I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
The main purpose of this Bill is to authorise a revision of coroners' salaries in view of the increased cost of living since 1927 when their salaries were last reviewed. The existing law prohibits any increase or diminution of the salary of a coroner during his tenure of office. The Bill proposes to abolish this prohibition, as the Minister for Justice considers there is no great reason for retaining it.
Local authorities will be required, within six months after the Bill becomes law, to revise the salary of every coroner paid by them and, subject to the approval of the Minister for Justice, to make a provisional determination that the salary be increased or confirmed. Any coroner who is dissatisfied with the provisional determination may appeal against it and the Minister for Justice is empowered either to dismiss the appeal or determine that the salary be increased to a specified amount. The Minister for Justice is also given power to fix the salary, at the request of a coroner, where a local authority refuses or neglects to make a provisional determination. Similar machinery for the review of a salary is provided in the case of an extension of a coroner's district arising out of an amalgamation of two or more districts. The approval of the Minister, which may be given only after consultation with the Minister for Local Government, is necessary before any salary is finally determined.
The Bill also provides for the transfer of the functions of the Minister for Local Government in relation to the amalgamation of coroners' districts to the Minister for Justice. Under Section 16 of the Coroners (Amendment) Act, 1927, the Minister for Justice is the appropriate Minister in relation to the appointment and removal of coroners, and the Local Government Act, 1941, excluded coroners from the control exercised by the Minister for Local Government over officers of local authorities. It is logical, therefore, that the Minister for Justice should also exercise the functions in relation to the amalgamation of coroners' districts.
Question agreed to.