THE BURTON BLOCK .
A Case dismissed Wellington, March 1(3 As B sequel to she recent trouble on the waterfront with regard to the use of the Burton block, a number of mm were charged at toe Magistrate s Court to-day with committing a breach of the war regulations. Jn giving hj.s decision in the charge against Reynolds, the Magistrate Mr Reid S.M. said that the whole quertisn was whether theast of dafeodiat was done with tho intention of delaying the veisel or in the reasonable belief that the gear w»b dofec i/a. “ I mast say,” said Mr Reid, “ after healing all tha evidence that thera ii a great deal to be said in favour of the argument that there was a reasonable fear that the gear was defective. Reynolds is charged with doing an act intended to prevent the loadiug of a vessel. He was asked to use gear he had seen used some months before which had otae near to having very serious consequences He l.a'l been working on the STv-iy, and hid also heard of .an * accident that was caused by the gear, but there was uo doubt that tho ge r used on the Solway was Burton gear. Had he reasonable ground for believing the gear to be uuaafe ? If be had. be was justified in rsfusing to work with it. I cannot hold that he was guilty of deliberately committing an act intended to impede the vessel. In the c roumstanoes, it was saffiiisnt to have bad a reasonable anspicion or fear on his part that this gear was not safe. It could not be said that the reason given by defendant for refusing to work was a mere pretence. On those grounds the information will be dismissed.
Mr Mecassey said be understood that the ruling was that defendant had reason to believe that the gear was not safe, and asked if thi3 would apply to the other cases, The Magistrate replied that if the Other defendants had the same reason the ruling would apply to (heir cases also, but he was only dealing with one case at present.
The other cases in respect to tho Maori and obargea against thirty-five men for refusing to work on the Kittawa were sat cbwn for hearing on March 27,
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Hokitika Guardian, 20 March 1917, Page 4
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381THE BURTON BLOCK . Hokitika Guardian, 20 March 1917, Page 4
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