SATURDAY NIGHT AT WAIHI.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10497, 6 November 1912, Page 2

SATURDAY NIGHT AT WAIHI.

A contemporary supplies toe following account pf the proceedings at , Waihi last Saturday night:— ' Waihi, November 4. The extreme aggressiveness of the women on Saturday night was. responsible for what must be_ termed the most dramatic and exciting incident which has yet occurred during the progress of the strike, culmmat- . ing in a combined oharge'of mounted and foot police who dispersed a mob of conisderably over 500 men and women and successfully corralled them within the confines of the Miners’ Union Hall. AH ORGANISED MOVE.

Early in the evening it could be . seed that something unusual was about to happen. Women and men flocked into the town in great numbers, a large persentage carrying »• waddies, ’ ’ or rude walking sticks. One woman Was heard to exclaim that they, would take charge of the town after the picture shows were out, and that the trump card would then be played. What eventually transpired had the undoubted stamp of an organised move upon it, and the trump ,card was highly-flavoured, ■ well-seasofleA eggs. RUNNING GAUNTLET. About 7.80 p.m,, a, .large number of women, the majority, wheeling / perambulators, paraded, up and-.down opposite the Academy Theatre, and ; every person (and there were many) who came under the ban of their condemnation had to ran the gauntlet of insult and abuse before gaining an entrance. Screams of‘‘Scabs ' and “Dirty mongrel” and other invective emerged into a perfect pan--1 demoninm. The police attempted to 1 clear the way, but the ■militant • band did not disperse. Ordina,ry courtesy and gentleness were use--less. The women already had charge of the town, and every man, ■ woman and child in l the streets knew . it. DELANEY GETS AS TURN. Things, however, came to a head " at 9.30. It appears that Delaney ; (already well known as one of the 1 principal strike breakers) was con- : u versing with-a friend (a woman), when the latter remarked that the mob was not paying him much attention then. It appears that the remark was overheard, and a picket was seen rushing oyer to the Miners’ ' Union Hall, where a dance was in progress. An exodus from the build- ’ ing immediately took place, with ' the result that within a few , - minutes a large hostile crowd ad- . vanced towards Delaney, 1 the women ' 1 screaming and hurling the usual epithets and creating a great noise. ■ Delaney proceeded np the street with the mob in attendance.

' POLICE CHECK THE ADVANCE. ' , Senior Sergeant McKinnon and . Murphy headed the crowd and stopped the advance at the corner of Rosemont road. By this time the main street from one side ;to the other was black with people, i consisting of serried ranks of strik- ;■ ; ers and women folk.. The appeals ' ■ of the police to desist were useless, A LONELY ORATOR. Previous to this a shrill whistle' •; was blown, evidently as some sort of signal; it was not a police vVwhistle. The interlude was caused ■'<, by a man addressing the crowd of I.'-' strikers. He said they were ■ coni tinning hooting and * ‘'Scabbing, ’ ’ , though - beaten, and that all they ( / were good for was to anuony sick women and innocent children.

1 ,' : r MOUNTED. CONSTABLES . - APPEAR. ; >• In the meantime Delaney \ kept on ‘lip the street, and Sergeant McKinnon and Constable. Murphy again interposed, hpldiug the mob for the by drawing a cordon of - police .- /across the street. It was at this ’ 'juncture that the mounted con- ' “stables formed up, together with the i. force of foot police, and as many as possible formed a line and charged back through the ranks of the igtrikers, some of the mounted, men meanwhile sweeping the main footpath. The mobilisation of the ■v police took place with wonderful .rapidity. :' Vi A WILD STAMPEDE. The effect was wonderful- Inv.stantiy a wild stampede, like a drove '-of frightened cattle, took place. '.Men and women rushed. headlong j.onward. . No resistance whatever was shown. Sticks were dropped, - aind perambulators crashed i other. The Jihorse police charged 'right through the crowd* and j Leaded back those in front, turning -'•the entire mob towards the Union '.Hall. It was a human drive or ‘“•‘round-up,” No batons were used. "Numbers of women and , men completely -lost their heads, running .'.frantically-,hither and thither, some ",crying out that tlie police were going -"to' murder them, - Gradually the /cordon closed in, and the excited were forced into the ihall. iiBRAYE FEDERATION BOSSES. !rV-Duriug the rusli Mr R. Semple, “the federation organiser, was seen to '.vault over a fence into a yard join;fing' tlie hall, and Mr Webb, the president, was noticed making I-Jnmifcdly for the same building. Numbers clashed through the fence, falling over each, other. An eyewitness states that he distinctly saw men pushing women aside in their efforts to get into the hall. No doubt this was done unthinkingly and under the pressure of excitement. "So thick was the crowd that a .block occurred at .the door. > ROTTEN EGGS AND STONES. /Before the police charged volleys of rotten eggs were -in evidence, and the nolice state that stones were also thrown. One of the militant women was the recipient of a bad egg full [in' the face, the unsavory missile toeing obviously intended for Delian ey. After the mob had been forced into the hall the town re : [lapsed into comparative quiet, excepting a little boohing within the pall and cries of “Are we afraid of fclie police?” and the response, “No, Ive’re not afraid.”

POLICE ACTION COMMENDED. The “fleet of'.tbo police action was hat those leaving tlie picture shows vere able to proceed homo for the li-hb time ’.for a lengthy period within t molestation. It speaks volumes or the splendid discipline of the lolioe, and the manner in which hoy handled the panic-stricken rowd, that not a single person was jjured. Sergeant McKinnon, under those direction the police mpveipigtfc was carried out, has received »ny congratulations from business eoplo and others. His action was ijt'ixely justifiable, and the success iilKffll i 1 f i if 6ijL A , Li, ui „ 1 i. „ a 1,, Ah'* .A .t „

is complete. The police and lawabiding citizens have been openly defied, and the ! leniency extended towards the women has only urged them on to more aggressive acts which were becoming well nigh intolerable.