RASBERT TURNER, Star Writer

Michael Daley smiled broadly after being told he was fined $40 or three months' hard labour when he appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court charged with breaches of the Gun Powder and Explosive Act.

The Spanish Town resident smiled after he was sentenced by Resident Magistrate Marcia Dunbar-Greeen on Monday.

The RM then explained to the arresting officer that the sentence is all the RM court is empowered to impose. ''This is the extent of the penalty that can be handed down in this offence. It is the law, however, it may seem,'' Dunbar-Green said.

The court was told that on Christmas Eve Daley was seen in Spanish Town bursting firecrackers. He was accosted and during a search, 37 packages of firecracker were found in his possession. He was subsequently arrested and charged.