WHARF WORKERS FIGHT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16606, 9 December 1924, Page 10

WHARF WORKERS FIGHT.

woououmuuloo fracas.

ATTACK UN BUREAU MEN

AN ANGRY, SEETHING MASS

The indignation and hitler jealousy (hat has been simmering for weeks among Shipping Bureau and union wharf laborers oi Sydney came to a head at Woojooiuooloo oil the afternoon of Saturday, November 22. There wa s a free tight in which hundreds of men took, part. Dozens were knocked down and kicked, but they struggled to their feet and were soon back m the fray again. Fully a thousand men, women and children were concerned in the melee before the police quieted the dlsUU'hainc. At the more sensational of (wo encounters, in Forbes street, adjacent to the Woolloomooloo wharf, about ICCO people, men, women and children, were inextricably mixed in a seething,' bitter mass, at one stage. It was women,. according to' the police, who were the: cause of the trouble at the outset. Cargo. was being transferred from the fern, dale into the Fort Wellington, and on these two ships about 150 Bureau mem were engaged. About 100 of the. Bureau men were also employed on the Orcades. Both gangs of men left the; wharves at 5 o'clock for tea.. The workers scattered in all directions. Some went into town; others 1 had their tea in the neighborhood; others again, comparatively few in mini-; lwr. went into an establishment in Dowling street tojiave their meal. It was: this last-named party who met first the; bitter taunts of women, and then, withi dramatic and overwhelming suddenness,! the full storm of a battle with their' rivals on the wharves, and those, no) doubt-, who are sympathisers with them.. All the nursed.-up rancour, all the bitterness, of two factions was let loose in< what is described by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the greatest brawls in the memory oi the police. FURY'OF TUB WOMEN. Some women recognised the Bateau men us they were sitting at their meal in Dowling stret, and hurled at them such expressions as "Blackleg" and "Scab." The noise quickly brought to the scene wharf laborers who are affected by the; strike, and others, and within a second or two there was a bitter fight. TheBureau men, only about 15 in number, appeared to be fighting an almost hopeless battle, in which both fists and boots were used, for they found themselves in the thick of a consolidated force of about 200. The contestants were being reinforced every second by others who rushed to the scene, and amid it all suchepithets as "Scabs" and' "Blacklegs" rent the air. It. was an ugly moment. In the thick of the battle were four. policemen—lnspector Woodrow, who is ; known among the Bureau men as "'Colonel," a sergeant, and two constables. Il wan the cooluesa and. the Uct of this little squad that saved (he. situation in that quarter. As (lie inspector admitted afterward;;, il he had had under him at the moment hot-headed, impetuous men, they might very easily have drawn their batons, overwhelmed as they were by the seething mass all round them, arid there would inevitably have been bloodshed.

"Let a man draw his baton or pu!! out' a revolver in such a .scene as thai," the inspector remarked', "and there i.> noknowing what will happen." The police! .and the reinforcements that strengthened! (heir thin ranks ..'»s the battle shifted k>! nth«r quarters did not at any stage, it is styled, draw out cither their billons or (heir revolvers. WAR OF FISTS AND ROOTS. s But the lust for -war was in the air,, and it was not long before Forbes si reel,' Adjacent to tbo wharf, became the battle-: front, i Here the fight became more intense The little spark that had been, lighted at Howling' street by the epithets! of a few women had set up a blaze. The passions of hatred and ill-wjll were letj loose i' l a riotous war of fists, and boots. To clean this brawl up again without re- : sorting to a show of arms was an immeasurably bigger task for the little squad who had faced the mob at street, and who were again on the scene at this quarter. Before long, with reinforcements, the police were 10 strong. Other members of. the force rushed to. the scene from all quarters, until the police had a. strength of 35, including the inspector, sergeants, and constables. In the frenzy of the moment someone threw a brick. Sewn up ni' cretonne, it looked unmistakably like an imnrovised door-stopper. As far as the police known, the missile did not •mrt anyone. At about 6.30 p.m.. about an hour and .vhalf from the time that the riot opened, the police, bv vigorous vet tactful action, had restored order. "T did not hear of anyone being iniured," sa'd Inspector Woodrow. "but they were fighting with fists and beets, and I am pretty certain rlmt some in the crowd show to-day unmistakable signs of the battle- Not only did the nolice refrain from using thenbatons, but T do"'tot know of a single <-ase in which the hooks that the waterfront men carry were used. The position might thus have been much -worse." • At one stage the police, then only a few in number, came as a barrier between • what, looked like two mmassable masses. ■ Thr-v held the mob apart on either side of the tramlines. • POLICE MAKE THREE ARRESTS.

.Three men., Wore arrested-—a., .wharf laborer involved-in- the>trik< ; ., ; hSun, 'arid a ship's ipaTritfeii. '.. fy>s y»re charged with-riotous behavior. aiid-oßfl was charged with assault. ' r Calm having been'restored, the police the Bureau men up alongside the wharf sates, and they then passed inside into the zone of safety. One batch of Bircau men, who knocked oft ©arty in the night, were escorted from the wharves and: into what, were regarded' as safe mwrters, by a squad of police. * The police, however, had to keep close vWI on the wharves, in tlie vicinity of the riot, until the last batch of Bureau m€ „ left at 11 o'clock. For these a special tram was engaged,, and nmder a strong police guard, and with strict orders to the tramdrivcr not 1o stop for anyoDC-tho police Wared flying nicies —{he men were taken away safely.