TRAM STRIKE TALES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 456, 18 May 1932, Page 4

TRAM STRIKE TALES.

“ Labour Daily ” Prints Tall Stories. CLASHES IN CHRISTCHURCH. “ Violent strke clash in New Zealand,” “ Special Constables Wearing Steel Helmets Ruthlessly Charge Tramwaymen ’ and “ Strikers Fiercely Resist Attack.” These are a few of the streamerlines which, in bold black type, topped sensational stories of the Christchurch tramway strike in the “ Labour Daily,” Sydney, copies of which have reached Christchurch. The report reads:— “ 900 in Clash.” “The whole Dominion was thrown into a state of intense excitement today when news was flashed through from Christchurch, the capital of the great Shepherd Kings’ country of Canterbury, that the tramwaymen on strike had violently clashed with the police and special constables. In the early hours of this morning on the appearance of the first tram from the suburb of Sumner, manned with s, about 300 tramway employees, with iron bars and other implement and stones were met by 600 or more special constables, wearing steel helmets and carrying batons. . . . blood flowed freely ... . Women joined the men in the melee in which several of them were hurt. . . . The specials punched the strikers and kicked them in the shins. Small pieces of gelignite were found on the tram rails and when the tram ran over it, a loud explosion followed. To-day’s grave outbreak has caused the Government serious alarm It is not likely to soften the general feeling of revulsion against the Forbes —Coates Ministry’s tyrannical handling of the terrible crisis through which the Dominion is passing. Forced to Enlist. “Employers tell their staffs that they are expected to enlist. . . . These ‘ cops’ are mainly drawn from the clerical class. The method of enlistment is more or less that of coercion. . . . Several of my acquaintances (“my,” meaning the “Labour Daily’s” correspondent) have been unwillingly compelled to enlist, and I am therefore in a position to publish the ‘low-down’ of the whole affair. . . . At the Wellington city wharves are berthed the warships Diomede, Laburnum and Veronica. An arrangement has been made for the cruiser Diomede to sound the alarm in the event of a riot at night in the city ... all these arrangements have been kept out of all New Zealand newspapers. In this community, the newspapers have a strict regard for the capitalist class, and none appears to risk its displeasure, coupled with an advertising boycott.”