Merchant faces court charges

A Stirling businessman appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on a charge relating to the housing of Irish potato pickers, the Observer of November 1919 reported.

William Stevenson, a grain and potato merchant from Forth Street, had without giving proper notice, allowed the workers to stay in an empty shed within an old woollen mill at the rear of Regent Street, Kincardine-on-forth.

The accused’s firm were growers of potatoes in a number of parts of Scotland and employed a large number of Irish workers to lift the crop.

A solicitor, on behalf of Mr Stevenson, said his client was unaware he had to notify officials of the intention to use the mill building for accommodation.

During the proceedings, it was stated 38 people were staying in one area of the factory, and their bedding comprised just straw and blankets.

Solicitor William Burt, prosecuting, said the accommodation was an `empty shed’ and the only separation between the sexes was that women occupied one side of the shed and the men the other.

Having heard that the workers had been moved out of the mill, Sheriff Umpherston decided not to impose a fine but ordered the accused to pay expenses.

• Meanwhile, Robert Molland junior, 16, from Denny, was at Stirling Sheriff Court, fined £3 (£150 in today’s money) for breaching pit regulations by riding on one of the wagons used to help bring coal to the surface.

Robert was said to have jumped on the truck at Herbertshire Pit, Denny, without management’s permission.