STRONG MOUNTED BRIGADE ARRIVES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1895, 1 November 1913, Page 6

STRONG MOUNTED BRIGADE ARRIVES.

0 . STIRRING ; SPECTACLE. THE RIDE INTO TOWN AT MIDNIGHT \ • GENERAL STRIKE NOTES.' HOW FAMILIES & CONSUMERS SUFFER. Waterside Workers, when they broke their agreement, were being paid Is.'Ed. an hour ordinary time, 2s. 2d. an hour overtime up to 10 p.m.) 2s. 3d. per hour overtime 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. For v special work special rates of pay were provided, coal carriers, •, , the highest paid, r.ecoiving 2s. an hour ordinary time, Bs. an hour overtime. The synopsis of the history of the Wellington Waterilcle'Workers' strike, and the events leading up to It from the genesis of the trouble till the present time, are as follow;— Friday, October 17.—Shipwrights asked for Incroass In wages. Saturday, October 18.—Shipwrights ceased work. Monday, October 20.—First mass meeting Waterside Workers' Union, at which it was decided to call' a "stop-work" meeting, to be held at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 22. Wednesday,; October 22.—?' Stop-work" meeting of Watersid* V .Workers' Union held on wharf. While men were attending meeting, ;■ .which, being held in hours, wa3 a breach of agreement, other union men were put on to work in their places. Union desired that "stop-work" men be reinstated in their positions. Employers decided that men's .action in knocking off work in breach of agreement terminated the agreement with the union, which had been entered into in 1912. 1 Waterside Workers' Union hand control of strike over to the , . Federation of Labour. Workers' Union strikes. Thursday, October 23.—8 i mast' meeting of strikers. Wharves picketed. Union S.B. Company pays crewi off colliers. Free labourers commence work. Negotiations between strike delegates and employers fail. Report of Intention of Waterside Workers' Union to register second union under the Arbitration Act. Speeches in the Post Office Square- '' ' : ■ Friday, Ootober 24.—Scenes of violence on tho wharves.. Conference of proves"abortive. Employers decide to cease work,as far as handling cargo is concerned. Fifty police guard the wharves. . Warehouse clerks work cargo -In small steamers, - Saturday,' October 25>-Further scenes of violence on wharves. Steamers Defender and Nikau rushed—crews intimidated. Police from country arrive. Employers Issue'a statement to the effect thai no watersiders'will be employed until a fresh organisation be formed and . registered under Arbitration Act. Watersiders decide to continue : strike.. Harbour Board pickets the wharves. .Sunday,. October 26—.Mass meeting at 2,15 p.m. in Post' Offlcv Bqiiara. Procession to Basin Gate broken down by crowd. "Inflammatory.speeches by strike leaders. ■•Monday;;October"27.—Labour Day and a holiday.' . Observed by, , , " strikers as well as the publio. No change in the situation. -' , v ■ .Tuesday;' October 28;— Conference between employers and employees, with iHon.; ;W. . F., Massey, Prime Minister, as ohairman. More > police arrive. S.S. Nikau rushed; All steamers'moye to an anchorage in tho^stream,: ,Racehorses allowed to leave for south. , ' •• '""'Wednesday,-October 29.—Employers' proposals from previous evening's conference submitted to the watersiders, and rejected. Raid made \ .on. flour, and/other provisions belng--Uent to Day's Bay by Cobar. Goods . subsequently allowed to be shipped, Further violent 'speeches by agitators' In the Post Office Square. Encounter at night between sus- • pected free-labourers and'strikers at Waterloo Quay. , pected freo. labourers and strikers at Waterloo Quay. Auckland and , Westport'watersiders strike. . • i Thursday, October SO.—.Strikers assault special, constables, Waterloo Quay-fence broken down and horses liborated. Men of H.M.S. Psyche '■ ■ on parade. ' Psj-che's stores landed from Ulimaro'a by bluejackets. Mounted constables parade streets and charge strikers in Post Office Square, yhree hundred special constables sworn in. Onset on Messrs. Whitcombo and Tombs' shop; constabfe severely wounded. Prime Minister states the Government's position. Lyttelton watersiders strike'.

I ■ Yesterday was the tenth'day of the Strike. It was by far. the quietest day since tie wa'tersiders' revolt commenced, ffho gathering which usually throngs Post Office Square was-.- much smaller than usual, but it was' evident that there was "something in the wind" elsewhere. There were no speeches in the : Square in the morning, and those de- • livered in the afternoon were listened to by about only two . hundred. It seemed very much as if the meetingß ■were arranged to hide some movement out of town. After 5 p.m. steady rain began to fall, and the Square was desertod. There was a certain-air. of exoitement about the town all day, in connection With the expected arrival of free labourers and special constables from the • Wairarapa. Strike pickets wore posted afrtho Thorndon and Lambton Stations, and also at. the various stations between the city and tho Hutt. There was con,tinual talk of tho arrival of a special | train, but many hours of waiting resulted only in disappointment. The , strikers seemed to bo prepared to give ! battle to any contingent arriving, i Many of them who were at the railway stations had their pockets filled with road metal. The crowd kopt surging backwards and forwards between Lambten Station and the Square all day, but , nothing happened. All kinds of absurd ; rumours were, of course, current.

by the other chaps. I wish to goodness, I had never seen "the wharves," '; Prom other inquiries made it was ascertained that money is becoming very scarce among the men. Yesterday was tho usual pay day, and there was nothing to take home.