THE LONDON RIOTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 11130, 16 February 1886, Page 2

THE LONDON RIOTS.

"Puff" in the Wellington Press, writes : — Fnghtened out of their sviis! West End threatened with mission by a mob from Deptford ! Where is Deptford ? It's a. terrible rough place, down in . . the far east of London, inhabited by * "~ dock labourers, who get half a crown a day, and thousands of other poor folfei i~_^ who are not half bo well off! Hungry, some of 'era, eh ? Half of 'em don't know what it is to get a square meal, and they drink gio. to ke p the cold out of their stomach I . , _.- ;.-..■ They'd be ugly customers to have x rampaging through the fashionable quarters! Especially in a fog so thick yon can't see your hands before your faoe ! What's to stop them from wrecking the whole place and helping themselves to as much loot as they please ? Well, their own honesty, to begin with ! Most of them are just as honest as rich people, in spite of all their r poverty and squalor, and what is more ; strange, they ace contented in their own way ! They're attaphed to their miser* .; , able homes,and they have their domestic joys, such as they are ! There must be a great many, though, who are little better than savages ! Fa^er than you would expect ! Even those poor starving wretches, moreover, are not really dangerous I Did you ever read Low Life Deeps , by Green wood* " The Oasul," in the Daily Telegraph ? No, I should like to real that ! It's well worth reading, 'I can assure' you ! It gives a wonderfully favourable impression, even of the poorest classes in London ! Then who are these people who smash windows and rob shops, and maltreat passers-by ? Criminals ! Ragamuffins, who never do any honost work ! Thieves, cheats, loafers, scoundrels of every sort, who prefer a life cf crine to any other, and who would much rather steal money or food than earn it. Then you don't think there's any fear - if the reai worki ig classes risiug against the wealthy classes ? Not the slightest ! They are dependent for their bread — little -as they get of it — on the security of property, and it would be against their interests as well as their instincts to make common oauae with criminals I Then why don't the rioh behave better \ towards them? Why don't they help S. the poor, instead of living in bloated luxury while their fellow creatures are starving ? There is no country in the world, and there never has been, where the rich give so much to the poor as in England I If you tvant to know the troth about that, you should get your information from men like the late Lord Shaftesbury, and not from demagogues and Radical spemfcfirs who live by setting class against class !