"A REAL BATTLE."

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 58, 14 July 1913, Page 5

"A REAL BATTLE."

COUTH AFRICAN TROUBLE.

UNREST AMONG RAILWAYMEN

(Received 8.45 a.m.) London, July 13

The Telegraph's Capetown correspondent says:—"The older officials even those belonging to the railway society are keeping their heads, and say they will refuse to he stampeded, but the Labour leaders at Pretoria believe they have only to raise their finger and the whole of the railway systems will be paralysed."

EYE WITNESS'S ACCOUNT. ! Mr Meyer, Unionist member of the Union Parliament, who was a witness of the rioting, considers that the Government was seriously to blame for their tactless handling of the whole situation. He coniirmed the tributes to the behaviour of the Dragoons, a small detachment of which under the Earl of Airlie held back the demented mob which was thirsting to destroy fche Rand Club, the inmates of which ivere in a most dangerous situation, be crowd being armed and potting at "lie troops from all sides. It was not \ riot but a real battle. The difficulty was that numbers of the men and women were looking on and abetting the rioters regardless of the risks :key ran. Armed rioters took cover behind the crowd in some instances and fired from round the corners and housetops. Mr Meyer avers that the military never once fired without full warning or until they had been fired it. He served in the South African war, and he says he never saw a hotter corner or saw troops behave better. The rioters included low-class Dutehnen, foreign illicit liquor sellers, and dangerous criminals. They did not •espect the amhulanuce and doctors, and the attendants were fired at. Mr Sauer, Minister of Native Affairs and Justice, says that half a mi'liou was paid to the railway men in increased pay since the Union Government took office.

RECRUITING THE NATIVES

Renter's Lisbon correspondent says that an agreement has been reached between the Minister for the Colonies ind the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association for recruiting of natives in the Mozambique district.

JOINING THE RESPONSIBILITY. (Received 9.45 a.m.) Capetown, July 13. General Botha, addressing his con■•titutents, said the Government deplored the necessity for force during be recent riot. The Government, •tot Viscount Gladstone (GovernorGeneral), was responsible for the employment of troops. All happenings it Johannesburg must not be attributdto strikers. There was a large element which was blameable for a good deal of the trouble. As a •natter of fact, the strikers were in the minority.