AN APPEAL LODGED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 57, 4 September 1914, Page 2

AN APPEAL LODGED

THE TROUBLE ON THE TROOPSHIPS. Those seamen on the troopships Ora-ri and Limerick who refused duty last Fri.day, have decided not to bow to the decision of Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, S.M., who held yesterday that the action, was not justified. At a meeting they decided to appeal to the Supreme Court, not on general facts, but on points of law. In the meantime they are working on the ships. The cases were called on again to day in order to fix what penalty should be imposed on the convicted men. Mr. J. F. W. Dickson, counsel for the defendants, explained the men's attitude. In view of ths important question involved he asked leave to appeal on genera] grounds, but his Worship said that this was not possible, as the penalty was only a small one. Leave to appeal was granted, surety being fixed at £16 16s. Mr. Dickson asked his Worship to treat all the cases as a test case, and to impose as light a. fine as possible. Mr. M. Myers (for the New Zealand Shipping Company) : 1 would not have pressed for any penalty had the men been willing to accept the situation a-nd shown themselves satisfied with the £2 per month gratuity offered by the Government. Each of the twenty-five defendants was fined £1, in default two d*ys in gaol. No costs were allowed against them.