FEELING OF ANXIETY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17146, 31 December 1929, Page 7

FEELING OF ANXIETY

N.S.W COAL CRISIS SENSATIONAL RUMORS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—Unit«d Press Aasß.) (Received Dec. 31, 10 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 31. Mr. Justice Rich proceeded with the hearing of the coal award challenge. On the application of counsel it was agreed to carry on as if the whole case had been heard by Mr. Justice Rich. The Commonwealth Government's right of intervention was allowed after a long argument, the judge noting an objection by counsel for Northern Collieries, Ltd. News from the Rothbury locality to-day suggests a feeling of anxiety. Stories of an armed battalion of militant miners descending on the mine compound to drive out volunteer workmen created consternation in the little totvn of Brixton, but the rumors have not been confirmed, and moderate me'i are known to be 1 doing their utmost to keep the strikers pacified, pending the Full Court's decision on the award challenge next week. The police do not credit wild statements about the men being armed when the next clash, with the authorities comes. Pickets to-day patrolled roads passing the Rothbury mine property, but all is quiet in the mine itself. There is wonderment concerning when the coal»trucks are going to move. GRIM REPORTS MEN ARMED FOR BATTLE ' 'A DANGEROUS LOCALITY'' (Received December 31, noon) 'NEWCASTLE, Dec. 31. Grim reports that the miners are organising in secret for an armed return to Rothbury are again circulating in the coalfields. The Herald says some early morning in the near future will see the arrival of a band of picked men at the gates of the mine, according to reports from interested quarters. "I have been sworn in to-day to fight if necessary," was the remarkable statement of one of the South Maitland Lodge members, while discussing the position. The same man declared that despite a police search of miners' homes he still had a gun. Others were similarly placed. "I am under a vow to be there when events begin," was another man's declaration. One miner declared, after warning pressmen to avoid Rothbury as a dangerous locality for the next few weeks, that the public would know all about the labor defence corps before the coalfields quietened down.