ARAWA'S MEN MARCH TO GAOL

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 65, 14 September 1925, Page 6

ARAWA'S MEN MARCH TO GAOL

It had seemed a pleasant ijort' of function, a kind of picnic in the bright: sunshine and mild spring iair, but there, was a chill whpn the prison, van ground its way slowlynp the steep hill and dis-. gorged a number' of real prisoners, hand-; cuffed together in pairs, and the stern; mien of the : governor of, the gaol seen. This was the other side of it ail. T1.9 littU crowd of sightseers quickly, thinned out and disappeared down, tho hill, where the members of the procession had already dispersed. ,

... The; pa.rty-of-about a hundred-drew, u]d'-in-, order,^ which \ showed war experi-' euce, at the foot,of the steps.' Mr. Kennedy mounted to trie top of the, .first--flight and stotfd at i the rail, announcing the procedure. ;The men were to,answer to .their names, and then to go up the steps and into, the-building... The. first -name 1 called was. Hopkins, G., and there was i\ cheer; as Hopkins' called "Here" and ran up the steps.:- There were cheers and farewells as he continued np and answered, a query .fvom the man with ,the | blue papers, and then passed in through [the door. .. : .'• . '). ', ■■', • Thus, "quicker than it can be written, the process went on : "Hale |; E.. G,, Austin, 8,.,' Pepper, G., Christmas,, A., . , i" and so forth with for each man a cheer and from Mr. Kennedy 'and the banner-bearer of; the Arawa a shake of the hand. For: the . elderly nien there was a': special cheer and a cry, > ''Goodbye, Old'uh:" Eangden, the seaman whose 'case' was made the . test, proved a fine-looking* type of sailor. Someone in the crowd mentioned that most of the men had seen service and action during , the war, and said that prisonl would have no terrors for them! In a slight pause someone called out, "Wilson, Have- j lock," and there was a chorus.of .hoots. Quickly the, squad of,the. Arawa's. men grew, .smaller and smaller, and by and by it came the turn of. the last man,'to go up. His name, was 'Warren, and he got a special cheer.

PROCESSION THROUGH THE ■ ■';■. ■ '. ' city ' '.. • ,''.;■

WITH COMRADES FROM OTHER

■SHIPS. ->

The difficulty'of arresting the " 86 members of the, steamer Arawa's crew, convicted on Friday ■\- of breaches of the law governing . the -employment of seamen,.,. and sentenced > by < -Mr. ■■' Orr-Walker, S.M,, to six .weeks' imprisonment, was solved in an extraordinary manner:" this morning, when the ' men formed up in a procession of'; over five hundred sea-farers with men from the other stiips affected :'" by the strike, the Leitrim, Tainui, Turakina, and Ruahine, and marched through the city to the Terrace ) Gaol, where they were "received by officials, answered their names, arid entered the precincts of' the prison.- The proceedings were excellently organised, and most, orderly.^ Various banners were borne in the procession ', with inscriptions appropriate io the occasion, and the . ; seamen sang their way through , the, city, but' there was no disturbance of any. kind. All the men for whom warrants had been . issued under .the'sentence' passed •'.-.. by the Magistrate, answered to their.names at_the portal of the. prison, and all passed inside amid the' cheers oj their comrades.

'■'■ The procession was formed up from' abpiit 10^^ o'clock 'this morning !,in Waring Taylor street, between. , Levin, and Co/s warehouse and Dalgety's, just alongside, the entrance to !•, the Sailors ' Kost:> : , After a' delay' of about hajf an .hour,,in which the men and their banners were" photographed 'from v;every conceivable angle,,and a crowd 'gathered, which blocked "the street, the "procession commenced. 1 At the head ; .was -th'p" old banner of the New.... Zealand bianch of the Federated Seamen's Tjiiiori, with its",motto, "Defeiice, 3STot Denance,". ahd f its- emblem "'of the three ■"entwined 8 's, representing the division ■of the. 2i-hpur., day. ; Then .followed banners "made up for 'the occasion: '.'Prison :Before -Slavery)'' "Arawa's .Answer,'.' ,;" Good,. Old Havelpck* ■ (We Don't Think),";' tims' of; Wilson's Treachery),?.' ' ' "We Ai;e::^Out:; ; To x^.Winy" oMThe ; First Kound.f?' -Each' ship 'had its own banner with the Arawa last order.' Mr."E.;Kennedy, 'secretary ,ct' the Cooks' and Stewards'; ■ Union, .with other union officials, walked in; front, : aud']aetcd as guide vto the procession, numbered some 500: menifrbm 'the; ships: as well as some hundreds »of'; the curious and the sympathetic.,

. The route followed by the 'procession lay along ; Customhouse... quay, across Pest Office square,' and • iip Willis street to.Abel Smith streeti,All the way the man sang various, songs, iiieludihg "The Eed lHag." : To the tune of ."Jbhri Brown's Body" were ,heard-the ;words:! "Solidarity^Afor ever, nriion makes us strong. ''■

NOISY BUT ORDERLY

At intervals .-'there wero cries-'of,-"Are we downhearted V' and answers. 1 /of "No !" and' "Will we :win.!"; and' .the loud reply, "l"es!"'' Traffic was .not /dislocated as'the;, column narrowed down going up Willis street, and the proceedings, though noisyj were, quite orderly. Large^cro wds' came .out into (the Vstreet, and thronged the windows and'doorsteps to see the seamen go past. '■•'':.'•'■ ■'; \-'-V " The procession "turned up Abel' Smith', street, but 'stopped on the ' approach which climbs; steeply up to- the Here the ranks of the' leading'qectiqhs divjded,; the men stepping, to either side to -from a lane. Though^fhis,' amid rousing cheersj came with a, rush up irpm the.rear the 86 of the Arawa's crew and went through the -gates'swiftly'and up the steep slope, until they came' on to' the, clearedVsite' .of the gaol .buildings. ''' . ; •.:.,' .■ \. '' ■'■••.'.'■':■.■, :' .',-' '

AT THE PRISON

■ At the head of the steps up to the old-fashioned' ddorwty now giving * admission to the. inner precincts of the prison were two,, ward ;rs in .uniform arid three clerks and officials in mufti. / One had a list with names on, and another;drew from a suitcase- a vaßt bundle of blue papers, evidently the individual warrants •', for the sentenced men, sentenced in absence, but now ready to answer to their-names. ,;-■, ;' . -.