COURT OF ARBITRATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 12 June 1939, Page 8

COURT OF ARBITRATION

MR JUSTICE CALLAN TO ACT CASES OF EMERGENCY REFERENCE TO COMPENSATION CLAIMS I United Press Association! WELLINGTON. This Day. Arrangements are being made for Mr Justice Callan to act as Judge of the Court of Arbitration in the place of Mr Justice O’Regan, who is absent by reason of illness. This announcement was made by the Attorney-General, the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, in an interview at the week-end. Mr Mason said it was expected that the court, under the presidency of Mr Justice Callan, would sit first in Duned:n on Wednesday. 21st June, to make fixtures there, and that upon the con-

clusion of the Dunedin sittings the Court would proceed to Greymouth. “In arranging its calendar and itinerary the Court will give preference to claims for compensation for accidents and to any cases of special urgency relating to industrial awards,” said the Minister. An improvement in Mr Justice O'Regan’s health in recent weeks has enabled the Court to clear up some outstanding disputes heard during its last sitting in Wellington, some of which were of considerable importance as tl«py related to the Court's standard rate pronouncement. Till these were settled, settlements in new disputes which hinged on the pronouncement have been delayed. Practically the only important matters still not settled are the plumbers’ and the engine-drivers’ disputes, on which judgment is expected shortly. The handling of the work of the Court in recent weeks is probably unique in judicial history in New Zealand. Anxious to clear the deck, Mr Justice O’Regan has unde* taken the work at his home, where the other two representatives on the Court, Messrs W. Cecil Prime and A. L. Monteath, have conferred with him from time to time