DISGRACEFUL SCENE IN WANGANUI

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 244, 9 July 1919, Page 6

DISGRACEFUL SCENE IN WANGANUI

POLICE OBSTRUCTED BY A MOB,

By Telegraph -Press Association. Wanganui, July 8. One of the most disgracelul incidents in Wangiinui for a considerable time past occurred in tho Avenue late this alternoon. when a constable endeavoured to arrest a returned Maori soldier, who was refused admission to a, hotel. Tho Maori forcibly resisted, and a big crowd, which included a number of other Natives, quickly assembled. The constable clung to his man, but was much 'hampered by a section of the crowd, which had the appearance of a human whirlpool eddying round a storm centre. Another Maori. ed|;ed on by the crowd, rushed in. and got Constable O'Donoghuo bv tho throat. The constable managed to frco himself, and commandeered a private motor-car, into which li? tried to put the Maori. His appeals for assistance'were unheeded for some- time, but eventually a bystander came forward and another constable arrived. A European in soldier's uniform mounted tho footboard of the car, and threatened the driver with violence if he did not drive or.. At the same time a pleasant-faced, rotund Maori was trying to cut one of the back, tyres with a knife. The prisoner was eventually placed in the lockup, and later on two other Maoris were lodsed in the cells, charged with ob» auctiiiK the police.