THE SLAUGHTERMEN’S STRIKE

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8759, 9 March 1907, Page 2

THE SLAUGHTERMEN’S STRIKE

A Deadlock-

Men Will Not Pay FinesPet Press 'Viaocintion Invercargill, March 8, The position as regards tho strike is somewhat reversed locally. Recently there wero sheep and no men, now there are men ana no sheep. At Mataura a full board of 14 butchers is available, and they expected to start on Saturday.- They would _ have 1 started to-day if sheep had been available! At Wallacetown butchers are being enThe position at Ocean Beach is unchanged. Seven c£ the Mataura men are ex-strikers. The slaughtermen hold a meeting to-morrow for the purpose, it is said, of considering another filler by the companies; The comjmnies say nothing about an offer, and stale that they abide by tho original proposals. Wellington, March 8. Cabinet is to meet to-morrow to consider the position regarding the refusal of tho Canterbury slaughtermen to pay the fines imposed on them by the Arbitration Court. Interviewed on the subject to-night by a Times representative, tho Hon.’ Mr Findlay, Attorney-General, said in regard to the question whether tho machinery of the Act is so defective as to permit of its violation with impunity, it narrows itself down to this: Can those who have struck, and have been fined, bo imprisoned for non-payment of their fines? This question can. he answered without the slightest hesitation in the affirmative. The law is perfectly clear that those who Strike shall he guilty of an offence and shall he liable to a fine.It will he remembered that it is not a debt within the meaning of the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act. For default in payment of any penalty, or of any sum in tho nature of a penalty, it is expressly excepted from that Act. ThS protection, then, of tho Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Act is not given to the defendants here. The procedure is by way of a motion for attachment on the filing and service of which the defendant has an opportunity of shewing that he has paid the fine, and if he has not done so he may be sent to prison for a period not exceeding one year. The powers of the law in punishing a man convicted of taking part in a strike and failing to pay the fine imposed upon him are exceedingly wide, and I know of no rule which would prevent the Supreme Court from committing a man, whose fine is not paid, to prison for such term less than a year at the Court may think fit. lam informed the fines already imposed amount to over £7OO, and it is quite clear that if each man who joins in the strike may he fined £lO, as is allowed by the Act, and in default of payment may be sent to gaol for a substantial term. The Act furnishes a deterrent which most responsible and sensible- men would not treat lightly. lam not the Minister for Labour, and in this connection my duty mainly Res in advising the Government. The Minister for Labour and the Acting-Premier have both spoken, and their determination to enforce the law has already been unequivocally declared.