REDUCED TO £2.

Grey River Argus, 7 June 1922, Page 8

REDUCED TO £2.

MR W. BALDERSTONE’S FINE. The fine inflicted on Mr W. Balderstone by Mr W. Meldrum, S.M., some months ago, was yesterday reduced from £25 to £2. Tho ease in which Mr W. Balderstone, Secretary of the Blackball Miners’ Union, was proceeded against by tho Labour Department and fined £25 for "inciting and instigating a seditious strike ’ ’ became the subject of an appeal by Mr P. J. O’Regan (defendant’s counsel) over the definition of "a worker." The Arbitration Court, in this ease the Court of Appeal, deemed Mr Balderstone "a worker,” and the case thus came within the section whereunder the maximum penalty is £lO. Yesterday the case was referred back to Mr W. Meldrum, the presiding Magistrate, for re-adjustment of the fine. Mr W. J. Joyce, instructed by Mr O’Rogan, appeared in support of the application for a. reduction in the fine, and stated the Blackball mine had not been working full time of late, and Balderstone was paid on a scale in accordance with the men’s earnings. He would ask the Bench to take this into consideration, together with the fact that Mr Balderstone was only a working man. Mr J. Lowden appeared for tho Labour Department, and asked for the full penalty. He stated the Blackball miners were at present restricting their earning power and — Tho S.M.: That matter cannot be gone into hero. Mr Lowden: I have heard also the Miners’ Union has decided to pay all fines. The S.M.: That is inadmissible too. The Bench, in giving his decision, stated that the fine of £25 had been inflicted with the consideration that Balderstone was not "a worker.” This consideration was now disposed of, and ho would take into account tho fact that defendant was before the Court for the first time. The fine would bo reduced to £2 with witnesses’ expen-