  We report a deep search for 21 cm emission/absorption from the $z \sim 0.101$
candidate damped Lyman-$\alpha$ system towards PKS 0439-433, using the
Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). The spectrum shows a weak absorption
feature --- at the $3.3 \sigma$ level --- which yields a lower limit of 730 K
on the spin temperature of the system. No HI emission was detected: the
$3\sigma$ upper limit on the HI mass of the absorber is $2.25 \times 10^9
M_{\odot}$, for a velocity spread of $\sim 70$ km s$^{-1}$. The low HI mass and
the high spin temperature seem to rule out the possibility that the absorber is
a large gas-rich spiral galaxy.
