FIGHT FOR HYDE PARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18891, 13 December 1924, Page 2 (Supplement)

FIGHT FOR HYDE PARK.

BATTLE WITH THE POLICE.

LONDON VETERAN'S MEMORIES.

A pitched battle in Hyde Park between the public and the police is one of the lively memories of Mr. William Vasey, a Streathnm veteran. .Mr. 'Vasey is 95 years of ago, and was horn near the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. He can remember Trafalgar Square when it was a piece of waste land oh which school children used t<> play. The Hyde Park affray, ho says, occurred in the early fifties, when, for some reason, the public wore denied admission into the park. Largo numbers of people began to assemble outside the park, and the police, anticipating trouble, lined the inner side of the park railings. But I lib crowd charged through the rail barrier, and broke it down, meeting tho police in a hand-to-hand battle. At tho time of tho Chartist troubles, Mr. Yasey, though not quite of age. answered the call of tho Duke of Wellington for 200,000 special constables. Mr. Vasey has lived through five reigns, and attributes his long life to " moderation in all tilings, a quiet life, and an optimistic temperament." He was a draper by trade, and retired 150 years ago. He belongs to a long-lived family. His father attained the age of 91, and a brother lived until ho was 95.