A SPECIMEN OF BILTCLIFF'S INSOLENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5563, 10 March 1886, Page 3

A SPECIMEN OF BILTCLIFF'S INSOLENCE.

This morning hia Worship the Mayor received tho following, telegram from Napier : , " Labour here very scarce and dear. • Send hundreds, i " J. D. Rubskll." On receipt of this message, his Worship sent the following telegram to the Mayor of Napier . — " Received following telegram, aigned J. D. Russell. (Telegram quoted.) Who is he, or is it reliable ? Reply promptly. — A. Ayers, Mayor of Christchurch." A crowd of men, estimated at about 150 strong, gathered around what is now known aa tho "agitators' lamp -post," in Cathedral square, and were harangued by Mr Biltcliff. His Worship the Mayor, | wishing to read, to the men the telegrnm he had received from Mr Russell, proceeded i to the assemblage; accompanied by Mr D. ] Ruese, M.H.R., who requested leave for the Mayor to speak. Mr Biltcliff, however, ' refused to allow him to do so, saying that he must wait until he (Mr Biltcliff) had finished. His Worship was going away when some of the men came to him, asked to know what he wished to say, and begged him to read out the ; telegram, a request with which the Mayor i complied. I A telegram was received by Mr Austin this morning from the Hon the Minister of j Public Works, stating that arrangements . will be made to send from 50 to 100 single j men to the Hokitika and Greymouth rail- j way as quickly as possible. j This afternoon, Hia Worship the Mayor I received the following reply to tho tele- j gram he sent in tho morning to the Mayor 1 of Napier : — "Russell, agent for Scott, contractor, drainage at Hastings. Dodge to obtain cheap labour. Good men here out of work, if contractor could pay ordinary wages, say 78. Do not send men on any account. — G. j H. Swarm." I After receiving the above message, His ] Worship announced to the men who, as ! usual, were congregated about the door of • the Government Buildings,, that he had j received a reply to his telegram of the i morning, and requested them to accompany i him to the lamp-poet, where, he said, he i would read it. j Speaking from the lamp-post, he said i that he felt exceedingly sorry at having to ■ announce such bad news to them. He had ; not thought that anyone would have pre- ; eumed to trine with their feelings and : his in the manner that the sender of the I telegram he had received in the morning : had done. (His Worship then read the message from the Mayor of Napier, which was received almost in silence i by the men, one or two of whom muttered : that the Mayor of Napier was an honest i man to tell them the truth about the matter.) Hib Worship continued : Though he was very sorry to have to bring such bad intelligence, it was better than if he had not i made the enquiries he had. They could ; see what the result would have been if the j men had been sent to Napier. (A voice : Wo should have been sucked in). Yes, they would have been sucked in very badly, and would have been worse off than they were now, for some of them might have spent money, and might have broken up their homes, only to find that there was nothing for them to do when they got to Napier. He felt that lie would have done a very grievioua wrong to them if he had not made enquiries, and undeceived them. (A Voice : Thank you for doing it.) He could assure them that he would do all he could for them, and would counsel them to have patience. He knew how difficult it was to be patient under such difficulties as they were in, for in time past he had had troubles himself. Nevertheless, they should be as patient as possible, and he and his friends would labour to the best *f their ability until they did get something for those out of work to do. (Hear, hear.) His Worship then time down from the lamp-post, and the men dispersed. This morning fifty-one men were put to work on the reserve around the Small-pox Hospital. Seventy-four men — including tloewho applied yesterday — have given in their names as willing to go to Napier, and fifty-eight have made application to be employed on the Hokitika-Greymouth railway. A few have applied for work at the Sandhills.