IN THE SQUARE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1892, 29 October 1913, Page 8

IN THE SQUARE.

SPEECHES AND BRASS BAND. INFLAMMATORY WORDS., Men began to gather in the Post Office Square shortly after six o'clock yesterday morning. There was ail orderly crowd of several thousand thero from 9 o'clock onwards. Cart-tail speeches were made in the morning and in the afternoon. Tho Waterside Workers' Band played at intervals in the speech-making.

Auckland Sympathy. Among the early speakers was Mr. E.'Canliam, president of the Auckland Waterside Workers' Union, who was said to be a spccial missionor on strike business. Ho said that the majority of tho men in his union had been in favour of coming out in sympathy with tho Wellington men at midnight on Monday, but it had eventually been decided that lie should visit Wellington to urge that all transport workers should bo called out. If tho United Federation of Labour dccided to tako tho Strike out of the hands of the Strike Committee he felt sure that it would be able to commence an industrial lire which it would take a very long timo to quench..' Rofcrring to tho arrival in port of H.M.S. Psycho, Mr. Canliam urged tho strikers not to como into conflict with tho naval men, who were well drilled and disciplined, and who would bo a bio to walk right through a crowd even of tho size of the one he was addressing. It was useless for til© strikers to resist them' unless they wore as well disciplined and trained a3 the bluejackets. "Poison in ,Small Packets." Mr. W. Parry called upon tho strikers to "stick to their posts as they did in Waihi." Ho said that 1100 men he had organised (inferentially ■ in Waihi) wero "going to stand by you." Miss Selina Anderson, who could not be heard very distinctly, was much concerned about freo labour. "Fellow workers, fellow citizens in sympathy with those who are only trying to keep a roof over tho heads of their wives and helpless littlo ones, I call upon you to stand firm." Freo labourers, she continued, wore crawling, cringing things, not worthy of being called bv "tho namo of the lowest animal. It was a woman's work to keep the man fed while ho watched the blacklegs. (Applause.) "As Mr. Parry said; keop away from tho corner places for this time. Be level-headed. Wait.till you win the fight, and then have as rauc7' as you like. (Laughter.). . . . Every man is - worthy of his hire—except tho blackleg. And I may tel! vou that if I como across a blackleg I will make it pretty hot. (Laughter.) Yes, I an; not very big, hut they say that poison is wrapped up in small parcels." Miss Anderson deemed The Dominion and another Wellington journal as ungrateful to tho men who provided the penny for the papers. A voice: Boycott them. Miss Anderson: No, I never believe in boycotting anyone. A Mr. M'Namara, an official of southern -union, was announced. and_ it was said that he had lost his voice talking to seamen on the vessel coming up to Wellington. His voice was very much lost, and it had not been found later in the afternoon. He seemed to be stating that lie would not be forced to do something or other. Would They Permit the N.Z. Cup? Then Mr. G. Bruce mounted tho cart and announced that tlio Strike Committee had decided to' let tho racehorses proceed south for the Now Zealand Cup meeting at Cliristchurch. Cries of dissent, and "Hoorays." ■ Mr. Bruce: There are any amount of tho working class who will be at that meeting. They arc sports ; -they believe in racing. They go there every year, and I don't think it would further our causo to stop tho meeting or stop these horses going. Listen! If you agree t J this these horses liave to get a safe passage through to-niglit, and the men and tho bnvs in charge of them. \\ hat do you say? . . A show of hands found tho crowd m favoltr cf letting tho horses through. A meeting of the watorsiders a littlo later resulted similarly, though there were many of tho men against it, "Stop the ships," some of tliem said, "then nothing can get through. flow can vou stop tho ships. they lV < !re asked, and they answered, Call tho seamen out.' Wholesale Tirade. Mr. Fraser, secretary of the Social Democratic party, addressed tho crowd. The sooner they realised that they wero not mere hewers of wood and drawers of water the better. As long as they v.-pro like sheep accenting the capitalists' political formula the workers ! wero splendid specimens of working I men. "Wo know our place. Tho most terrible, the most heinous crime tho worker can he guilty of is not to know his nlare. It is not. vour place to wear trood clothes. You , have no right- to wear the clothes your bosses should wear. You havo no right to oat tho,

best food and the best drink. And now, while on this Question. I want to say this: There are different Kinds of 'scabs. 1 It' you see a man go down on the wharf you derido him, hut even ho who goes down there to steal our jobs is nothing to the fool who goes into the public house and poisons his brain with one of the worst poisons which can he got. You want your brains as cool as ice. For remember that you aro not only up against the brains of the shipping companies. They have tho Government, the police, tho law courts behind them. . . . There is no such thing as justice in-the ordinary sense of the word for tlio worker who is out on strike. If you come into collision with the police and tliey are in superior numbers they will shoot you down as thev shot down the workers at Johannesburg and at Dublin tho other day. There aro tho Pobbers on tho one hand, and the robbed on tho other. You have on the one side the robbers, with their police, their gunboat, their law courts; and on tho other side thero aro tho workers." 1 A voice: "Special constables." Sir. Eraser: Well, I don't think they will trouble us much. •

"If Doors Have to be Burst." Replying to an interjection, Mr. Eraser said: "Our friend here says wo are not going to be starved; but the papers to-day have announced in the most coldblooded manner possiblo that the employers liavo settled down to a starving campaign. Now, in tho older countries o£ tho world tlicy play that game, only thero the workers starve whether they are on strike or not. Sometimes they starve a little more, sometimes a little less. At Dublin tho other day they tried to starve them, but they have not done it yet. And here, in God's Own Country (God likes it so much that He keeps it all to Himself and gives none of it to the workers) they are talking of it. In this country thero is any amount of grain, and sheep, and food, and the workers produced every ounce of it —(hear, hear) — and if the workers live by the great law known to Nature—the law of selfpreservation, tho law which must have obedience and transcends every law made by human society—if it compels tho workers to get food, then tho workers of Wellington, and of New Zealand, are going to got food, and if a fewdoors liavo to ue burst, like tho Basin Reserve gate, all the worse for the doors." (Applauso.)

So ended the morning speeches. In tho afternoon thero were more. Among tho chief of these was Mr. P. Hickey, secretary of the United Federation of Labour.

Hints on Dealing With Free Labourers. Mr. Hickey said that he realised tho importance which- theworkers of tho Dominion' rightly attached to victory in this struggle. There could bo no ]jeaco unless it was peace with honour'to tho workers. To attain that they might have to uso powers which they had not yot used.- He had hardly expected the magnificent display of. solidarity which, the IGOO strikers had shown. The other workers in the Dominion were ready to make common, cause; in fact, ho was in a position to know that certain workers had already mado common cause. "Mr. Herdman and company may find that they have made a tactical blunder in centring certain forces here. They may need, them somowhero else." (Hear, hear.) Tho workers of NewZealand had not won a decent strike for 20 years,, simply because tho employers had been able to get sufficient strike labour. A voice: If they come here, they go into tlio'harbour. ■ (Applause.) Mr. Hickey: Oh, no, I deprecate all that kind of suggestion. (Loud laughter.) . . . There is nothing on ,God's green earth more degraded than tho scab. • • • You will have to make it so interesting that they will go back to.the cow farms they came from. (Applause.) ... I have lieard a lot of talk' about the Farmers' Union flooding tho Wellington wharves with farmers' sonsJ I don't think tliev will come, but the papers say they will, and sometimes the papers say by chance that which is true. These scabs have to bo taught a lesson. How to do it circumstances may have to determine. In America, whero I spent part of my life, they were knocked on the head with a piece of wood. ... I venture to say that in Wellington that will not be necessary, and that a slight tap on the hand, and "You naughty fellow,". will bo all that is necessary. (Laughter, and "Hear, hear."). "Machinations of the Ctrl Scouts." Mr. Hickey .said that stories of the finding of dynamito and shavings had been circulated in order to lead the public to believe that tho strikers were prepared to destroy public buildings. The strike had been carried on creditably by tho workers; and _ the other sido had done nothing except' find dynamite : and threaten to call out tho Artillery. They might yet threaten to call out the Boy Scouts and-tho Girl Peaco Scouts. (Laughter.) He warned them against the machinations of .tho Peaco Scouts, nothing would disorganise their pickets sooner. (Laughter.) An attempt might be made to form a scab union. Organised labour throughout New Zealand was at stake, and would support the strikers. If a settlement did not arrivo soon .some interesting things would happen in this City and in other cities; and the plutocratic people will find that when it comes to a war tho workers could render • a pretty decent account of themselves- (Applause.)

"Would Not Pollute the Harbour." Mr. Bailey then stated that so long as the men on the water-front fought solidly, tlio women would not let them go hungry. Mr. W. Parry spoko. He said that ilie real position was that they were fighting for majority rule in industrial matters, just as tner© was majority rule in politics. There were so many fish that they should not pollute the harboujvby. throwing scabs into it. The only way to win tlus fight was by an organised campaign against the scabs. Special Constables. Mr. T. Barker mounted the cart: "Now, a word on the police. There is an individual wandering about this town known as the special constable. Ho is in tho samo relation to the police as a scab is to us. If the police organised, and—wonder of wonders—struck, who would scab on them? .Why, the | special constables."