THE MELBOURNE RIOTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18548, 5 November 1923, Page 6

THE MELBOURNE RIOTS.

A spectacular demonstration of the evil and the folly of the strike weapon has developed from the refusal of the Melbourne police to discharge their duties. Unfortunately Australia has been notorious for the recklessness with which industry is hampered and disorganised by strikes over trivial grievances, and in spite of a unique experience of the injury to the whole community caused by such tactics, the country has not yet realised that disputes over technical questions; might be settled more quickly, more wisely and much more cheaply by other means than the violent methods of the strike. Whatever may be the merits of the police grievances, those who were responsible for the strike on this occasion must be trembling at the appalling consequences of their action. Their alarm will be shared by those officers hurried in from country districts, who were misled into joining the mutiny, and by the section of the public that may have been inclined to sympathise with the strikers, a disposition that is always apparent in such circumstance There has been no need to look for evidence of hardship and suffering inflicted upon 'he general public, the third party that is ignored when the strike weapon is employed, or deliberately harassed so that its protests may compel the granting of the strikers' demands. The leaders of the strike may have supposed that, their quarrel being with the State Government, the inhabitants of the city would simply be amused at the absence of policemen from their beats and regard with cynical tolerance the spectacle of the makers and tho guardians of the law wrangling over a question of discipline. Unfortunately for Melbourne, tho withdrawal of the police has permitted a lawless mob to wreck and rob, to create terror and to damage the property and imperil the lives of citizens, not because it was maddened by irresistible provocation, but simply because its criminal tendencies were freed from restraint. It might be suggested that a police force able to hold in check such a dangerous element in the city's population must have exceptional qualifications, and that such an outbreak will cause the community to regard it with more generous consideration than in the past. Whether -Melbourne has adequately appreciated its police force or not, such a suggestion cannot be made by the strikers, for if they realised the nature of the conditions under their supervision, and foresaw the consequences of their liberation, their refusal of duty becomes a veritable crime against the city. The presence of such a disorder}- element in an Australian city is gravely disturbing. It may be supposed that, in proportion to population, Australia has no more criminals, active and iW.pntial than other countries. But persons of this class naturally congregate in large towns, and the evil in Australia is aggravated by the condition that more than half the population is concentrated in the State capitals, and it can hardly br doubted that they have a correspondingly abnormal share of the elements that are defiant of social conventions and restrictions. Thus of 1,550,000 persons in the State ol: Victoria, 795,000 are gathered in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The social rebels may be relatively few, but actually gathered together jmrlor fVir stimulus of a common impulse to exploit a temporary freedom from control, they would constitute a formidable mob, capable of wreaking enormous damage in a few hours.