HUNTLY UNEMPLOYED

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 118, 20 May 1932, Page 9

HUNTLY UNEMPLOYED

GROCERIES STOLEN

EIGBT AEKESTS MADE

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. • About eighty unemployed men and .women, after meeting in the Lyceum Theatre, Huntly, this morning, marched into the Farmers' Trading Company's Etore and demanded that £50 worth of ;groceries be given to them and charged .to the Waikato "Hospital Board. When the manager, Mr. W. H. Northmore, declined to accede to the demand the crowd commandeered quantities of "bread, bacon, butter, and other groceries to an estimated value of £.15, while the manager and staff of three stood by helpless. By the time the police arrived the looters had dispersed to their homes. Police reinforcements •ivero hurriedly summoned from Hamilton, Pukeiohe, and Auckland, and by 5 o 'clock a force numbering twenty, had assembled in .the town. The party of /police scoured the town after dark, and ;by 10 p.m. eight arrests had been made. The meeting in the-Lyceum Theatre held shortly before noon, when the subject under discussion was the decision of the Unemployed Workers' As--sociatibn to declare all relief works "black." A motion that tho Farmers' .Trading Company be asked to extend credit to the unemployed to the value eof £50, and the account to be charged* to the Hospital Board, was carried, it 1 .is "understood, by 45 votes to 3S. A crowd immediately left the hall and entered the shop in a body. The manager, who was having his lunch, at the rear of the premises, heard tho crowd stamp into the shop, and camo out and faced the leaders. ■ 'What is the idea?" he asked, when - ie saw both counters lined with men and womea forty deep. When told that they wanted the Hos>pital Board 'charged with £50 worth of goods, he said: "You know very well I have no authority to do that." The leaders replied: "If you refuse jto give us credit we will take what we ;want." . '. SUGGESTION TURNED DOWN. .■• Mr. Northmore said: "I will tell you -what I will do.- I,'in prepared to see -all the shopkeepers in town and find . out what we can do.to help you." -_ One- man said: "That is a good 1 idea," and asked the crowd if it would ■--return to the theatre and await the manager's answer. The majority of the -crowd, however, was hostile to the suggestion. For twenty-nve; minutes Mr. North?more argued and pleaded with the men. 'He"pointed out that the Hospital Board had already offered' unemployed mar- ■ lied men a' day's work during each - stand-down week at a remuneration of "123, instead of relief in kind. The men's point of view, as stated -■ l>y the leaders, was that all other hos- > pitaL boards gave the unemployed rations .during the stand-down week, " and that no -work was demanded in ■ leturn. They insisted that the same ~ measure of relief should he extended v to. the unemployed of Huntly. The argument was cut short when one man. ealle.d, out:. "Hands up who « will help themselves.!." '" ~' A large ■ number immediately., raised ; ilieir >t ])ands.;,.,.,-. --~-... v, .-~ ~«,^'.f , '. . ~ Mr. Northmore said: "It ia^break- . ing the law, and you will only "be pun- -■ ished." '- v .. .'- ■. ' . . . . : Next minute about thirty of the" men -and women started to gather up goods ' ftopa the counter and'shelves, while the rest lacked on. Several Maoris procured sugar bags and filled them with provisions, throwing them over their shoulders and walking out.' } - . Mr. Northmore continued to plead with the men. as the looting was in proVgress. '"You know very well," he said, "that if any of you were starving I would help you, but you are not." .* The crowd ignored his remarks and w-continued to gather up provisions, c. While the looting was in' progress were posted at the front and "tack doors to warn the crowd if-the ;. police- should approach. A lady assistant, however,'retired to a rear room =.andteiephoncd for the police. \'/ POLICE AT LUNCH. . Owing, to it being the lunch, hour, ', three members of the Police Force who A were in Huntly were at their homes / having their midday meal, and when they arrived the crowd had dispersed. .- Mr Northmore stated this evening •that he was at a loss to understand why the Farmers' Trading Company should have been singled out for attention seeing that' he had .previously granted the strikers relief. On an earlier occasion he 'had advanced £50 > worth of provisions, and the strikers 1 had raised sufficient money by donations and entertainments to pay the -, account within a month. In view of : his help in the past he could not under- ';. stand why his store should have been . the one to suffer. -v Belief work was declared "black" .' 5n Huntly after Mr. W. Slaughter, tho „ officer controlling unemployment in the ,-: Auckland district, had interviewed the , Bien on Tuesday.. He told them work would be available on the railway, line '? iiexfc week. There is no relief work 'available this week, and the Waikato '„ Hospital Board was appealed to for _ help. In pursuance of its policy the board offered the unemployed 12s in leturn. for a day's work. The offer ~' under those conditions was refused;