RIOT OR ORDER?

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 72, 21 September 1912, Page 4

RIOT OR ORDER?

Those strikers of Waihi who have exercised a right to go to gaol and declined to be persuaded from choosing a change of air at Mount Eden, are the subject of many "calls" and "demands" to the Government from "public meetings,," but the Minister of Justice^ the Hon. A. L. Herdman, has firmly announced that he will not recommend the Government to interfere in any way with the proper administration o{ justice. Why should the Government interfere with the "liberty of the subject" in the matter of imprisonment? The strikers were at liberty to stay out of gaol or go in, and they resolved to be incarcerated. The Magistrate merely required a nominal surety for good behaviour to conserve the vital principle of public order, but the strikers preferred to be "sacrificed" for their own "vital principle"— the right to act in A disorderly manner towards workers. Probably the Red Federation of Labour would be supremely disappointed if the Government did decide to "immediately and unconditionally release the prisoners"— according to the formula that emanates from the "public meetings." The plans for the exploitation of the "heroism" might be sadly disturbed by such unexpected clemency. The construction of. many a lurid sentence framed for demonstrations to-night and to-morrow would have to be altered if the Government suddenly turned the "martyrs" into the open air. It would be a pity to disappoint the Reds. Let them make all the capital they can out of the self-imprisonment— now termed "brutal gaoHng"~-of some of their comrades. However, there is one direction in which the exploitation of the Waihi "tyranny" has to be checked. A telegram to-day mentions that Auckland watersiders (who acknowledge allegiance to the Red Flag) yearn to have a procession to-day, "to endeavour to cheer up the strikers in prison." It is reported that the City Council has granted a permit for a procession, but the Mount Eden Borough Council has refused the union's application. This decision of the Borough Council is wise. If this local body had weakly deferred to the request it would have been clearly the Govern ■ Ment's duty to restrain the serenades. The lesson of Brisbane must be fresh in the minds of New Zealanders. There the authorities were lenient at the outset in regard to street parades, but these demonstrations soon became an intolerable nuisance. They attracted the hooligan element, and much damage was done. The police Were obliged to rigorously suppress the processions which were obnoxious to the great majority of peaceful citizens. Besides, the racket of a brass band outside a gaol would make a farce of the imprisonment. The inmates from Waihi, thrilled by thoughts of their own "heroism" and by the "calls" and "demands" made on their behalf—and well fed withal and not hard worked— cannot be in need of the stimulus of 'brazen instrument*. To take the trumpet and the trombone to Mount Eden would be like carrying coals to Newcastle. This quixotic project has to be summarily ruled out of order. The watersiders 1 band must not be allowed to disturb the public peace.