I would like the Minister for Finance to tell us how this Bill affects us and whether the sums of money that will be paid by us will be refunded to us by the British or not. I do not understand how the matter stands.
Public Business. - Civil Service (Transferred Officers) Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 1930—Second Stage.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be read a Second Time."
I would like the Minister to tell us what this means. There are technical terms in it, and on the face of it it means nothing.
It means, in fact, very little. The position is that in regard to the cases that came before the Civil Service Compensation Tribunal the date fixed for retirement had to be not more than four months after the passage of the original Act. That meant that the court had to fix the date of retirement at not later than the 17th April. The court found itself unable to dispose of about twenty of the cases before that date. The result would be that if we did not amend the legislation the court could not deal with these cases at all. This merely extends the period for two months in order to enable the court to dispose of this small number of cases. It gives no additional right to any civil servant and it does not admit anybody who did not claim before. It merely extends the time in which we thought it would be possible for the court to complete its work. The court has gone on hearing cases since the 17th April but it has not been able to come to decisions. When this Bill has been passed it will be able to do so. The point which Senator Colonel Moore raised was explained when the Principal Act was going through, namely, that any extra payment that arises as a result of the Principal Act is refunded by the British Government.
Question put and agreed to.
Committee Stage ordered for Wednesday, May 14th.