"SHOOT US DOWN"

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12903, 7 September 1907, Page 11

"SHOOT US DOWN"

_ .FORNEY-GENERAL MISTHE " JUJPRESEXTED.

arbitral 10 * COURT FINES - (sPl CIAt TO "THE FRKSS.") September 6. "There i« a man ' n tae otner Houee v ;« aomz to shoot us down—the who 1S » = ~ .... • .j Hon- Dr. Fiudl«y," interjected a member of the Trades and Labour Council's deputation which waited on the Minister far Laoou-r on Thursday in connection with the amendment of the Conciliation and Arbitration Act. This statement waa dealt wiUi in the Legi»laitvo Council this afternoon by the iion. Dr. Findiuy, who said he would not have troubled the Council by any roiet-eiu-o u> the siaieiiiuit nacl ie not tuat aoiueuuw or otner that impji.*>iou wia not conuneu u> the muiutor oi cue deputation wiio matte it, but tuat it liiKl gainwl soiuovvAat wiao currency. It \vu3 true that when tuo suioment wae made, his friend the lion. J. Rigg—as one would have ox-pte-ted him to do—at once stated that no (Or. Jj'indlay) had been improperly reported. Hβ desired to say mat tao statement was obv.ouaiy so outrageous tliat it was due to himself that he 6hould give it the most unqualified deniut. (Hear, hear.) In pago 141 of "i-iansard"' would bo found what he hail said. It wae that wlie.ro there was v revolt—he was illustrating the power of tho law—the harsh method ot the it Lot Act should be employed. Obviously h<; was roi-eriing to an insurrection which menaced tibo lives of the coimniKwty. ".biit,' , continued the At-torney-Gi':ip.Ml, "the ki»t thing in the world I dreamt oi «vat» tliat such a barbarous, brutal method should be ndoptvd to eiiioico lines payable in a summary way. I coitoidurod that tho measure of imprisonment for noui-pay-ment of fines was unduly ajid improperly harsh. It is truo at that time there was but that method open, and I said I believed some means should be devieed loss harsh in \te character than imprison men. (A voice: 'Yon diil). I tliink I made it plain and I -will mnko it still plainer, that I inn opposed to the imprisonment of •wwkors who do not pay their fines. - ' The Attorney-General added that he personally never used tho words attributed to him. They ■\vevn never in his mind. They ivere outrageous, and no self-respecflag man would ns© ench mi expression in regard to workers who had erred merely tho provisions of an award. Hp trusted t3i.it he would receive the fairp!ny of being credited with this correction, fie was not on© of those Mho wns afrnid to stand T>y what ho had snirl, but everyone wanted to be protected aflniiii-t misreprespntntion, and ho felt sure thnt every permn who beard him would, like tho Won. J. Rigx. .stale thnt what he had said was so. (Applause.)