THE OSBORNE JUDGMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 7

THE OSBORNE JUDGMENT.

A PROPOSED REVERSAL.

By Telegraph —Press Association.- Copyright. London, • May 2. A Bill reversing the Osborne judgment is being prepared by the Government. The Prime Minister (Mr. Asqu.ith) announced in the House of Commons to-day that the Bill will be introduced before Whitsuntide. A MUCH-DISCUSSED DECISION. The Osborne judgmentthe decision of the House of Lords in the case of "W. V. Osborne v. the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants," was delivered on December 21, 1909, and it has since attained a great prominence as a subject of controversy in Labour and political circles at Home. The case is the one in which it was decided by the Law Lords that trade union funds cannot be used for the payment of members of Parliament or municipal bodies. New rules adopted by the Labour party, provided for the upkeep of the Parliamentary fund of the party, by a levy on the affiliated societies at the rata of twopence per member per annum of their full membership. From this fund the party proposed to pay 25 per cent, of the returning officer's expenses for approved candidates, and £200 a year to the elected members of Parliament. Mr. Osborne, who was secretary of the Walthamstow branch of the society (a Liberal in politics) being unwilling to subscribe to the support of Socialist members of Parliament, led a movement for the testing of the rule. Mr. Justice Neville, before whom the case was first heard, decided in favour of the society. Upon appeal, his decision was reversed by the Master of the Rolls, and Lord Justices Moulton and Farwell. The society then appealed to the House of Lords, with the . result lhat the first judgment . was re-affirmed, the rules being held to be ultra vires. The Labour party has since kept up a vigorous agitation for the legalisation of the principle of compulsory levies. Since the judgment provision has been made 'by Act for a payment of £400 a year to all members of the House of Commons.