FOR DEMONSTRATING.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 283, 28 November 1919, Page 5

FOR DEMONSTRATING.

TWO STRIKERS EXITED. CONFECTIONER ALSO ARRAIGNED. GETS BENEFIT OF DOUBT. Several incidents of the butchers' strike were ventilated before Mr. Hunt, S.M., this morning. C George Mills was arraigned on two a' charges, one of booing and the other fol- 1 lowing Edward Wilkins, shop manager p at Hellaby's Queen Street establishment. c< According to Sub-Inspector Wohlmann t< the incident happened in Queen Street d on tihe day of the big demonstration out- a side Messrs. Hellaby's shop. Wilkins was IJ escorting two young ladies, employees i S of Hellaby's, to the Ferry wharf, when the accused interfered. Mills was not aj a butcher nor a member of the Butchers' Id Union. j a Constable Fisher reiterated the story in I n detail, stating that accused was in the t crowd when he came under witness' y notice. Another member of the force corroborated. Mr. O'Sullivan, far Mills, stated that his client was a large property owner and a confectioner by trade. He submitted that the police were excited by the turn affairs were taking and consequently made a mistake regarding Mills. The accused in evidence said that he was in Queen Street to meet a land agent to go and see a property at Birkdale, but they did not go, and later he followed several hundred yards behind a crowd that was making for the Wharf. ] He had never been a trades unionist, nor x had he any trade interest in the K butchery trade. To the Sub-Inspector: He followed 1 the crowd because he thought that either a theft was at foot or that there < was a fire. It was because he heard someone call out: "Stop him! Stop him!" t that he thought a thief was being pur- '< sued. He admitted attending open-air i labour meetings in Customs Street fairly j regularly, in fact, on every occasion that | the weather permitted. He likewise took n lan interest in prohibition meetings. He ] i wa3 a good listener but never spoke from 1 j the box. i Thomas Seanlon. butcher, admitted I being a striker. He was in company j with Mills when the crowd was in front of Hellaby's. and they remained together I for some time. Mills did not take an jopen part in the demonstration. | Aaron Emanuel, manager of a loan | and finance company, said he had been subpoenaed by the accused, but he did . , not know what for. When he eaw , I Mills the latter was standing at the . corner of Queen and Customs Streets. The crowd had passed along the road. To the Magistrate: Mills did not appear to be excited. Both charges were dismissed, the j Magistrate remarking that the police migiht have made a mistake. Mills was not directly interested '.n the strike. APPLICATION FROM SUB-INSPECTOR Sub-Inspector Wohlmann applied for a written decision. The Magistrate replied that the two constables had stated that the man was in the crowd, while the man refuted the statement. There was a doubt, and he gave the accused the benefit of it. Mills was not a striker. It was for the police ;to prove conclusively that Mills had committed the breaches. This closed the discussion. A BOOER. ; Arising out of the same demonstration . j Augustus Overington, a young married i; butcher and striker, was also charged j [ with booing. The accused, for whom Mr. j , D'.ckson appeared, was fined £2 and 9/ costs. i ON THE FIRST DAY. Another striker, Isaac Hall, was '■ charged with endeavouring to entice • Wilkins away from work. The incident " was alleged to have taken place on the '' first day of the strike. Hall resorting to r calling "out to Wilkins. —