MILITANT MEN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 23 October 1913, Page 3

MILITANT MEN.

We are surprised that the news of the brutal way in which Miss Margaret MacMillan and other peaceable women were treated at the House of Comirons on Thursday evening, July 24, has not attracted more attention or called forth more protest than it has done. The newspapers make no comment; the House of Commons ireekly accepts an official denial which is demonstrably false, and the general public is apathetic. The humiliating facts are indisputable ; they are testified-.-to by half-a-dozen reliable witnesses. For instance, Mrs Cecil Chapman, wife of a London magistrate, writes: —"I was nominated a member of the deputation to carry the memorial Adopted by the conference (on the Cat and Mouse Act) to the House of Commons. We proceeded under the leadership of Sir E. Busk to the Strangers' Entrance. Here Sir Edward exchanged a few words with the police- , man on guard at the door, explaining that he was leading a deputation carrying a memorial to the Prine Minister. The policeman allowed him and those, nearest to him to pass through the door, but he closed the door before I had tirr.e to reach It, as I was on a step below. I remonstrated and explained that I was a, member of the deputation and that Sir Edward had given him my name, but the policeman refused tc let me through. I remained standing at the door.—The policeman began tc be rude in his rcanner. —To my amaze ment I found myself seized by tht shoulders and felt his knee pressing m\ back as he shoved me away. I said, 'W r hat do you mean by treating me ir, this manner?- 'I am taking your 11 urnber —A 459.' He let go—and made nc further effort when I immediately returned to the exact spot from which he had moved me. The doors suddenly | flew open, and the police formed up m ] a line behind us across the glass par tition, and in a moment I found myself together with the other two, on the upper landing, in course of being precipitated down the stone steps. Agair. I felt the knee of a policeman in my back. We were' precipitated upon thtladies collected on the next landing, shoved, pushed helter-skelter down othei steps." . As reported in our last issue, Miss Margaret MacMillan "was thrown violently and deliberately down the steps and lay prostrate while the mob of po licemen surged and stumbled over her. Her sister, Miss Rachel MacMillan, writes: "I think she would have been killed had I not been there." Mrs Edith Watson writes: "Suddenly froir behind the fence of policemen about ZO others poured through the inner lobby and commenced hustling us downstairs. W T e were quite unprepared for the rush, and were in no position to offer resistance. Women were pushed, dragged, thumped, and thrown into the street. 1 A.n old lady was knocked down and trodden on. A girl was unconscious when they threw her over; another woman was deliberately tripped up by a policeman. Miss Broadhurst, whom no , one in the highest flights of fancy could irragine doing anything unlawful, was pushed into the gutter." - Miss L. E. Turouand, an elderly , gentle lady, writes:—"l also was a victim. A policeman gripped me by the shoulders and flung me headlong down the stone steps. As I am no longer young and pliant, I expected a broken neck. I caught at a lady's cloak and saved my fall—at least I fell very Lghtly. In falling,, I caught sight of a curious heap, which was huddled up in a corner, and. as Miss Margaret MacMillan's hat was on top of it, I supposed it might be her. We were some of us non-rrilitants, of course, and had been waiting quite quietly and motfensively obevina; such orders as were aiven to us." There was no reason to suppose we should not have left the hall if we had been asked to go. "Rebecca West," an eye-witness of the scene, writes in the "Clarion : "Suddenly I saw a sight which gave me MTJSIC MADE E*ASY. If you are : intending to get a Piano, think! The popularity of the Broadwood : increases all tne time. People who purchase a Broadwood become its champions, and are never dissatisfied. Why 7"" The ; Broadwood is faithfully made in everv detail. It not only has a superb and "brilliant tone, but it also wears wonderfully well. „-^r> THE BROADWOOD PLAYER PIANOS. The Broadwood plaver-mechamsm interferes in no way with the use of the instrument as a Pianoforte. It means that every member of a household —however skilled in music, or however lgnorant—can get direct, active, personal enjoyment from this piano. The Broadwood Pianos are British throughout, all made in one factory, all fitted with aluminium tubing (which is imperishable), instead of rubber. ' ' „,,__, I OUR SYSTEM: TERMS 10 SUIT ANY PURCHASER. THE DRESDEN PIANO COMPANY, LTD., WELLINGTON. Full particulars from our local representative, Alfred Robinson.*

quite a new emotion. I cio not know whether you have ever seen an elderly andl neavilv built lady thrown down a & of stairs by half-a-dozen pohcjmen It gives one a peculiar buzzin sensation in the head. • And whent you !ook again and see that two ™>™ lv ladies behind her are being W°V[ from side to side as dockers pass sacks of grain into a hold, the creases The first elderly lady is pitched forward on to the dusty Pavement and is seen to be Miss Margaret Millan." Miss West goes on to pay a tribute to Miss Ma.MiUan as "one o the few constructive statesmen ot tnis country." Probably the police were o°W doing their duty in arresting Mrs Pethick Lawrence for attempting to rrake 1 speech in St. Stephen's Hall, but why a number of blarn* ess ladies treated with such reckless violence? We understand that Mrs Chapman has taken out a summons against the So assaulted her, and, of course there must be a full enquiry. But we confess EafJE "re astonished that in view of such amazing happenings, be « « Parliament appear to be apathetic and the country indifferent. It is such proceedings as these that drive constitutionalists into militancy.