Very True.

Manawatu Herald, 28 April 1892, Page 2

Very True.

m One of the tramway strikers, George Edward Davis by name, appeared on summons before Mr Kenny, R.M., at the Magistrate's Court on Friday, says the Post, to explain the reason why he had disobeyed an order of the Court under which he was compelled to contribute towards the maintenance of his wife and infant child. Defendant admitted having fallen in arrear with his payments, but attributed it to a recent illness, and the loss of his employment through the tramway strike. He had been accustomed to earn £9 a month as a tram driver, but was now earning nothing, and his only income was £1 a week which he derived from strike pay. If he complied with the order, it would only leave him 6s a week to live on. His Worship remarked that it was perfectly scandalous the number of cases of this kind which occurred in Wellington, and he would certainly make an example of the first person who was unable to justify his default. If a man of defendant's stamp chose to put himself out of the way of earning a livelihood, he was responsible for the act, and should not be allowed to leave his wife to the mercies of public charity. His Worship said he only refrained from committing defendant to prison at once because such a course would involve his family in further suffering, but he would convict him of disobeying the order, and allow a month for payment of arrears.