UNRULY FIREMEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23222, 21 June 1937, Page 12

UNRULY FIREMEN

FRACAS AT LYTTELTON WATERSIDE WORKERS ATTACKED PROMPT ACTION BY POLICE RINGLEADERS SENT TO GAOL (Per United Press Association) CHRISTCHURCH, June 19. Six manacled firemen from the steamer Tairoa were marched by a police escort from the Lyttelton police station to the Magistrate's Court this morning, where fines and sentences wrote conclusion to the biggest disturbance at the waterfront for some years—a fight between waterside workers and firemen on the foredeck of the Tairoa, in which bottles, crockery, table knives, baulks of wood, and an ugly iron bar were used as weapons.

The Tairoa arrived in port yesterday morning, and the men were given an advance of about £4 on their pay. A section of them visiting the hotels became very noisy. There was an arrest for drunkenness and obscene language a few minutes after 6 o'clock, but it was not till the firemen were on their way back to the ship and encountered a waterside worker working on No. 7 wharf that the real trouble stsrtcd That waterside worker was struck on the mouth, and when the firemen got on board the ship a few of them picked upon waterside workers who were working in the holds, and something in the nature of a pitched battle resulted.

A few of the firemen paused at the top of the gangway to threaten the second officer of the ship, and two others accosted one of the waterside workers working on the fore deck, and, often asking him "what his religion was," attempted to assault him. It was then that the waterside workers who had gathered on the wharf, led by -two men who had seen trouble coming and were eager to protect their comrades on the ship, poured up the gangway. From the descriptions of the weapons used in this melee given in court this morning it was surprising that there was only one real casualty. This exception was the waterside worker who was first encountered on the wharf. A sudden blow had split his lip and cost him three teeth.

When three policemen rushed to the scene, led by Sergeant D. Wilson, a heavy piece of timber and a seven-foot iron bar missed them narrowly before they climbed the gangway. It was, in Sergeant Wilson's words, "A very ugly spot," and in court this morning he expressed appreciation of the way the waterside workers had assisted the police. The police arrested four men on the Tairoa, and together with two other firemen who were arrested for drunkenness at other times, they appeared in the Lyttelton Magistrate's Court this morning before justices. Danny Robinson, described as the ringleader, was fined £5, in default a month's imprisonment, for riotous and disorderly behaviour, and on each of two charges of assault, he was sentenced to a month's imprisonment. James Gallagher was fined £5 for riotous behaviour, in default a month's imprisonment, and imprisonment for a month for assault. John Henry Johnson and Patrick Varney were each fined £5, in default a month's imprisonment, for behaving in a threatening manner to the Tairoa's second officer.

Thomas Adams, who was arrested in Lyttelton prior to the fracas, wa.s fined £5, in default one month's imprisonment, for using obscene language, and convicted and discharged for drunkenness. David Thomas Rowan, who followed the police to the station after the arrests and would not go away, was fined £2, in default seven day:.' imprisonment, for being drunk and disorderly. Sergeant Wilson explained the general circumstances to the court. " In the melee they used everything on the ship," said the sergeant. " There were kettles, crockery, dunnage, and even iron bars. They scattered when the cry of ' Police \ was raised."

Sergeant Wilson said that the situation had been an ugly one, with only three police, but the watersiders gave invaluable help. " The court regards interference with waterside workers and the holding up of the,work of the ship for an hour and a-half most seriously," said the presiding justice. "The waterside workers were not molesting anyone, and should have been left alone. They never do interfere with others. They are a peaceful class of men."

All the gaol sentences carried the proviso that the men were to be put back on the ship before she sailed. As Lyttelton is the Tairoa's last port of call in New Zealand, it is unlikely that any of the prisoners will spend more than a few days in gaol.