APPEAL BOARD ESTABLISHED

Southland Times, Issue 23947, 13 October 1939, Page 2

APPEAL BOARD ESTABLISHED

INSTITUTION IN 1895 ALTERATIONS MADE TO CONSTITUTION During the early days of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants much difficulty was experienced in winning justice for employees in cases which necessitated considered judgment from executive officers of the department. Favouritism and victimization were rife, and as a result of continued action the society was able to persuade the Government to set up an Appeal Board, and the first board came into being on January 1, 1895, as a . result of an amendment to the Railways Act of 1894. / The constitution of the first board was a judge of the district court or a stipendiary magistrate to be appointed from time to time by the Government to act as chairman, one person elected by the officers of the service in the north and one person elected by the members of the service within the ranks of the second division.

There was one Appeal Board for each island. The grounds for appeal were set out in the Act, together with machinery clauses which were later subject to amendment. The appellant

had the right to retain the services of a member of the service as his advocate, while ■ he also had the / right to a period of one month in which to lodge his appeal. The Appeal Board was' so constituted that the decision of two members was final, while the Minister of Railways reserved to himself the right to veto any decision of the board. Every decision had to be conveyed to the Minister, and could not become operative until it carried his signature. The tenure of the chairmanship was for three years. The constitution of the Appeal Board was subject to much caustic criticism, as was also the right of veto of the Minister of Railways, and effr> r+ ' to improve the position were in vain.

A lew years later, however, the constitution was altered to provide for the election of a second representative on a different basis. This allowed each department of the railways to elect its own representative. As a result the constitution was the chairman, the first division representative, and the second division representative of the department to which the appellant belonged, while the general secretary was entitled to represent the appellant before the board. In 1927 the constitution of the board was again altered to make the board national in character. The board was altered to provide for a chairman who would be a person appointed by the Governor-General to hold office for a period not exceeding three years, but in reality whose term of office is renewed every year, a representative of the Railways Department, and repre- 1 sentatives of the first and second divisions, the second division representative being elected as before from each department of the service.