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UNION REGISTRATIONS.
Two Appeals Dismissed.
Mr. President Dwyer, of the State Arbi
tration Court, yesterday dismissed an ap
peal by the Kalgoorlie branch of the
Amaleamated Engineering Union against
a decision of the Industrial Registrar
(Mr. F. Walsh) to register the Western
Australian Goldfields sub-branch of the
Electrical Trades Union of Australia. He
also dismissed an appeal by the Perth and
other metropolitan branches of the Amal
gamated Engineering Union and the
Perth and Fremantle branches of the
Australasian Society of Engineers against
the registration by the Industrial Regis
trar of the Perth Radio Trade Union.
The grounds of the first appeal were
that the Registrar's decision was against
the weight of evidence and was wrong in
law, that the Registrar had not properly
exercised 'the discretion given to him
under section 19 of the Industrial Arbi
tration Act, that the Registrar had
wrongly exercised the discretion given to
him, and that in the locality in which it
had been proposed to register the respon
dent union there had already existed an
industrial union or unions to which the
members or most of the members of the
respondent union could conveniently have
belonged.
In the course of a long reserved judg
ment, Mr. President Dwyer dealt exhaus
tively with the question raised by counsel
for the appellant union that the appellant ;
union existed in the particular locality !
for which the respondent union had :
sought to be registered. It had been con
tended, he said, that upon an amalgama
tion of the Kalgoorlie branch of the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers and ?
the Goldfields Electrical Workers' Union :
in 1916 the amalgamation had carried 1
with it the localities which had existed :
before the amalgamation. He held that
according to the certificate of registration
and incorporation of the amalgamated
body, it was registered in respect of the
Coolgardie, North Coolgardie, Yilgarn.
Dundas, Phillips River, Broad Arrow and
Mt. Margaret locality and the registra
tions of the unions that amalgamated
were deemed to have been cancelled.
'I agree with the Registrar that at the
time of the application of the respondent
union for registration there was no union
in existence in the locality covered in the
application to which its members could
belong conveniently. The appeal will,
therefore, stand dismissed.' Mr. President
Dwver. concluded.
Position of Radio Workers.
Delivering reserved judgment in con
nexion with the appeal concerning the
registration of the radio union, Mr. Pre
sident Dwyer detailed the grounds of ap
peal, which were the same as those of
the other appeal except that additional
grounds were that the registration of the
radio union would result in and encour
age the creation of multiplicity of unions
contrary to the intention of the Indus
trial Arbitration Act and that the appli
cation for registration had been defec
tive, as the applicant had not complied
with certain provisions of the Act. He
rejected certain preliminary objections re
lating to the posting of notices adver
tising a meeting called to form the radio
union, the lodging with the Industrial
Registrar of printed copies of the rules of
the proposed union, and other matters j
'It is true that most of the radio work- !
ers are in an industry related to the elec- |
trical engineering, but it is not the same
industry,' Mr. President Dwyer said. 'At
the time the older union was formed the
Industry of radio workers was scarce/
heard of. It is the outcome of recent ad
vancement in science as applied to the
art of reproduction of sound waves by me
chanical means. We are here dealing
with a new concept, and I am satisfied
from a perusal of the evidence that the
work now required could not be done
without a good deal of further instruc
tion, both practical and theoretical, or.
the part of the older engineer, whilst
part of the work was altogether outside
his range. It follows from this that the
industry sought to be covered by the re
spondent union was not. prior to its regts- .
tration. covered in the industrial field, or ]
at the most only to a partial and incom- i
plete extent, and in these circumstances ;
the Registrar, it seems to me. exercised
the discretion vested in him in the Act
in the correct manner.'
He dismissed the appeal. j
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