WHAT AN EYE WITNESS SAW.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1894, 31 October 1913, Page 8

WHAT AN EYE WITNESS SAW.

ROUGH TREATMENT. A visitor tjo Wellington—a wiellknown resident of Auckland—gave the following description of the incident last evening:—"l was an eye-witness of the trouble thi sevening. I was standing speaking to a friend of mine about five minutes past five, right opposite Whitcoinbo ,and Tombs' stationers' shop on Lambton Quay, when all of a sudden I saw two men coming from Featherston Street, round the Union Bank corner, with two new handles, like axehandles, rushing along. I was wondering what they wore after, whe nimmedintely I saw thorn make straight in my direction (I was standing opposite the shop) to get into the shop. The first one got in quickly, but the second one was caught up by the verandah post, when a striker made a punch at him on the side of his ear, and the pipe fell out of his mouth. _ I immediately interfered and asked him whether it w,as right to strike a man like that; and'as I picked up the pipe a special constable rushed into tho shop, and the whole crowd mado for the shop. Immediately after, three regular constables came along, and I told them there were two special constables hiding in tho shop seeking refuge. They went into tho shop, clearing the crowd out of it, and as they were standing on tho doorway one of the strikers said: ''Get out, you /I,will lay you," and ho mado a dart and struck him, whilst a second constable hit him with the baton, to keep him away; some of the • others singing out: "One of; our comrades is killed. Let's go at Ahem." One came along with a stick and made a dart at a regular constable (I didn't see any mroe of tho special constables), and the whole thing started. Not. less than four strikors were knocked down, whilst 0110 regular constablo was pulled out and kicked about on the footpath. Eventually tho doors were shut, and no sooner was this done than one of tho strikers struck tho glass and broke a pane of glass in tho door. I eot someone to go into the Commercial Hotel and ring up for the police, and three mounted oonstables and four or five on foot came on the scene and dispersed tho crowd."