UNEMPLOYED MEETINGS

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1930, Page 5

UNEMPLOYED MEETINGS

CHARGES OF OBSTRUCTING TRAFFIC. (By Telegraph—Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, October 3. Ten men were charged to-day with holding an uneinplrtyed meeting in Garratt Street without a permit. One of them said that lie had been jockeyed between the City Council and the Police Department in regard to an application for a permit, and he had pi°ceeded without one. An appeal was made to Magistrate Page that they looked to him for justice. Mr Page disclaimed any intention of entering into the merits or demerits of the claims of those who held meetings. All he had to decide was the question of obstruction, and he thought there had been reasonable obstruction. In regard to the laying of the charges, he did not look upon, the charge as a serious one, and would impose a fine on only one individual, as it was an organisation which held the meeting. He picked on John Sandford, the chairman of one meeting for £3, and gave him a month to pay, as Sandford said that he).was "broke” and did not know when he would be in work, and the Unemployed Organisation also was "broke”. A man named Eley Hitikin, who was chairman of another meeting, was similarly dealt with.