Alg Industrial law - registered organizations ~- validity of rules — construction - entitlement of memrers to vote - whether rules conlravene or f311 to make a provision required by the Act or the Regulations ~- control of committees by members - whether rules impose hinressonable restriction on members who pay contributions by anmetlalments. Concrliation_and_Aarbilration Act 1904 5s. led¢l)(ad. s. 14061) (oe), a. WBSC1}, §s. 401? Yoneilj ation and Arbyiration _ Regulations reg. LIS(1liCdd(v), reg. Llacae RK. ov. lMunphy, Ex Parte Maynes (1978) 139 C.L.aK. 482 Re Fevterated Liguer and Alliaed Industries Enployess Union_ ot Australis:_Ex Parte Farrow «1976) 27 F.L.R. 430 Holand ov. Munro (1980) 48 F.L.R. 66 (1977) 31 F.L.R. 385 of Quetralits (1978) 35 F.eL.f. Gv BRAY J. 7TH BECEMBER 1964 MELBOURNE. IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ._ NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY INDUSTRIAL DIVISION BETWEEN : No. N.S.W. 34 of 1982 No. N.S.W. 27 of 1983 DIGBY YOUNG Applicant THE AUSTRALIAN WORKERS ' UNION . Respondent ORDER JUDGE MAKING ORDER: GRAY J. DATE OF ORDER: 7TH DECEMBER 1984 WHERE MADE: MELBOURNE THE COURT ORDERS THAT pursuant to s. 140(6) of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904, the proceedings are adjourned until 9.30am on Friday 15th March 1985 at Sydney, for the purpose of giving the Respondent an opportunity to alter its rules. IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY No. N.S.W. 34 of 1982 No. N.S.W. 27 of 1983 - INDUSTRIAL DIVISION . BETWEEN : DIGBY YOUNG Applicant AND: THE AUSTRALIAN WORKERS' UNION Respondent JUDGE: GRAY J. DATE: 7TH DECEMBER 1984 REASONS FOR JUDGMENT Before the Court are two Rules to Show Cause. The first, in matter N.S.W. No. 34 of 1982, was granted by Sheppard J. on 16th July 1982. The second, in matter N.S.W. No. 27 of 1983, was granted by St. John J. on 12th September 1983. By consent, both were heard together. The Applicant -ts .a -member of ThesAustratian Workers' Union ("the Union"), an organization of employees registered pursuant to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 ("the Act"). Each Rule to Show Cause is qranted in reliance upon s. 140 of the Act. The essence of the complaint of the Applicant is that members of the Union who pay their contributions to the Union by authorizing their employers to deduct from their wages small amounts of money ona regular basis, and to pay those amounts to the Union, are not permitted by the rules of the Union to vote in elections for officers. The facts are mostly agreed. The Union has approximately 130,000 members throughout Australia. By virtue of rule 6 of its rules those members may be employed in any of a wide range of industries. Rule 37 of its rules provides for a branch in each state. A branch is governed by a branch executive, or inthe case of a branch in which districts are formed, a delegate meeting. Within branches, elections are held for branch officers, namely a President, two Vice-Presidents and a Secretary. In branches without districts, these officers, together with five elected members, constitute the branch executive. In branches with districts, the officers together with a representative from each district constitute the branch executive. See rules 59, 78, 79 and 83. In addition, elections are held at the branch level for organizers, under rule 64. The highest deliberative body of the Union is the convention (rule 38). This meets annually, and consists of the President and the General Secretary of the Union, with delegates elected by the . branches on the basis of one delegate for each 4,000 members who are financial, or part thereof (rule 35). Between conventions, the management of the Union is vested in an executive council (rule 39), consisting of the President, one Vice-President from each branch, the General Secretary, and one councillor from each branch (rule 36). Rule 4 of the Rules of the Union provides, so far as - relevant, as follows: "4. In the interpretation of these Rules the following definitions shall be taken as a guide: (c) (d) (3) Members who are financial are persons holders of the current membership ticket. Members are persons who have commenced payment of the annual contribution prescribed in Rule 19, or the contribution prescribed under; Special Rule 9A in accordance with any approved method made under Rule 20(q). Such persons shall be deemed to be members who are financial under Rule 4(c) for the purposes only of preference of employment and attending Union meetings. "Ticket" means certificate of membership of the Onion." So far as is relevant, rule 20 provides as follows: "20. (a) (d) (g) (h) The annual contributions shall become payable on the lst August each year and shall be payable either by way of a lump sum or under any method approved of by the Branch Secretary under paragraph (g) of this Rule. Members who continue in arrears after the 31st August in each year may be sued for the recovery of same. The Branch Secretary may approve of the method of annual contributions being paid over any period in part payments by any member or group of members. Any person who has commenced part payments ~- of the annual contribution in accordance with this Rule or Special Rule 9A, shall be admitted to membership and shall be entitled to the provisions of Rule 4(d) and may be sued is for arrears of dues." Reference should .also be made to rule 9A, whichis in the following terms: "9A. Notwithstanding anything contained in these Rules a person becoming eligible to join the Union after the 3lst day of March in any year shall be required to pay 50% of the annual contribution prescribed in Rule 19 - Contributions - Rate of. Such person having paid the contribution prescribed herein shall be deemed to be a member who is financial in accordance with paragraph (c) of Rule 4 - General Definitions Clause. Any person becoming a member who is financial in. accordance with this Rule shall be issued with a special membership ticket, the style of which shail be approved of by the Executive Council." By virtue of rule 27, the financial year of the branches terminates on 31st July in each year. Within 28 days of that date, the branch secretary is obliged to supply to the General Secretary a statement setting out the number of membership tickets issued by the particular branch during the previous financial year (rule 28). The financial year of the Head Office of the Union also terminates on 31st July in each year (rule 25). - The President and the General Secretary are described by rule 47 as being elected by "the whole membership of the Union" every four years at the same time and places and in the same manner as the ballots for the election of branch officers.- By the same rule,. candidates for vice-presidency are to be nominated in the same manner::as-candidates for the presidency and generai secretaryship, but voting is confined to members who are financial of the branch for which the candidates are nominated, together with members who are financial of other branches' then resident in the State of that branch. By rule 48, nominations and election of branch councillors (to represent a branch on the executive council) are to be conducted -in the same manner as provided for the election of branch officers. -- Rule 68 provides for the nomination of candidates in all branch elections. From 1985, the closing date for such nominations will be 21st May. Previously, the rule has provided for a closing date on 21st April. By rule 69, any ballot is required to extend over at least eight weeks, and to close'on a date to be fixed by the branch executive between 27th October and 10th November. Rule 69 further provides: "69. ...Ballots shall commence no later than the Ist September of each year. Such ballots shall be taken on the membership records of the Branches for the year ending 3lst July in the year in which the ballot is conducted." The first sentence of rule 71 of the rules of the Union is as follows: "71. Each member who is financial, and the holders of tickets under Rule 8,- shall be entitled to vote in the election of all officers and upon all questions submitted to meetings of members or to a plebiscite in accordance with these Rules." Rule 8 provides for free membership of aged and permanently incapacitated persons who are not earning the minimum wage. The rules to which I have 'referred are those found- in the 1984-1985 rule book of the Union, which was treated by both parties as containing the rules as they currently are. Any order which the Court may make under s. 140 of the Act speaks as to the rules as at the date of the order. See R. v. Dunphy Ex Parte Maynes (1978) 139 C.L.R. 482, especially at page 495 per Mason J. The rule books of the Union for 1982-1983 and 1983-1984 were also tendered in evidence, in case it was :necessary to have regard to amendments made to the rules since the first Rule to Show Cause was granted, and for the purpose of looking at any amendments to aid in the construction of the rules if any ambiguity appeared. It is necessary to determine from the rules and from the statements of agreed facts what system applies with respect to the collection of contributions and the compilation of voting rolls. This is not an easy task. It does appear, however, that an annual contribution is charged to each member. Such a contribution is charged in respect of the financial year of the Union, namely the period from lst August in one calendar year to 31st July in the next calendar year. An annual ticket is issued in respect of this period. Where a member pays the annual contribution in one lump sum, it becomes payable on ist August; the member 1s expected to pay it before 31st August, after which he can be sued for arrears under rule 20(d). The annual ticket for a particular year will be issued after the lump sum is paid. If the lump sum 1s paid before the commencement of a particular financial year, the ticket for that financial year will be issued at the commencement of . the financial year.- If the lump sum is paid in arrears, either during or after the close of the particular financial year, the ticket will then be issued. This means that a member who pays a lump sum annual contribution in respect of the current financial year before 31st July in any calendar year will be shown in the records of his branch of the Union as at 31st July as being entitled to a ticket. All that I have said as to the payment of an annual contribution in one lump sum 1s subject to rule 9A, under which a person first joining the Union after 3Ist'-March in any year'1s 'required to pay. only 50% of.- the annual contribution. In alli branches, the branch secretaries have approved methods of paying annual contributions by part payments. The methods approved may involve payment of the whole sum by equal instalments over a short period, such as two to five weeks. Alternatively, they may and do commonly involve deductions by employers from the wages of members of one twenty-sixth or one fifty-second of the annual contribution (depending on how frequently the employees are paid) and payment to the Union by the employers periodically. A scheme such as this is of benefit both to the members and to the Union. From the point of view of the members, it obviates the need to find the entire annual contribution out of one wage packet. From the point of view of the Union, it provides easy collection of contributions, without the need for an organizer to visit a'-particular work place at a particular time to collect money from members. Under such a scheme, a member employed by one employer for the whole financial year will have deducted an amount sufficient to discharge his annual contribution. There is not enough. evidence before - the - Court of arrangements -between the Union and employers who participate in such schemes to enable the Court to determine whether those employers receive money as agents of the Union. If they did, such receipt would be receipt by the Union itself. Compare Re Federated Liquor and Ailied Industries Employees Union of Australia; Ex Parte Farrow (1976) 27 F.L.R. 430. In that case, the employers who collected money were entitled to deduct commission upon paying it'over to the organization concerned, and were held to receive money as agents -for the organization. In the present case, what does seem clear is that, when a branch of the Union receives the last instalment for a particular financial year, the member concerned will then be shown in the records of that branch as having completed the payment of an annual contribution for that financial year, and as being entitled to be issued with a ticket for that financial year. Receipt of-. the last instalment for a financial year may occur after 3lst July. If a person joins the Union during a financial year, and begins to make part payments of one twenty-sixth or one fifty-second of the annual contribution sum each fortnight or week, such person will not have paid the whole amount of the annual contribution (or 50% of it under rule 9A) by 31st July. No ticket w1ll be issued at that date, and such person will not appear in the branch membership records at that date as entitled to a ticket. Only if the balance of the annual contribution (or 50% under rule 9A) is paid to the Union in a lump sum before that date would such member so appear in the records. If the balance 1s not paid, further payments of instalments in the next financial year will be credited against the outstanding balance . of the previous financial year- When sufficient is ~paid to discharge the whole of the annual contribution for the previous financial year, 'the member concerned will then be shown in the branch records as entitled to a ticket for the previous financial year, and that ticket will be issued. If, therefore, a member continues only to pay instalments of one fifty-second or one twenty-sixth of the current annual contribution each week or fortnight, such member. will..continue from year to year to.be late . in completing the.- payment of annual -.contributions..-At no- time will such a member receive a ticket within the financial year to which such ticket relates, or be shown in the membership records of the branch as being entitled to such a ticket on 3lst July. The New South Wales branch of the Union has approximately 30,000 members. Approximately half of these' pay their annual contributions by weekly or fortnightly deductions from their wages of one fifty-second or one twenty-sixth of the annual contribution. In other branches, significant numbers of persons make part payments towards their annual contributions, and significant amounts of contributions are collected in respect of any one financial year without any ticket being issued during that financial year in respect of them. Some, but not by any means all, of these moneys are repaid to persons who make part payments, but fail to make sufficient payments to complete an annual contribution. The general practice when a final payment is made for an annual contribution is for the branch concerned to advise the organizer operating in the district where the particular -member is employed to issue.-a ticket to the member. Obviously some delay may occur between the making of the final payment and the actual handing of the ticket to the member. Many industries in Which members of the Union are - 10 - employed are seasonal; employment in a particular job does not continue throughout a full year. Substantial numbers of members of the Union are 'engaged in 'these industries. It 1s not known to what extent, if «any, these members ° pay annual contributions by way of lump sum, or in part payments. Some argument occurred as to the meaning of the phrase "holders of the current membership ticket" in the definition of members who are financial in rule 4(c). Mr. Shaw, who appeared for the Applicant, argued that this phrase means persons who actually have their tickets in their hands. He argued that no-one is entitled to a vote under rule 71 unless an organizer has actually handed a current membership ticket to him or her. Mr. Trew Q.C., who appeared with Mr. Hodgkinson for the Respondent, argued that the provision in rule 69 that ballots shall be taken on the membership records of the branches for the year ending 31st July in the year in which the ballot is conducted means that anyone shown in the branch records at that date as entitled to a ticket receives a ballot paper. It is not easy to decide this controversy. If the roli of voters is made up from the membership records of the branches (as it must be), whoever makes up the roll will not know whether a ticket given to an organizer for issue to a member has actually reached the member concerned. This practical problem suggests that the words "holders of the current membership ticket" in rule 4(c) should be read as meaning persons who have paid their annual contributions and are entitled to be issued with tickets. This construction, however, runs into difficulty when rule 9 is - li - examined. Rule 9 concerns admission to membership. After providing for the events which may constitute applications for membership, paragraph (a). of -the rule provides "the subsequent issuing to that person of a membership ticket prescribed by - the Rules shall constitute admission to membership of the Union". Paragraph (b) provides "once a person has been issued with a membership ticket, membership of the Union shall continue unless it is terminated in accordance with these rules". Paragraph (c) provides that "any person, who has received such ticket" may be called on by the Executive Council to justify eligibility for membership at any time. These provisions suggest that membership of the Union only commences upon actual receipt by a person of a ticket. The odd situation results whereby a person could be shown in the records of a branch of the Union as having paid the whole annual contribution, without actually having become a member. This construction of rule 9 is also in apparent conflict with the definition of "members" in rule 4(d), which is quoted above. These problems of construction appear to arise from the fact that amendments have been made piecemeal to a set of rules with - a long history. That history itself does not assist in the resolution of the problem of construction of rule 69. In the 1982-1983 rule book, rule 4 contained the following relevant definitions: "A. see (c) "Financial" means having paid all moneys due and payable under these Rules. (ad) "Financial member" means a member who has paid all contributions and dues payable under these Rules, and is entitled to the full benefits of membership in the Union." -12- Rule 13(c) provided that membership tickets should have printed on them voting slips separable from the main body of the ticket. Rule 70 provided for voting in elections by annexing the relevant voting slip to the ballot paper. In the 1983-1984 rule book, the present definition in rule 4(c) appeared, but the old definition rule 4(d) had been deleted and not replaced. Rules 13 and 70 remained as they were. In the 1984-1985 rule book, no reference at all is made to voting slips. Thus, the phrase "holders of the current membership ticket" in rule 4(c) is of recent origin. Its presence in the rules only coincided with the provisions relating to voting slips for approximately one year. It cannot therefore be suggested that the phrase has some established meaning by reference to the voting slip procedure. I incline to the view that the words "holders of the current membership ticket" in rule 4({c) mean persons who are shown in the records of a branch as entitled to a ticket. Unless this view is taken, the provisions as to the conduct of elections are unworkable; it would be extremely difficult to compile a roll of voters if the only persons entitled to be on that roll were those who had membership tickets actually delivered to them. Taking this view means that the recent provisions in rule 69 and rule 4(d) in effect override the older provisions of rule 9. -For the rules to be in such a state of inconsistency 1s' tlearly unsatisfactory. Whichever view be taken of the definition of members who are financial in rule 4(c), it is clear that there will be a significant body of members paying their annual contributions by - 13 - part payments who do not appear in the branch membership records at 3lst July as having paid the whole annual contribution, and therefore as being entitled to be issued with a ticket. Under the rules, these persons will not de 'entitled to vote. They will include some who first paid during the immediately preceding financial year, and some who first paid during previous years, but some of whose part payments in any one financial year have always been applied to the annual contribution for the previous financial year. The Applicant's challenge to the validity of the rules is based upon both s. 140(1)(a) of the Act, and s. 140(1)(c). These provisions are as follows: "140.(1) The rules of an organization- (a) shall not be contrary to, or fail to make a provision required by, a provision of this Act, the regulations or an award or otherwise be contrary to a law; (c) shall not impose upon applicants for membership, or members, of the organization, conditions, obligations or restrictions which, having regard to the objects of this Act and the purposes of the registration of organizations under this Act, are oppressive, unreasonable or unjust;" The Applicant's first argument is that the rules are contrary to or fail to make a provision required by s. 133 of the Act, and therefore contravene s. 140(1)(a). Section 133(1) requires that the rules of an organization: "Ca) shall provide for the election of the holder of each office within the association or organization either by- (i) a direct voting system; or - 14 - (ii) a collegiate electoral system being, in the case of a full time office, a one-tier collegiate electoral system;" Section 4(1)-. of the Act -:contains the following relevant definitions: weet ""Collegiate electoral system", in relation to an election for an office in an organization, means a method of election comprising a first stage, at which persons are elected to a number of offices by a direct voting system, and a subsequent stage or subsequent stages at which persons are elected by and from the persons elected at the next preceding stage;" ""Hirect voting system", in relation to an election for an office in an organization, means a method of election at which all financial members, or ail financial members included in such branch, section or other division, or in such class, as 1s appropriate, having regard to the nature of the office, are, subject to reasonable provisions with respect to enrolment, eligible to vote;" Each of these systems requires that there be, at some stage, a direct voting system in which all financial members must be eligible to vote. Reference should also be made to s. 133(1)(e), which provides that the rules of an organization: "(e) shall ensure that, subject to reasonable provisions with respect to enrolment, every financial member of the.association or organization has a right to vote at any ballot taken for the purpose of submitting a matter toa vote of the members of the association or organization, or of a branch, section or other division of the association or organization in which he is included;" Some attempt was made on behalf of the Applicant to rely on this provision as governing the content of the rules of an organization relating to the election of officers. It is plain from the structure of s. 133(1) that paragraph (a) deals with - 15 - questions of election of officers, and paragraph (e) deals with the submission of matters to plebiscites or referendums of Members of an organization. The Applicant's argument is that members who have paid to the Union all moneys required of them under the rules are financial members, and that s. 133(1)(a), coupled with the two definitions in s. 4(1) quoted above, requires that all such members be entitled to vote in elections for officers. The Respondent argues, firstly, that those who have not paid their full annual contributions by 3lst July are not financial members. The Respondent's second argument is that a requirement to pay a full annual contribution and to appear in the membership records of a branch as having done so, are reasonable conditions with respect to enrolment, within the meaning of the definition of "direct voting system" in s. 4(1). The Act itself contains no definition of "financial members". In my view, the use of that term in the definition of "direct voting system", and in s. 133(1)(e), was not intended to impose on organizations some statutory concept of financial members. It is well known that the rules of organizations frequently contain provisions as to which members will he regarded as financial. For instance, it is common for rules to provide that, unless subscriptions are paid by a particular date, a member failing to pay them is regarded as unfinancial. The reference to "financial members" first appeared in the Act in s. 133(1)(a) and (e) by virtue of Act No. 138 of 1973. Section 133(1)(a) was subsequently amended, and the definitions of - 16 - "collegiate electoral system" and "direct voting system" were first enacted by Act No. 117 of 1976. These amending enactments are to be read in the light of the common practice among organizations to make provision - in the rules defining financial members. So read, the Act recognizes that it is for an organization itself, by its rules, to decide which of its members shall be regarded as financial members. This freedom is always subject to the constraint that the rules must not impose conditions, obligations or restrictions which are oppressive, unreasonable or unjust, within the meaning of s. 140(1)(c).,. The effect of this provision on the rules of the Union is considered below. The Applicant also contended that the rules of the Union contravene s. 140(1)(a) by being contrary to or failing to make a provision required by reg. 115(1)(d)(v) of the Concrliation and Arbitration Requlations. This provision, coupled with that in reg. 115(2), requires that the rules of an organization provide for: "(v) the control of committees of the association and its branches by the members of the association and the members of the branches, respectively;" It was argued that, if a substantial number of members of an organization are not entitled to vote at all, they have no power to control committees of the organization or the branches. In Boland v. Munro ..(1980) 48 F.L.R. 66 at page 80, Evatt and Northrop JJ. said: "Whenever a question arises whether the rules of an organization fail to provide for the control of the committees of the organization by the members of the -17- organization it is necessary to consider the whole of the rules of the organization, the method of electing the committees, the term of office of the members of the committee and the powers of members in general meeting." The Applicant did not attempt an: examination of the whole of 'the - rules of the Union for the purpose of demonstrating that they fail to make adequate provision for control of committees by members. Instead, the argument was based on one feature only of the rules. In the light of the majority judgment in Boland v. Munro, I do not regard it as legitimate to challenge the rules under the combined effect of s. 140(1)(a) of the Act and (reg. 115(1)(d)(v) of the Regulations by relying only upon that one feature. The challenges to the rules based ons. 140{1)(a) are therefore rejected. In dealing with s. 140(1)(c), different considerations arise. The concentration is upon the actual effect of the rules upon members, against the background of the objects of the Act and the purposes.of the registration of organizations under' the Act... The effect of the rules of the Union is that a significant number of members will pay to the Union all that is required of them by the rules with respect to contributions, and will not be entitled to a vote, in some cases for periods of years, The Applicant argues that this' failure to provide a vote constitutes a condition or.restriction which is oppressive, unreasonable or unjust. The Respondent's first argument is that the rules do not "impose" upon members any condition, obligation or restriction; all that they do is to give a member the option of paying his or - 18 - her annual contribution by part payments instead of ina lump sum. The consequence of election to pay in part payments is the possible loss of entitlement to vote. Secondly, the Respondent argues that there is nothing -oppressive;.unreasonable or unjust about rules which require the payment of contributions by reference to an annual sum, or about rules that require that whole sum to be paid by a certain date, only a short time before a ballot opens, as a condition of entitlement to vote. It 1s certainly true that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with requiring payment of an annual contribution as a condition of being financial. Nor does a provision closing the records of an organization a reasonable time before a ballot commences necessarily contravene the Act. In the circumstances of the Union, which is a large organization, the closing of the records on 31st July in respect of a ballot which 1s required to commence before lst September in the same year is not unreasonable. In Leveridge v. Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (1977) 31 F.L.R. 385, and Lovell v. Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Employees' Union of Australia (1978) 35 F.L.R. 60, rules of organizations which, on their face, were valid were held to contravene s. 140(1)(c) because of the circumstances in which they operated. Both these cases concerned organizations with a high turnover of membership; in the light of such high turnover, rules requiring ' candidates for certain offices to have been members for particular periods were held to be in contravention. In the latter case, a rule requiring a certain period of continuous financial membership as a condition of eligibility to stand for office was held to contravene in - 19 - circumstances where the methods of collection of dues by the organization concerned made it possible for members unwittingly to fall into arrears. Following those two cases, it is necessary to look beyond the mere text of the provisions of the rules of the Union. As I have pointed out previously, members of the Union are likely to find part payment schemes attractive, and the Union benefits from those schemes. It is reasonable both for the Union to offer such schemes, and for members to desire them. The number of members who do in fact avail themselves of such schemes is significant. There is no evidence of any practice to inform new members undertaking to pay their annual contributions by part payments that they will be required to pay the balance of an annual contribution before 3list July in order to be entitled to vote. Nor is there any evidence that members who do opt to make part payments receive an account for the balance of their annual contributions in advance of 3lst July, to enable them to pay such balance by that date. Nothing in the rules requires that new members be given any such warning or that any such account be sent. Indeed, it is only after a difficult process, involving the reading and construing of several rules from various parts of the rule book, some of which are obscure, that the conclusion 1s reached as to which members are entitled to vote. As is pointed out above, a member making part payments may continue for years without ever paying a full annual contribution by the required date, and would never receive a ballot paper in any normal election. There is, therefore, a restriction on the rights of a sizeable body of members of the Union, namely that they are not -~ 20 - entitled to vote. That restriction is one which is not applicable to those who pay their~ annual contributions by lump sums. For instance, a member who joins shortly before 31st July, and pays 50% of:an annual contribution pursuant to rule'9A, will be entitled to a vote, whereas a member who joins early in the financial year and makes part payments on a weekly or fortnightly basis, falling just short of the whole annual sum, will not. Having regard to the objects of the Act (especially the object found in s. 2(f), which concerns the democratic control of organizations and the full participation by members in the affairs of organizations) and the purposes of registration of organizations under the Act (especially the purpose of the representation of the industrial interests of members in the conciliation and arbitration system), the restriction imposed 15 unreasonable. It would, therefore, be proper to make a declaration of a kind contemplated by s. 140(5D) of the Act. Mr. Trew submitted that, in the event that the Court found that the rules of the Union were in contravention of s. 140 of the Act, the Court should exercise the power found ins. 140(6) to adjourn the proceedings for the purpose of giving the Union an opportunity to alter its rules. Mr. Shaw did not oppose this submission. In my view, the case is a proper -one for the exercise of the power to adjourn. I therefore propose to adjourn both matters before: the Court until Friday, 15th March 1985 for the purpose of enabling the-Union to alter its rules. If upon the matter being. mentioned on that date, there is a need for further adjournment for the completion of the amendment process, consideration can be given to that need. - 21 -