A RALLY AND A FIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 193, 15 August 1911, Page 5

A RALLY AND A FIGHT.

STICKS, STONES, AHD BOTTLES. RIOT ACT BEAU LONS»ON, Ailgust 14. Fifty thousand niev. attendtd a trade union rally organised by the National Transport Workers' Federation in Liverpool yesterday. Xiie police sought to remove some youths from a dangerous position on a window sill. Tlis wad the spark that started a riot lasting ail afternoon and well into the night. Ggly rushes were made on the jolice, wio with a small force were unaDle to clear L'«ji>-street, and took refuge behind the iron gates of the railway station. The moo resisted the baton charges -with sticks, stones, bottles, and bolts, and after hand-to-hand fighting they stormed the station, burst in the gates, and demolished the hoardings, ripphg them up for weapons. The railway staff kept the rioters at bay with a fire hose until the police were reinforced. The mob attacked the reaforcements with renewed energy, and the Riot Act was read. SCOTS GREYS TO THE FRONT. Detachments of Scots Greys and WaT. wickshires appeared, and the police again charged, scores of men fatting under their truncheons. The police were assailed with showery of bricks and bottles, and many were injured and had to be carried away to the hospital, the scene of the right resembling a shambles. St. George's Square was cleared, and the rioters reassembled in the Islington district, and erected barricades and lit fires in the streets to impede the movements of the mounted police. The rioters from the housetops rained 'bricks and tiles on the police. They also attacked a number of firemen while they were quenching a supposed incendiary fire. HOTEL SMASHING. The hotels in the strike area were closed, and hooligans retaliated by smashing the windows of shops /and hotels. A van containing ginger beer was seized, and the bottles used as ammunition. A hundred and fifty civilians and 40 police had to be treated in the hospitals, after first aid had been rendered at the station, which was converted into a field hospital, the injuries consisting of broken limbs and uglv head wounds. One policeman had his jaw smashed with a bottle, and another will probably lose a leg.

Superintendent Bolton was critically injured. Guerilla warfare in many thorough fares still continues. RAILWAY UNREST. The railwaymen are seething with unrest, the storm centre at present being Manchester, where a general railway strike is threatened to-night unless the men's demands are granted. The goods shed employees and carters in the service of the Great 'Western Company at Bristol have resolved to strike for higher wages and the revision of hours, and the Deeds men are next Sunday to consider the question of a general strike. The engineers of the Great Central demand an all-round increase of 4/ weekly, otherwise they will strike, and 2000 London railwaymen have decided to strike on Saturday unless a settlement is meanwhile effected. TROUBLE IN GLASGOW. Mr. Ben. Tillett stated that over SO per cent of the transport workers in London are returning to work to-day. He boasted that they had got at the British public throuffh their stomachs. The Transport Federation advise members only to work with men holding the federation ticket. Employers state that they will not refuse to employ non-federationists. Serious disorders in Glasgow followed a mass meeting of tramway strikers. The police and trajnway officials were attacked, and many injured. The tracks were obstructed with stones, cars derailed, and windows smashed. Over 150 cars were damaged. A SIGNIFICANT REMARK. (Received 10.20 a.m.) BERLIN, August 14. The "Zeit," commenting on the effect of the strike on food supplies, pointedly remarks that Britain has a vulnerable spot. INTERNATIONAL STRIKES. (Received 10.15 a.m.) VIENNA, August 14. Tlie International Trade Union Congress at Buda Pesth has accepted the Swiss proposal for international support for an affiliated federation strike.