GREAT MUSTER OF MINERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 851, 20 December 1929, Page 1

GREAT MUSTER OF MINERS

To Rothbury Pit Again FEDERAL COURT STEPS IN Men Ordered to Start Work United I*.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Received 10.55 a.m. SYDNEY, Today. AT Rothbury, a meeting of the representatives of the whole of the Northern mining lodges decided to go again to the Rothbury mine on a greater scale and in a different manner from that of the previous occasion. Other decisions made were a boycott against any industrial company or firms supplying foodstuffs to the free labourers and the police.

It was decided that all men should be withdrawn from the whole of the unassociated collieries on the Northern fields, and that every lodge picket Us respective mines on Monday next. The police confiscated 12,000 military cartridges front the Cessnock Rifle Club for the public safety. Branxton shopkeepers, fearing a boycott, refused to serve policemen who arrived in the town.

The chief development yesterday in the dispute was the action of Mr. Justice Beeby in the Federal Arbitration Court, in ordering an immediate resumption of work at all the idle mines, under the conditions and rates of pay in

force before the stoppage. Legal argument occupied several hours. Counsel for the Commonwealth Government and Miners' Federation produced affidavits setting forth that: a grave industrial dispute existed In New South Wales and Vic--

toria as the result of the “miners being locked out since March 2 last.”

Mr. A. B. Shaqd, counsel for the coalowners, contended that the court had no jurisdiction to intervene. An officer of the New South Wales Department of Justice submitted that as the State Government was not a party to any miners’ award, it could not now be joined as a respondent in any Arbitration Court proceedings. Mr. Justice Beeby interjected: “To be quite candid, I am acting under the court’s extraordinary powers. I have formed the opinion that the only way to save the Commonwealth from a very disastrous upheavel is to restore the status quo, as in March last.” He then ordered the resumption of work as from 10 a.m. tomorrow, but it was not expected that the men would resume work as instructed. Meanwhile, the Premier of New South Wales, Mr. T. R. Bavin, announces that the Crown Solicitor has been instructed to apply to the High Court of Australia for a writ of prohibition to restrain the Federal Arbitration Court from attempting to exercise jurisdiction over the State Government. Mr. Bavin added that work at the Rothbury collieries would continue until it was ascertained how the law stood with regard to the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Court. JOCK GARDEN AGAIN WRIT ISSUED AGAINST NEWSPAPER Reed. 12.25 p.m. SYDNEY. Today. On behalf of J. Garden, secretary of the Trades and Labour Council, a writ has been issued out of the Supreme Court against Smith’s Newspapers, Limited, claiming £5,000 damages iu respect of an article dealing with Garden’s attitude during the Rothbury trouble.