STRIKERS RUN RIOT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 27 October 1928, Page 5

STRIKERS RUN RIOT

UNRULY NEWCASTLE MOB attacks on volunteers POLICE CHARGE WITH BATONS Grave riots, in connection with the waterside trouble, took place on the Newcastle waterfront last week. A mob 400 strong, and including many members of the local branch of the. Waterside Workers’ Federation, attacked volunteer labourers as they' were beginning to work the steamer Port Campbell, berthed at Lee \yiiarf. The volunteers, badly outnumbered, received a severe handling before the few police present managed to get the majority of them to one of the wharf sheds in which they were locked for safety. The rioters then proceeded to King’s Wharf, three-quarters of a mile nearer the harbour entrance. The police had received word of the rioters’ approach and had placed the volunteers employed on the wharf aboard the steamer Golden Kauri for safety. Some stone-throwing followed, but the police dispersed the men after an arrest had been made. Rioting again broke out in the afternoon. Strikers marched to the volunteer labour office in Watt street, and threw bricks, smashing several windows. They then rushed down the street and crossed the railway yards to King’s Wharf. Taking up their stand behind a* string of empty passenger carriages, stationary during shunting operations, they fusilladed the Golden Kauri with stones. POLICE MAKE A BATON CHARGE The train was hurriedly pulled out of the yards, and the police on the scene made a baton charge which ended in the complete rout of the rioters, end four arrests were made. It is understood that the riots were provoked by rumours that a move was afoot to establish a volunteer labourers’ union. Reports that a majority of shipowners had decided that all labour required for the wharfs would in future be engaged through the volunteer labour office also had much to do with the outbreak. ‘ ' The combat at Lee wharf with which ; the riots began, appeared to follow out a definite plan of campaign. The volunteers had assembled on the wharf and were walking toward the steamer, when stones began to fly, and theyfound their < . approach cut off by a very large body-’i of men who immediately made at them. 1

I They wore driven back by superior force to the lower end of the wharf, and if. seemed that they were in for a rough handling. Tile four policemen who were at hand, however, contrived to outwit tho strikers. In the direction in which tho volunteers were being driven stood one of the wharf sheds. A constable ran towards this, opened (lie door wide, and called on the volunteers to seek shelter within. His advice was promptly taken. A few of the volunteers, however, had been, unfortunately, cut off from their fellows. They had been chased from the wharf by bands of rioters, and hud ! j to go far for sanctuary. ADVANCE ON KING'S WHARF Meanwhile the main body of rioters, l feeling themselves cheated by. develop - ■ ments at Lee wharf, had set out for King’s wharf, where the steamer Golden Kauri was discharging timber and benzine by volunteer labour. On their way down they encountered one or two men who were known to have worked on the wharves without union credentials, and these were given a rough handling. When the, mob arrived at King’s wharf it found that, it was no longer able to attack unarmed men in the presence of only a handful of policemen. Its coming had been heralded beforehand. The free labourers were all safely aboard the steamer, the gangways were up, and the wharf was in charge of a strong force of police drawn from all over the pity. The mob surged forward a little later, but after a- scuffle, in which an ox-! Queensland wharf labourer was arrested, it gradually disappeared. With vol- , unteer labourers already engaged, rein- , forced by men who had been brought by ear and launch from Lee wharf, the . unloading of the Golden Kauri began.

ANOTHER CHARGE BY THE POLICE Developments of the early afternoon came as an entire surprise. Somo of the rioters of the morning had congregated in Watt street about lunch-time. Shortly before 2 p.m,, though, their numbers increased greatly, and they made a common move against the free labour office. Flying bricks smashed, its windows to pieces. The crowd raised an en thusiastic shout at the sound of the splintering glass. “To King’s wharf,” the word went, round. Making nothing of the risks of being run down by shunting trains, the mob, now almost 300 strong, rushed through the railway gates and ran across a maze of trucks, only to find that an empty passenger train stationary on the set of rails nearest the wharf impeded, its progress. The majority, using the train as a shield, began throwing pieces | of coal and stones across the roofs of - the carriages in an attempt to. hit the volunteer workers, who, for the second i

) time Ilial day, had taken refuge aboard , the Go Hen Kauri. The police, their batons drawn, drove back the leaders of Ihe throng. Then with the train pulled out of the way by a hastily summoned shunting engine they made a charge on the main body of rioters. The mob’s courage disappeared. All but a handful of men took to their heels. Four men were arrested. That was the end of the excitement, 'of the clay. With police guarding every entrance to. King’s'wharf work on tho Golden Kauri went on quietly. Work on the Port Campbell was also resumed later in tho afternoon. -i