EDWARD HUNTER ARRESTED.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1936, 19 December 1913, Page 8

EDWARD HUNTER ARRESTED.

SPEECH. .UTTERANCE ABOUT WEST COAST. < ' Something ;of .'a sensation was caused in the strikers' ranks yesterday when it was known that another of tlio leaders had been-arrested on a chargo of uttering seditious words'. Detectives Lewis and Andrews made the arrest about '4130 p.m. yesterday.' .Tho accused is a man named Edward Hunter, a miner, of •Westport.' , He is supposed to have 'come to Wellington to attend tho United Federation of Labour's confer- . «'iice, about which so much (or rather, so little) has been heard . during tho last week, and the charge against liini is in with a speech made at NewY'town Park 1 last Sunday. The words /.forming tho basis of the charge are as • follow:— —

I "You fellows must realise tlio fc if, j you are going to control things j> properly you must have might he- \ iiind you. You cannot do it, with 1 a box of cigarettes and a match. ! The strikers control tlio Coast (meaning the West Coast of'-, the South.lsland of Nc-w Zealand), and - have set aside 'all law and order. The men on strike were told by tho ' leaders that they had tho freedom of tlio city there, and, having that, ! could do anything they thought fit. ' There is a Mayor in Westport, but ■ he has been set aside, and overy- .. thing is controlled hv the strikers. Tlioy ./meaning the. Government of .! New Zealand) can bring the specials (meaning special constables} round to tho Coast, iu fact, wo give them. . a special invitation, and I swear . this, in the name of the party most ; concerned, that for every ono ; special they care to put down on the ; Coast, up to ono thousand, we can ■ | put one down besido him, just as . good a man. and if this is going to be a contest as to who is going to ; control, then wo are prepared to " make it a contest. More than that, | wo men know that this Govern-, i ment is shedding blood. Wo had ' our fellow-workers brutally murdered in Waihi. Thoro is no ono in- ■ ; stanco from the workers' ranks wliero wo havo caused any blood..slicd. Now, if they aro going to ' shed our blood, why should we look ' : on at. our women and children being clubbed, and olfer no retaliation? ; Now, if they want a revolution, . they can have it. If they force it ; on lis they can have a revolution." ; Hunter will appear before tho Magistrate this morning.