ALLEGED SUBVERSIVE STATEMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 241, 13 October 1942, Page 6

ALLEGED SUBVERSIVE STATEMENTS

JURY DISAGREES IN CASE DAIRY FACTORY WORKERS’ UNION SECRETARY CHARGED (P.A.) Palmerston N„ Oct. 12. At the trial of Charles Gough, secretary of the Wellington branch of the Dairy Factory Workers’ Union, who was alleged to have made subversive statements at Oroua Downs dairy factory on February 24, the jury disagreed and an application for a new trial was granted. Crown witnesses stated that Gough called them slaves for working for £4 10s a week when their cobbers in Wellington got £lO for half the work they did, and also told them if they liked to strike for one day they would wield more power than the watersiders, coal-miners and freezing workers. Accused, on the other hand, denied using the word “strike” and said the allegations were a gross misrepresentation of the facts. However, he had told them they must come for a showdown, by which he meant any stand the workers might take after the war. In his address to the jury, Mr. W. P. Bollings, counsel for accused, suggested that Gough's defence had been prejudiced by the long delay in bringing the case to the Court. Months had elapsed following the completion of police inquiries. Meanwhile memories had failed and men had left the factory. The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, also commented on the delay, saying it should not have happened. He did not see any reason why the proceedings had not been taken promptly. A police witness said the AttorneyGeneral’s notice to proceed with the orosecution was only received two or days before the lapse of the six months’ time limit.