INDUSTRIAL MAGISTRATES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23321, 13 October 1937, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL MAGISTRATES

The volume of business awaiting the attention of the Arbitration Court is particularly pronounced at the present time, and the Minister of Labour has very good reason for desiring to afford that over-worked tribunal such relief as will enable it to cope more comfortably with the pressure of its engagements. Whether he has hit upon the best solution of the problem may be open to some doubt. He proposes to provide by legislative enactment for the appointment of industrial magistrates, to whom the Arbitration Court will be authorised to delegate certain of' the less important work which now occupies much of its time. By this means the Minister hopes to place the court, as he says, on a smoother working basis, and enable it to get through its business a good deal more quickly. The need for greater expedition in the discharge of the court’s duties is beyond question. The court moves laboriously, taking months to travel between the centres, and there are industries in respect of which applications for awards that have been lodged have been an unconscionable time awaiting a hearing. So far as the Minister has explained the proposals of the Bill that is being drafted, he has not made it clear, however, of what specific matters the court is to be relieved. A large amount of its time is occupied, of course, in hearing claims for compensation. It was be? cause of this that a proposal was mooted not long since to establish a separate tribunal, presided over by a judge, which should deal with cases of that kind. To the Minister of Labour that plan evidently fails to commend itself. But the industrial magistrates whom he would appoint are not to assist the court in disposing of compensation claims which in fact generally involve amounts that are beyond the scope of magisterial jurisdiction. According to Mr Armstrong, the industrial magistrates will hear cases in connection with labour legislation that are now being heard by stipendiary magistrates, and civil actions brought by the Labour Department in respect of wages. There was a case before a magistrate in Christchurch last week in which the Labour Department, unsuccessfully bringing action against a local authority for breaches of award, was itself exposed to allegations of procedure reflecting an extraordinary attitude on the part of a department that is supposed to keep the balance fairly between employer and employee. Probably that is one of the class of cases with which the industrial magistrates will have to deal. But the main effect of all this, it would appear, will be to lighten the work of the stipendiary magistrates rather than that of the Arbitration Court. Mr Armstrong speaks, it is true, of the industrial magistrates being a link between the conciliation councils and the court, but the implications of that statement are not very clear. There is point in the suggestion that it is difficult to imagine how the connecting link can function without giving the magistrate powers that rightly belong to the court, and to the court only. It does not appear, after all, that the Ministerial proposals are calculated to afford the Arbitration Court very much relief. Furthermore, there is the question whether this congestion of arbitration business, though it presents a problem at the present time, may not be but a passing phase of the administration of the law in relation to the industrial situation. If the industrial magistrates are going to do work which is at present done in the courts of law and assist the Arbitration Court in minor matters only, according to their number the appointees may find after a while that the demand upon their services is not considerable.