THE GOVERNMENT COLLECTS ITS FINE
The strike, after lasting about three months, was brought to a close. The dismissed men were reinstated; the half-hour for “crib” time incorporated into the Statutes of the Dominion, together with an amendment to the Mines Act, which provides that any official of a mine using abusive language to a miner underground renders himself liable to prosecution.
We had not been back at work very long before the authorities issued “distress warrants against members of the Union for payment of the fine of £75 imposed on the Union. A bailiff visited Blackball, and seized furniture and effects to the value of £125 in satisfaction of the fine. He spent about three days on the job with a driver and cart. The bailiff’s taste seemed to run to sewing machines, bicycles, and chests of drawers. A sale of property was duly advertised, with the bailiff as auctioneer. On the day of the sale (which took place in the street) the miners stopped work and attended in a body. Many visitors from adjoining villages were also present.
Before the sale commenced, I somewhat rudely pushed the bailiff from his rostrum, and, mounting it, outlined the facts in connection with the seizure of the household goods, and informed the gathering that if they imagined that they would be able to secure bargains they would be very quickly disillusioned. “For,” I remarked, “we will not only deal with you when you bid, but after you have bidden.” A group of young miners, headed by the late Jim Bowers (a boxer of some note) had already been “sworn in” to handle prospective bargain-hunters.
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