ON THE MARCH

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 146, 17 December 1913, Page 7

ON THE MARCH

STRIKERS AMUSE THEMSELVES A PARADE THROUGH TOWN. Having apparently grown tired of such a long spell of Idleness a section of tho strikers this morning hit upon the plan of amusing themselves by • a march through town. At first, 108 strong, they formed into fours outsido Vivian>street Hall, after their usual mass meeting, and a wild rumour wns immediately Sot in circulation that they were going bfe.ck to tho wharves to " sign on." The majority of, .the men nppenrcd to be seamen, although in their ranks yoyo included ft number of waterside workers. Leaving the hall, the procession turned into Tftranaki-street, and then along Mcmners-atreet into Willis-street. ICn route they caused a considerable commotion by singing songs, cheering ana boohooing in turn. , Passing tho Evening Post office somo of their number noticed the announcement on tho window of the result ,of the Lyttollon election, and one of them called^ for "Three cheers for M'Combs," which were given. From Willis-street the mon turned into Cus-tomhouse-quay, thence down a sido street to Jcrvois-quay. Up to this time the procession had been unaccompanied by the police, but at this stago Inspector Ellison, Sub-Tnspcctor Sheehtui, about v dozen mounted regular and foot constables, and a dozen mounted specials, put in an appearance as a safeguard against any recurrence of doings of tho early days of the strike. Passing along Jfcrvois-quay there was a good deal of shouting and singing, and the mon who could be seen tvopking on tne wharves received quite' a lot of attention, the much-overworked epithet "scab" being freely used. Then thoro would, bo Another burst of song "We'll Hang Bill Massey on a Soitr Apple Tree," followed by the same chorus with tho substitution of tho words "Old Fisher" in place of "Bill Masney." The refrain would bo followed by the query "Are we downhearted*" anil there would be a more or less emphatic response in tho negative. By the time the vailway line along Waterloo-quay was crossed an imposing array of "specials" — about SO in num-ber—-was following close on the heels of the panadors, who in front were headed by a couple of mounted police. Tho shouting continued as the procession crossed over into Ifambton-quay and just here Inspector Ellison tola the men in front that they would not b<* Allowed to return via Willis-street. Accordingly they sidetracked down Hunter>stre«t on to Waterloo-quay again. As they marched along the mciv issued pressing invitations to their fellow-strikers to come and join them, and while some accepted, a (bj'ge- number ignored tho request. At the corner of irunterstrecfc and La mb ton- quny someone threw out the suggestion that they shoutd disperse as they were getting footsore, but the procession kept together and paraded along Waterloo and JervoiH-qimys, tho chorus work beginning to get very ragged. As the Waterside Workers' office in Queen's Chambers was passed there was more cheering, which was repeated when the Trades and Labour Hall in Lower Cuba-streqt was reached. At tho Town Hall tho police officer* gave instructions that the procession was to be moved on to the footpath, and & squad of mounted regulars and specials rode to the front and pressed the strikers off of tho roadway on to tho sidewalk. At the Royal Oak corner h, large crowd of other strikers had gathered, and a great deal of congestion was set up. Tho men made no move to pro- l ceed any further in a body, but hung about on the footpaths. All danger yt 1 a disturbance being over, tho mounted specials then returned to patrol duty outside the wharves, and in half »s hour the mounted and foot police had restored vehicular and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of Manners and Cubastreets to normal. A Strike Committee official told a Poet reporter that the committee was sitting when the men were parading, and had no knowledge of the men's intention.