WHAT COMMISSIONER CULLEN SAYS.

NZ Truth, Issue 437, 8 November 1913, Page 5

WHAT COMMISSIONER CULLEN SAYS.

Citizens Must Submit to Insult and Contumely, It would seem from the report of a statement made by Chief Cop. Cullen In Tuesday's pap*r»t, thm th* train, m? ho underwent m riding down dofencelcss men, women *nd children while a member of thnt imu* of denationalised Cossacks, the Irish Con-*

stabulary, is to be -largely- drawn upon by him during , his j direction Yof the bands of armed thugs now under his charge m this'cityYYln-justiflcationof 'the outrage of Monday night shaun Cullen. says: We. .cannot allow . people to ■ gather an-1 block the * thojreugh- • fare, dolnj^ such damage as has been done..., The roadway will have' to be kept clear at all costs. * Crowds are not going to take 'possession of tho stroets. The Cop. Commissioner fhust think the general public very innocent if he expects them to accept the above as ample excuse for the riding down and shooting of innocent civilians. The assumption m the above statement is that wherever a crowd appears the police have the right, to use the Commissioner's own words,' * "AT ALL COSTS," to clear the streets. The implication is that for the citizens to gather m large numbers In any public thoroughfare is m itself an illegal act. None j know' better than the factotum of the j Neroic Herdman that such an unwar- \ rantable assumption would not be tojlerated m any other British community for a single day. Mr. Commissioner Cullen arid , Herd-, man's hired ' hooligans' ' may be for the time being the representatives of law and order, but they can only be so, just as long as they ; themselves act within the law. Before they can legally do as they did on Monday night last theie are certain well-defined acts of which the socalled 'mob" must have been guilty, and there are also certain legal steps that must be taken by those m authority before, it is lawful co lire upon unarmed citizens. It will be hard Indeed'for .Commissioner . Cullen to produce one unbiassed witness who will truthfully declare -tha'j; . .the circumstances on the night m question were such as justified the WILFUL AND MURDEROUS CHARGE of the mounted scab police which resulted; m several respectable citizens 1 being dangerously wounded. What about tbnse who have enrolled as special constables? Will Commissioner Cullen certify that there are no cx-crimlnals among them? Will he declare on his oath that to his/knowledge or. the. knowledge of his most responsible officers, there are. not among these same .'special" men who are at this moment "wanted' by the Police Department for serinus crime against; the lieges ofVOur Sovor-rign Lord thfc' King," as 'the Riot. Act puts it? Will he 'deny that mimy of the "boys" from the country Jill m tholr mornings noons, and nights, oft' duty, In Various

hotels In the vicinity i! the barracks drinking more than is good for them? Is it not a fact>tbat many of these Ir-. responsible youths from the country treat tbe whole affair as a huge JoKe? Did they not on Monday last simply and literally take, possession of tho Prince of Wales Hotel, Tory-street, and were there from morning till night? Will ho swear that It is not a ; tact, thai most of ihe skunks who took j part m the murderous and brutal charge on defenceless citizens on Monday night last had not so spent itxmr lime ofT duty und wore not moro or | less "under the Influence" when they made their maddened ride through the narrow streets m tho vicinity of Mount Cook? These are questions many respectable and responsible citizens an. asking, and questions that Comtu'seioncr Shaun Cullen had better b«PREPARED TO ANSWER. We do not deny, wo could not if wo would, that the people of W<_Jlingt«<n '. fed outraged at tho presence In tne.r midst of such a large number of armed policemen. Wo do pot deny what Is a palpable fact: that rho eitifcens of (Wellington, apart altogether fu«m I these of thorn who are directly Interoat ed m the strike of waterside work- : era, have shown and continue u» s!<<«w ; their resentment against these men I literally taking possession of their city. That such resentment occasionally finds expression In loud and taunting cries of execration l« not to be wondered at— nay, is perfectly justifiable.' As Mr. A. J. Balfour. leader of -the Opposition In His Majesty 'm Houso of Commons said on a wollknown recent occasion: THERE IS A POINT BEYOND WHICH IT IS ILLOGICAL AND UNREASONABLE TO EXPECT PUBLIC RESENTMENT TO REFRAIN FROM EXPRESSING ITSELF IX WAYS MORE FORCIBLE THAN IVUJID3. Thesd word* vrctv not uttered tt» nn excums for unbridled |awte«anrssn. but as a warning to that party lv Eng-

land who, during a time of unusual public excitement, persisted m a policy l.bviously out . of harmony with the Wishes of the vast majority of the lieges. That the ' policy of armed police .patrol . lnstituted m our city by. the Neroic Herdman and carried out under the instructions of Commissioner Cullen is j ABHORRENT TO AND DETESTED hy every law-abiding citizen ot Wellington, there, is not the slightest doubt, and it would be well if our ToryMinistry would v take to heart the warning of the leading Tory of the British Parliament and draw ofT their hireling thugs and bludgeoners as speedily as may he. Remember the words of A. J. Balfour. THERE IS A POINT BEYOND . WHICH IT IS ILLOGICAL AND UNREASONABLE TO EXPECT > PUBLIC RESENTMENT TO REFRAIN FRO^. EXPRESSING IT r SELF IN WATS MORE FORCIBLE THAN WORDS. Jf these armed bog-trotters — euphemistically and of courtesy called "special constables" — are not withdrawn before many days, thp point referred to by M|*. Balf ou^s. may be over-reached, and what t member even of the malevolent Massey Ministry, can contemplate the possible results with equanimity?