THANKS TO THE SPECIALS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 20 December 1913, Page 5

THANKS TO THE SPECIALS.

A NOTABLE WELLINGTON GATHERING.

At the Wellington gathering referred to in our telegrams on. Friday there were over 200G people present, and some interesting speeches were made. The Hon. A. L. Herdman, Minister of Justice, said he did not think that anyone yet realised the true effect of what had taken place in New Zealand during the past six or eight weeks. Never in the history of _the country had there been such serious trouble as had confronted them during the first three weeks of the strike, and had it not been for the splendid patriotism of the special men from the country ana the city he did not know what would have happened.— (Applause.) He wished first of all , to pay a special tribute to the per-1 manent police. It had been said that, at the beginning of the trouble ; the Government had not made sufficient use of the permanent men, and that, had they made use of them, the trouble would have been speedily settled, but at the very beginning of the trouble there were only 80 police in the city. Those who remembered what took place on the Rimutaka, when the wharves were taken possession of by rioters, would know how perfectly impossible it would, have been to keep the peace with such .an inadequate force, and I carry on the business of the port without loss of life. The splendid response of the specials from country and town was one of the finest instances of public patriotism that the country had

ever witnessed. — (Applause.) He wished it ■to be clearly understood that, in all parts of New Zealand — In Dunedirij^Christchurch, Auckland, as well as Wellington —the real fight had taken place between those prepared to observe law and order and those who wished to break the law; between those who wished to observe order and those who wished to see disorder; between those who desired peace \and those who desired anarchy. Speaking on an occasion such as this, he wished to say that ho one objected to unionism— sane unionism—, but when unionism went mad it became necessary1 for citizens to look after themselves. One realised the utility of men combining In their own Interest, hut, when they combined to molest society, it was time ' for the Government to intervene. Every man had a right not to work, but no man had a right to molest another who wished to work. The Government recognised that principle, and those people who came down from the country to enable those men who under±ook to work to do so recognised it. "When they came peace was restored, and the business of the coun-

try went on again.—(Applause.) As Minister of Justicej he could never express his thanks sufficiently to Commissioner Cullen and . Superintendent Ellison for the amount of work which they had done, and the energy and enthusiasm with which they had carried out their duties. —(Applause.) He and the Prime Minister had been in the thick of it, and knew what those men had done. The ladies who looked after the " specials," the gentlemen who had provided them with entertainment, and -• the cooks and waiters were also remembered. Concluding, he once more thanked everyone who had been concerned on behalf of the Government, and, he believed, the citizens of New Zealand.—(Applause and cheers.) ' The Prime Minister said that he would also like to include the names of the Minister of Justice and the Ma,yor amongst those to be thanked, as no two private men had done theii duty more thoroughly: than those two, —(Applause.) His mind went bacli to the first few weeks of the strike when business was stopped^ the citi-

zenf. panic-stricken, and the, port closed, and to *otenow that business was .normal and the port opened: He could not Jielp thinking of the time when the Rimutaka was rushed, when the men at the Post and Telegraph Stores were rushed, and when the: specials detrained at .the Hutt were informed that some hundreds of strikers were waiting for them along the: road, and they'had to go out of their wa7 im^ the wet (and some of them got lost) m order to get* into town without a blow being struck. He: spoke of the fine moral effect of the response made by the mounted men. Nothing in the whftle of his life had, appealed to him so much as the manner in which those men had responded a° c call of tne Government—in Auckland, in Wellington, and in Christchurch. One of the proudest moments had been when he had seen 600 brownfaced men riding 'through the streets of Wellington in the early stages of the strike, and he had felt proud when 1500 men had ridden down the streets of Auckland and taken possession of the wharves. When the history of New Zealand came to be written a long and very important chapter would be devoted t0,1913. He thought that what had occurred during the past few weeks would prevent a recurrence of anything of the kind for at least a generation. As a private citizens, a public man, and Prime Minister, he wished to thank the mounted and foot specials for the good work they had done.

The Mayor (Mr J. P. Luke) said that he bore a message from the people of Wellington to the mounted and foot specials—a message of thanks for services rendered. They had played their part in upholding the authority of constitutional government, and in doing so had acted up to the true traditions of British people. Not only had constitutional government been upheld, but the men had proved to be possessed of the characteristics of those who do not shirk responsibilities at the supreme moment. By their ac-. tion they had-, brought about stability of government, and peace and happiness to the people of New Zealand. He wished to say that their, womenfolk in the country had made sacrifices equal to those made by the men. Their young men and daughters had shquldered their responsibilities, and had established a bond of fellowship that would not easily melt away. He expressed his appreciation of the womenfolk and girls of Wellington—(applause) —and also noted that some of the men had been up for three, nights in succession on duty on the wharves.