ROTORUA'S RECEPTION

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1006, 22 December 1910, Page 8

ROTORUA'S RECEPTION

THE CROWD'S CREETINCS. HOODLUMISM OR "BANTER"? Tlie unseemly sceno which'occurred on the Queen's Wharf upon tho arrival of tho New Zealand Shipping Company's new steamer Rotorua'was tho subject of discussion at last-night's meeting of tho Wellington Harbour Board. It was stated that the board had. written in reply to' a complaint by the New Zealand Shipping Company as follows "Your letter was brought under the notice of the Wharves arid Accounts Committee, and considered, together with a report from the 'wharfinger. "Somo Exaggeration." "I am instructed to reply that the committee,' though' of opinion that somo exaggeration has been made of what actually occurred,, considers it was impossible under the circumstances for the board's officers to have done more than was done to prevent the overcrowding that took place. In addition to the harbourmaster's staff, the l wharfinger aiid three tolls officers wore in attendance, besides a police sergeant and three constables. I am informed that none of your own shore staff were present; also only one gangway was in use, whereas it is usual for ocean steamers to. have two gangways, one for passengers disembarking,. and the - other : for persons .desirous- to board, the . vessel. It would, therefore, appear that your com-, panydid not.realise the need for'any extraordinary precautions for dealing with so large , a complement, of passengers and their friends. ' ■

"Tho board is very desirous, of cooperating with your company in every way to. facilitate the landing of. passengers in an orderly manner, but you will rpaliso that it. would have been. impossible for: tho board, unless it had taken the'extreme step of closing the wharves, to. have prevented the congestion caused by the. unusually large crowd which, through a combination of circumstances, assembled on 'the' Queen's Wharf last Sunday; afternoon ,to witness the .first arrival of'your s,s. Rotorua." . Suggestion by tho Company. In the course of a further letter the New Zealand Shipping' Company wroto to the cffcct that it regretted to-find that the' Wharves and Accounts Committee apparently, did not realise what actually occurred. If they had seen it.'as the : company saw it it'felt sure that they .would "have considered it necessary to take action-to>prevent a recurrence. ' Enclosed • were clippings from the three daily papers, and the company' could assure, the , board : that their conception was not exaggerated. The,company's usual staff was-present and . they had: never used more than one gangway at : their jsteamohs.. 'In their, opinion- half a dozen gangways would not have overcome'the difficulty .after the crowd were allowed inside the chains, ,-It .appeared.to/the. company that the wharfinger arid three tolls'officers wore, quite insufficient to. control 3000 to'4ooo' pepple.' 1 They also-under-stood ~ that , the . tolls .officers;, were only, employed , until ("7 p.m.', whilst, the. disturbance, continued .until 8.30 p.m. . .There'--was no -doubt that the troublo occurred through the chains being lowered before the passengers had an opportunity of disembarking. The' company would suggest that the public be. kbpt back ill. a similar way to/the system', adopted in tlie docks in London, viz.: A picket -fence on wheels to bo placed across the entrance to No." 1 South, and .admittance being granted to officials' aiid those, of the public holding a . ticket of admittance '. from the company, an entrance being effected by means:' 1 of a small gate in the fence..

"Nothing Unseemly Took Place." The chairman said that ho was astonished' when he read the press accounts of the incident. There was a combination of circumstances which,led to anything of an unseemly character which might have' occurred. Owing to tho'faot that.it was.wet:in the morn-' ing a large number of'people had been prevented .from going out of town for tho day. When it turned out so 'fine in the afternoon a large crowd assembled on the wharves to witness, tho 'arrival of the vessel, which waS advertised as the largest boat which had visited the Southern. Hemisphere. There were, he understood, 5000 or 6000 people present., Tho'. wharfinger had told him'that lie aid all that was possible under tho circumstances. He rang up the-police station, and a'sergeant arid threo' or four policemen woro dispatched. From what he could gather there was some good-natured banter from the crowd to the passengers.. , As far as he knew tho only distressing feature was that two or threo passengers were prevented from 'landing. at once. These included ail invalid' who. it ;w&s desired should bo taken, to the hospital. Fortunately Mr. Tewsley, a. member of tho was • present, so that ho could tell the board what actually happened. Ho did not know that the board could do anything more, because another case of tho kind was not likely to arise perhaps for many years'; Tho bo'ard did not want.to shut .the.gates or let the people on the wharves only;.by ticket. If anything did take place it might' have ■ arisen from half a ' dozen hoodlums. -Tlte board would take all the 'steps it could to pre\ent anything of tho kind occurring again. Ho was, not convinced. that anything, unseemly took place.. If such had been , the case ho was suro the board officials and., the police would liavo taken stern suppressive measures. '

. Worse on Previous Occasions. . Mr. ToWsley mentioned that lie was in the tower at thG time of the arrival-of the Rotorua. : There was tho usual rush when the barriers were released. He saw nothing to which exception could.bo taken. Thero was, it was true, some banter'between, the sightseers and tho passengers. When a man kissed his wife or girl on the gangway someone would probably say "1 wish I were there." They had had worso than that on previous occasions. No bad or disrespectful language was, used as .far as ho knew. Nor was tliero any great difficulty experienced in connection with the disembarkation of the passengers. Mr. Bolton thought that the police should be asked to:help tho board on such occasions. There should bo a sufficient number of police there to keep order'. He understood there'wero 3000 or 4000 people on the wharf at the time. From what ho had heard, coarse language had been used in regard to some lady passengers. Mr. Haxkness considered, that Special moans should'be taken to limit, tho attendance of tho public oil the occasion of tho berthing of big vessels on Sundays and holidays." " . • ■

The chairman said that tho police had always shown a willingness to assist tho board officials in the past. Mr. M'Ewan said that from what ho had heard disembarkation was very difficult.

Tho chairman: No, no. That is absurd. I

In'coiiclusion, Mr. Fletcher said that ho aud the engineer would have another consultation ou the point. l