AUCKLAND WATERSIDERS CONFER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1890, 27 October 1913, Page 4

AUCKLAND WATERSIDERS CONFER.

OFFICIALS RETICENT.' (By Telegraph.—Pree» Association.) ■ : Auckland, October 20. ' The. Auckland watorsidors met this morning , to,■ ■discuss their .attitude ii> : : \ relation. to T tho Wellington strike. The Press Was' : not admitted, and the .officials ■ afterwards declined to give any . information .as -to what took place. \ ■■', ' '■■■■ " MOB RULE. _ Sir,—As a visitor to your country and : : city, I was surprised to witness the total inadequacy of the Police. Force in coining' with; "mob 'rule,"' as .witnessed yesterday on the Wellington wharves. M<nf.rfb'lo:'aild'H( i illing'"to Work were pre- ■< vented from so ■ doing, those that start* cd being roughly handled. Happening to bo .at the .Ferry AVhrtrf in the after- / noon," I saw . a .barricade, erected therit being demolished, and the timber thrown piece by piece into the harbour. Tho -! illob then visited the Riimitaka, where; ■it showed itself in its true light; fflxr vessel was bearded,-officers violently , ast saulted) and tho gangway; tinloosed and' dropped oil to tho wharf, about twenty feet. Half-a-dozen of tho ringleaders then'searched the sliip. and had any men been found at worlc it would' liavo gone hard witli them.' It' wa|' ecrtuinly , a debasing spectacle, and one I did.-not r expect to see ;in"God's Own Country,''! , As far as I. ain able to judge, the wharf labourers hero are mainly led by twenty or thirty individuals of 'tho hoodlum type, bfitweeir tsventy aiid thirty yoara of - ago, with obviously no stako in th<r country. Let theso men (?) have a!. ■■ freo' pass to Mexico, or some other', . country, whitfe a revolution is a favour-! , ite excitement,. and where lam sural they would bo given a,hearty reception, but, for goodness ssike, let tliem leav<r this fair 'Dominion alone. ProiH- itw q'uiries mitdfe, ;I find that the men afq' entirely in the Wrong, the acreomcntt ■ entered'-into .'having.-''been flagrantly, broken, and they cannot expect the sym«'l , • path® of one ■ right-thinking person/ .There are no doubt hundreds of them, who have homes of their awn, wives, and families, and Who are .respected and!. law-abiding Si.tizenß, -and. would much] prefer tho' good wages which I under--' stand t'liey earn, than following a score, or ..more of irresponsible loaScrs. 'Jt is ' to,..be hoped your, fine city will not submit to "mob rale. 1 ' and that men wflty ■. ing to work shall bo allowed to do so.--*" 1 am, etc., . TRAVELLER.,