PETITION AGAINST "SPECIALS."

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14833, 26 November 1913, Page 10

PETITION AGAINST "SPECIALS."

DEMAND FOR THEIR WITHDRAWAL.

NOT TO BE ENTERTAINED.

ALLEGED INTIMIDATION.

The masterly organisation displayed in the massing of the "specials" in Lyttelton yesterday was a severe sotback to the strikers who, while attempting to simulate indifference.could scarcely conceal their chagrin at being blocked from access to the waterfront. No person was allowed to pass the railway gates yesterday without producing a pass. From an early hour there was a great demand for permits by people having business on the whaiTOS. A cordon of foot "specials" guarded the approaches to the railway crossing, and no one was allowed to pass without producing his permit. The secretary of the Harbour Board (Mr Cyrus J. R. Williams) was besieged for more than an hour yesterday morning signing passes for the numerous applicants. The "specials" guarding the approaches to the waterfront were no respecters of persons and no ane was allowed to pass without showing his permit. During the morning a new move was disclosed. A.requisition to the Mayor was being taken round the business part of the town and the small shopkeepers and the hotelkeepers were being asked to sign. Following is a copy of the requisition:— "To the Mayor, Lyttelton. . "Dear Sir, —We, the undersigned, being shopkeepers and business people of Lyttelton, demand that the special constables sow in the streets be immediately withdrawn therefrom, as we .are of opinion that their presence in the streets is an unwarrantable interference with the liberty of tho citizens of Lyttelton." A representative of "The Press" was informed last evening that forty-four signatures had been secured on the requisition, which had been sent forward. It was stated that many of- the small shopkeepers seemed to fear injury and reprisals if they did not sign the requisition. The Mayor of Lyttelton (Mr J. ■R. Webb) intimated to the officer in charge of the special constables that he had received the requisition, but it was not probable that any further action would be taken. There is not the slightest doubt that the "specials" will remain until the town has settled down to something like its normal state. The manager of one well-known business firm stated that the requisition was not supported by tho larger shopkeepers. . He himself, had not been approached or asked to sign, although his head carter and the head of one of the departments of his firm had been approached by strikers and warned that they should get out before the business was closed up. DISPOSITION OF THE ''SPECIALS." About 10 o'clock yesterday; morning it became apparent that there was nothing' to be feared in the way of trouble with the strikers, and a fairly large detachment of mounted /"specials" .returned to Christchurch via the Bridle Path; For the main body of "specials" who remained in Lyttelton, complete arrangements were made during the day for their 'accommodation. The horse- lines were fixed on the waterfront outside the Union Company's office and! at two or three other vantage points along the waterfront. Sleeping accommodation for the men was, provided in No. 5 Harbour Board store, and- in several other buildings on.the wharves. The Coronation Hall is being utilised as a clinfhg-room for the "specials."