Mexborough & Swinton Times — December 1, 1893
A Hard Case
Another Example of Magisterial Mercy
George Ackroyd, a collier, of Denaby, was charged with hawking coal at Braithwell on Nov. 18th without the proper weighing instruments, and without being duly registered to deal in coal as required by the Act.
Mr. C. Hall defended.
For the prosecution it was stated that the defendant had a pony and cart containing coal, which he delivered in bags, purporting to contain a hundredweight, and for which he charged 1s. 6d. He had no weighing machine in his cart, and was not registered.
For the defence, Mr. Hall said that only a technical breach of the Act had been committed, and pleaded that if the costs of the summons were paid justice would be met in the case. The people with whom he had traded had signed a requisition in his favour. He had a large family, and during the lock-out, instead of going round begging, he was at the trouble of taking coal round to people who could not otherwise get an ounce of it, and he sold it at a low figure.
Evidence was called to show that the defendant had had the coal weighed in the village before selling it, and a witness, named John Lawrence, of Braithwell, gave him a good character.
The Chairman said it did not seem a very serious offence, but still though no fraud might have been committed on the public, the defendant had undoubtedly broken the law.
He would have to pay a fine of 30s. including costs.