A "GIGANTIC CONSPIRACY."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 23 December 1911, Page 5

A "GIGANTIC CONSPIRACY."

EXPLOITING THE PUBLIC. COAL AND SHIP OWNERS HEAVILY , FINED. By Cable —Press Associa tion —Copyrign Received 22, 10 p.m. Sydney, December 22. •Judge Isaacs concluded the delivery of the coal vend judgment. He convicted all thirty-nine defendants of the several offences charged against them, ami ordered each to pay a fine, of £SOO, with the exception of the Associated Northern Colliery, because its individual members were amongst those fined. He granted an injunction restraining defendants from a repetition or continuance of the several offences whereof they were convicted, and ordered defendants to pay plaintiffs' costs. On the application of the colliery proprietors he granted a stay of proceedings in connection with the penalties pending the hearing of an appeal. In the course of his summing up. Judge Isaacs referred to the combination as a "gigantic conspiracy." It was. he said, difficult to say how much the public were being overcharged for coal, but the figures indicated that the total improperly gathered in by the united efforts of the colliery and shipping companies reached a very high figure. Besides a detriment to the public in regard to price, there was a restriction in the choice of coal. The, vend and shipping companies looked to the advantage of no one but their own. This they followed up wherever they could and to the greatest possible distance. Defenduits gathered to themselves a giant's •trc-ngth, and used it as a giant not only gainst the public but on all who stood ir endeavored to stand between them and the public. The fines imposed, which were the statutory limit, total £10.500.