COURT OF APPEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13303, 9 October 1906, Page 6

COURT OF APPEAL.

COMPENSATION CASE. RAILWAY SUPERANNUATION FUND. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS association.] i f WEixiNGTONi Monday. The sittings ■• of the Court of Appeal commenced to-day, ; before Judges Dehniston (presiding) , Edwards, - Cooper, and Chapman. The first case on the list was that of the Government Railway Superannuation Fund Board v. Ann Fastier, an appeal from the decision of the Chief Justice. , Dr. Findlay appeared for the appellant board, and Mr. A. S. Adams (of Dunedin) for the respondent, who was the plaintiff ,in the Court below. She is the widow of Walter Aristide Fastier, who was at the time of his death chief clerk in the goods department of the railway at Dunedin. The deceased entered the service of the New Zealand Government in 1876 in the Otago railways. At that time the Civil Service Act, 1866, was in force, ; and section 12 of that Act provided that if the services ', of. any officer were dispensed with in consequence of the abolition of, his office he should receive as

compensation one month's salary for every year he had been in the service, at the rate paid at the time of such abolition. ; In 1887 the Government Railways Act, 1887, was passed which put an end to the control of the railways by the Government, and placed them under Commissioners. That Act provided that railway employees should thenceforth be deemed to be in the service of the Railway Commissioners. Provision was made in the Act that if employees wished they could leave the service, and receive compensation under the Civil Service Act, 1866, and section 76, sub-section 2, provided that if the officer remained on in the service of the Commissioners the, compensation should be paid on the officer retiring, from the service. 4 The Government Railways Act, 1894, abolished the control of the railways by Commissioners, but saved the rights granted to railway employees by the Act of 1887. The. Government Railways Superannuation Fund Act, 1902, also saved the rights of employees who had been in the Railway Department before the appointment of the Commissioners, and had remained in the service under them. That Act provided for . the establishment of a superannuation fund, to which the deceased became a contributor, and it gave the representatives of a deceased contributor the option of electing to be paid in a lump sum, in lieu of the allowance provided by the fund, the amount paid to the superannuation fund by the contributor,:and the amount to which the contributor was entitled under section 76 of the Government Railways Act, 1887, by reason of the abolition of his office as a Civil servant. The respondent, the widow of the deceased, elected to be paid a lump sum, but the appellant board claimed that the deceased was not entitled to any sum under section 76 of the Government Railways Act, 1887, and offered to pay her an annual allowance out of the fund. ' The Chief Justice decided that the respondent was entitled to elect to, be paid the lump sum.- ''■"' "'."■. '"■'■ • ■ y ■' • Dr. Findlay, for the appellant board, conI tended that the deceased had not become entitled to compensation under section 12 of the Civil Service Act, 1866, by reason of the passing of the Government Railways Act, 1887, because he had remained on in the service of the Railway Commissioners. -The right to compensation would only have become vested if the deceased had ■. left the service when the Act came into force. The deceased had remained on, and was actually in the employment of the Department at the time of his death. ; Mr. Adams contended that the right, of the deceased to compensation under section 12 of the Civil Service Act, 1866, became l vested and absolute on the passing of the Government Railways Act, 1887, and it being "a vested right survived to his widow on his death. . '' " > :;■ After hearing argument the Court re{l served judgment. .-•