SCENE IN COURT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 305, 19 August 1932, Page 5

SCENE IN COURT

CROWD'S DEMONSTRATION Rec. Aug. 18, 5.5 p.m. Miami, August 17. The verdict setting Captain Lancaster free, precipitated the court:;om into a demonstration which ireatened to go beyond the control :f the bailiff. Fashionably gowned women shriek:d with delight and almost pandemonim followed. The bailiff, commons, ieputies and police vainly strove to iontrol Ihe crowd which surged togrd the free man in an effort to jrasp his hand. One portly matron, who had been ainterested spectator since the start d the trial, moaned aloud and sank :ick in her chair gasping with de:jlt. She did not know Lancaster. In the midst of the uproar, there p.s a deathlike stillness as Captain jncaster clasping and unclasping his mds stepped before the jurors in :eir box, and said, 'Gentlemen you ive been very patient with my case. ou had to listen during a long trial jmany things. I want to give you ijr heartfelt thanks for exonerating ;e." Captain Lancaster bowed, stepped xay and tried to return to the chair ;cupied since he was placed .on trial, t was prevented by the renewed nge of the spectators. "I am delighted with my acquittal," i said to newspaper men as they lemptod to talk to him above the :ar of the crowd. Mrs Keith Miller was absent when :e verdict was reached but she quickj heard in an adjoining office. "I am ielighted, I knew old Bill would ::me through," she cried. Captain Lancaster a few minutes iter niade his way to the press Sle and dictated the following itement. "My immediate plans are ;go home to rest for a few days. Sfter tliat my first desire is to find ijob." _ "Do your present plans include Miller?" he was asked. "Please hnot ask me that now," he said, "I ■) not know what my answer would ij,"

into force to-morrow the terms of the proposed agreement, which was submitted to the secret ballot by the watersiders and objected to by an overwhelming majority. About ten coastal and fen-y steamers will require labour at Wellington to-morrow. Neither the officials of the Waterside Workers' Federation nor those at Wellington, would make a statement to-day, but as far as could be ascertained, no trouble is anticipated when the labour calls are made.