RIOTING AT DUNDEE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14906, 3 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

RIOTING AT DUNDEE.

RECKLESS STRIKERS AND THE POLICE. SOLDIERS SENT FROM EDINBURGH. Tin: carters and dock labourers' strike at Dundee assumed alarming dimensions on Tuesday, December 19, and the proceedings of the men were fraught with serious consequences. To a large extent business of the town was at a standstill and mills, factories, and tradesmen of all kinds were unable to cany on their avocationß, through lack of fuel" or material. In at least half a dozen cases largo factorxies were obliged to stop machinery, their employees thus helping to swell the ranks of the unemployed. The cause of the dispute was a demand by tho carters for a minimum wage of 255. j weekly, and a claim of the dock labourers \ for an advance of Id per hour, to 9d. All the private and smaller firms conceded these terms, but the railway companies and carting contractors who worked for them, declined. Eventually the officials of the men's union decided to call out the carters and dock labourers. On Tuesday tho dispute was marked by scenes of great disorder in Dock-street ; a lorry containing boxes and barrels was captured by tho dockers, unharnessed, and thrown into the dock. This was not done without a sever© j struggle between the strikers and the police and some hard knocks were exchanged. There were other incidents of a riotous nature, and at least two of the strikers as the result of baton charges by the police had their skulls injured. One was so badly hurt that ho had to bo removed to the infirmary. A postman going his round got into one of the melees, and being knocked down had his arm fractured. Later in tho day a woman carrying a child got into a crowd of riotous youths in one of the principal streets, of the town and in the course of a police charge the child is said to have been struck inadvertently. The little one was severely injured and was taken to the infirmary. A statement gained circulation later that the child had died, but this proved to be incorrect. Consequent upon representations by responsible persons the Lord Provost in the afternoon convened a meeting of the magistrates to consider the situation. The chief constable states that with the force of Eolice at his disposal, augmented as it had een by contingents from other towns, the elements of disorder were getting beyond his control, and that something more dratic was called for. Tho magistrates accordingly despatched telegrams to . the Secretary for War, tho Home Secretary, and the Secretary for Scotland, asking that 300 soldiers should be sent to keep the peace and protect life and property, The strikers held a demonstration in the evening, when Mr. Gillespie, secretary of the Carters' Union, counselled them to refrain from violence. They were going to fight, he said, in a reasonable way, and so long as they kept their hands in their pockets and their hooks in their belts there was no fear of what would happen in the future. They did not want to see violence of any kind. The railway contractors, it was announced, had offered one shilling advance all round, but this was declined. Three hundred Royal Highlanders from Edinburgh Castle arrived in Dundee on Tuesday by special train. Thousands of people watched their progress through the streets to tho drill hall, where they will remain.