The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 329, 28 January 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1871.

The game of the " unemployed " in the hands of " Mr." Wetton, should be almost played out; and the identification of the movement at the meeting last night, with the terrorism attempted iv Auckland, should prompt the police authorities to take a few of thesa m.en under their charge. Where a system of defiance to the community is hurled forth—as is reported to have been done last night by the ex-lighthouse-keeper of Tararu,-we think all decent people may fairly be excused for withholding all sympathy with any. persons allying themselves with such a speaker. " The Press is pretty well muzzled by this time," said the man of colza oil; " and our two monster meetings have already struck the city, from one end to the other, with terror." And a voice from the crowd replied, " Yes, it only wants one or two more fires to finish them." Is this contemptible fellow, who, notwithstanding the

withering exposure given him by the Superintendent, lias the brazen impudence to still put himself forward as the representative ol the working men, and whom thia gang of idlers has the presumption to acknowledge as representing their view?s —is this fellow to be allowed by the police to speak iv this style and walk abroad with impunity ? " Strike terror into the city " indeed ! Why the sneaks that would skulk under a building at night and apply a match and then run for dear life, are not the class of people that any one is afraid of. And though for the sake of women and children that may be roasted in their sleep, and property that may be destroyed, an uneasy feeling may exist when such white-livered people aie permitted to be abroad, there is no one but knows that it is only by the forbearance of the police and the indulgence of the public that the spouters of such inflammatory harrangues are not in the lock-up. Why, when the fellows talked of forcing their way into the presence of the Superintendent, the hand of the Inspector of Police laid quietly on the shoulder of one of them, calmed the bluster; and there cannot be a doubt that "Mr." Wetton, with his knowledge of the exchangeable value of colza oil, is not the innocent to ignore the exchangeable value of his liberty, or the unpleasant sensation produced by a pair of bracelets. It may be that there are some old women in the city in men's clothes, who are afraid of" Mr." Wetton, but there is not one of ordinary sentiments and a little experience who does not know that at the first waive of a special constable's baton, the gang of loafers would skedaddle ; and the colza oil man is the very one who would show the most tender regard for his own skin. Terror, indeed ! Why there would not, in the whole gang, be a mouthful a piece for the thousands of citizens that would rally round the law; and it is only because the movement has become thoroughly contemptible, that its bluster is not at once stifled Everyone sympathises with distress, but from the character which this agitation has now assumed, we have no hesitation in saying that the contributions, if there are any, must be of the character of " black mail," and will not speak the charitable heart, but the craven spirit of the subscribers.