STATION RUSHED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 335, 30 January 1932, Page 10

STATION RUSHED.

Relief Work Strikers Free Trip. CROWDED CARRIAGES. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, January 30. About 500 of the Hutt Valley relief work strikers rushed the Lambton Station at three o’clock this afternoon, attempting to get a free trip back to their homes in the Hutt Valley. They boarded the train, which took them free of charge to their destination. The strikers had gathered in the city at an early hour this morning to form a deputation to the Government. The crowd, whose r. .mbers included many women, subseciuently marched on to the Lambton Railway Station shortly before 3 p.m. They brushed aside railway officials, who demanded to see their tickets, and declared that they wanted a free ride back to Lower Hutt. They rushed the 3.10 p.m. train, which usually carries only three carriages, and the 500 men and women crowded into the :e cars and -remained adamant. Another six cars were added to the train, which finally left at 3.25 p.m. EIGHT-MILE TRAMP. Men Proceed to Parliament House. DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, January 30. Some 500 relief works strikers from the Hutt Valley marched into the city this morning as a deputation to the Government. About 250 men gathered early at Lower Hutt and proceeded quietly to Petone, where they were reinforced by about an equal number from that suburb. Headed by a band composed of unemployed workers, the whole party, including many women, then set out on an eight mile tramp to Wellington. They were met at the Thorndon station by two to three hundred city relief work sympathisers, who had paraded through the streets. Marching to Parliament House, the demonstrators were addressed from the main steps of the building pending a deputation being heard by Mr Coates. Nearly 2000 people assembled in front of the building. A brass band headed the procession with banners which declared that the camp scheme meant starvation and that the No. 5 scheme should be abolished. Twelve speakers selected from the throng occupied nearly two hours. Mr Coates’s Answer. “My advice in the meantime is to carry on,” declared Mr Coates. “ You must give the Government an oppor to complete the scheme in detail.” This, he explained, involved Parliament’s approval, and he must be sure that finance would be available. If, as he hoped, the money tvas available, men would get an opportunity leading to permanent employment. He believed that there could be a better distribution of population way from the cities. He could not agree to pay award rates on the No. 5 scheme. It was a relief scheme, but full wages meant the dole, which would destroy the men’s morale. AGAINST STRIKE. Trades and Labour Council Gives Advice. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, January 30. The Wellington Trades and Labour Council has unanimously decided to recommend to members of its affiliations to refuse to be led into the relief works strike in the belief that it will in any way improve their present unfortunate condition, and is advising them in their own interests to remain in their present employment.