RAILWAY APPEAL BOARD

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 2 August 1911, Page 5

RAILWAY APPEAL BOARD

BT TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION,

DUNEDIN, Aug. 2. A sitting of the Railway Appeal Board was held yesterday to hear an appeal by G. D. Cameron, formerly stationmaster at Palmerston, against his reduction to a lower grade. The facts were that on the evening of March 3 the chief clerk at Palmerston reported to Cameron that a guard on a train was intoxicated. Cameron was not on duty at the time, and took no action, in the matter until about three hours later, when he returned to ascertain the guard's condition. The guard was sent back to Dunedin as a passenger, another man taking charge of the train. The Department contended that Cameron had shown himself incapable of dealing with cases of emergency and transferred him to Winton, the salary there being £220, as, against £255 at Palmerston.

At the outset of the hearing counsel for appellant ,complaining that he was supplied only with a precis of the evidence given at the departmental inquiry, asked for a copy of the complete evidence.

The chairman and Mr Gray, another member of the Board, then started to compare the precis -vyith the full evidence, but before going far the chairman said the precis was of no use, and was misleading. He would not continue the enquiry unless the whole evidence was handed over.

Mr Davidson (for the Department) said he would band over the whole evidence under protest.

Tlie chairman reiterated that otherwise he would not _sit ; It was contrary to the first principles of justice. After hearing the evidence of appellant, the Board reserved its decision.