TWO MEN ARRESTED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21907, 17 September 1934, Page 10

TWO MEN ARRESTED

INCIDENTS IN THE CITY DEMONSTRATORS DISPERSED ACTION TAKEN BY POLICE An attempt to hold a procession in Queen Street on Saturday morning as a protest against task work at the Hobson v-ille air base came to an abrupt end when the police arrested two men and dispersed the rest of the demonstrators, a number of whom will possibly be charged later on summons with breaches of the by-law against unauthorised processions.

Circulars purporting to be issued by the Auckland council of the National Unemployed Workers' Movement were distributed at a meeting in Victoria Park a week ago, calling for a demcnstration at the chief post office at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Before the appointed time a number of police were stationed at various points in and near Lower Queen Street, Although a few curious onlookers gathered, there was no sign of a demonstration. Directions on Papers About 10. Ib a shower cf small pieces of paper was thrown into the roadway from a landing window on an upper floor of the post office. Each slip was inscribed on both sides in large letters: "Forward to Town Hall. Move now." An attempt was made to find the person responsible, but without success. A small crowd that had assembled in the vicinity of the post office gradually dispersed, and those who had composed it made their way up Queen Street in twos and threes. Before Wyndham Street was reached, however, the crowd had reassembled, and a man and a woman were seen carrying a red banner bearing the sign, "Auckland U.W.M." Two placards were also displayed, one with the words, "We want a living wage," and the other inscribed. "Down with task work." The crowd continued its way up the western footpath as far as Wellosley Street, where it crossed the road and commenced to walk down the eastern footpath.

Between 30 and 40 men were following the man and woman carrying the banner, and near the Regent Theatre half a dozen police suddenly soiled the banner and the placards. The men struggled violently to retain the signs they were.displaying, and one shouted out: "They won't let us show the people that we are starving." Gathering of Onlookers

People attracted by the incident rapidly made a large crowd, and for a few moments trouble seemed possible, as a section of the onlookers was definitely hostile to police interference with the marchers. The crowd next commenced to march back up Queen Street toward the Town Hall, but a little above Wcllesley Street a party of police blocked tho way. The marchers were turned into Wellesley Street West, and on tho corner an elderly man was seized by Inspector Hollis and handed over to two constables, who took him to the watchhouse. A little further up Wellesley Street, near the corner of Fergusson Street, a second arrest was made. The police remained in the vicinity, and the crowd drifted away, some of the men going up to the Trades Hall. The two men attested will appear in the Police Court this morning. Tho younger man will be charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing the police and taking part in a procession. Charges of threatening behaviour and using indecent language will be preferred against the other man.