointed member representative of the employers, and A. E. Max (Richmond) his deputy. L. Ward Nelson and S. W. Kenning (both Nelson) are members representative of employees and deputy respectively. Brig,-Gen. W. Meldrum continues as Chairman of the Greymouth Board with Mr. H. Lovell (Westport) as deputy. There is no change in the other personnel of this Board. r’or Area 111 there are three Boards, two at Christchurch and one at Timai’ii. The Board at Christchurch continues with the previous personnel under the chairmanship of J. S. Barnett. At Timaru, K. McKenzie (Geraldine) and W. F. BoUand (Waimate) have been reappointed chairman and deputy. S. G. McClelland has been reappointed member representative of the employers, and J. Cook deputy member representative of the employees. At Dunedin, Area 11, J. H. Bartholomew S.M.. is returning Io magisterial duties, and the Board is being d j : banded. D. C. Cameron, former chairman of the second Board is chairman of the newly-constituted Board. The personnel of this Baord is unaltered.

I From the first Christchurch Board, j F. F. Reid S.M., former chairman, has returned to magisterial duties, and owing to pressure of work arising irorn his business duties, his deputy, E. A. Lee, lias asked to be relieved lof his appointment. R. A. Cuthbert and H. Edgar, both of Christchurch, has been appointed chairman 'and deputy respectively. G. M. Hall .and T. M. Charters, are member and deputy representative of the employers and J. E. Jones and H. H. McCaw member and deputy representative of the employees. In Invercargill, E. H'. Murney (Tapanui) continues as chairman of the Board, and G. J. Reed (Invercargill) has been appointed as his deputy. Representative of employers are Mr.Cockburn (Queenstown) as member, [and W. J. A. McGregor (Invercargill) as deputy. D. W. Stalker is member representative of the employees and I Messrs W. K. Cameron (Bluff) and J. [A. Beck (Benmore) his deputies. i ‘‘The reduction in the number of Boards," said the Minister, “has unfortunately made it impossible to reappoint ad previous personnel. In addition, some members have for business and other reasons, asked to be relieved of further duties. It is re-

gretted that the services of experienced and competent personnel will be lost.” Stipendiary magistrates who have been chairmen, S. L. Paterson (Hamilton), F. F. Reid (Christchurch) and J R. Bartholomew (Dunedin), will ber turning to their magisterial duties and the Minister expressed appreciation of the action of the Justice Department in having made their services available. The Minister also paid a tribute to lhe excellent work done by the Appeal Boards and by former manpower commutes. “Their task,” said the Minister, “has been difficult and macle a very heavy demand on their time, particularly during the past 18 months. I am most appreciative of the good work clone and for the services which were rendered. I express on behalf of the Government sincere thanks both to those continuing in office and those relinquishing appointments.”