THE BROKEN HILL STRIKE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2408, 25 January 1909, Page 5

THE BROKEN HILL STRIKE

THE DYNAMITE OUTRAGES. £SOO OFFERED FOR, INFORMATION. United Press Association. Copyright MELBOURNE, Jam 23. The Proprietary and Block 10 companies offer £SOO reward for information that will lead- to a conviction in connection with the blowing up of the Block 10 water main.

A FORTIFIED MINE. The special representative of tb--“Sydney Morning Herald ” was shown over tlie t. Proprietary mine by the. general manager and'the mine manager last week. The visit disclosed the fact that bad the men ever attempted to carry out the threat to rush the mine there would have been terrible bloodshed before the affair ended one way or the other. Throughout the thrce-q.uarers of a mile over which the lease extends every approach is covered by a barricade, behind which the police, armed with rifles, are stationed. Ojving to the configuration of'the country, and the disposition of the dumps, the approaches are few—on the cist side no defence is necessary, the great yawning open cut effectually cutting off any possibility of access to the mine from that side —and consequently a sm,>.< force comparatively of trained men could hold the property against tremendous odds. The Sulphide Street entrance to the property is covered in a remarkable fashion, and looking down towards the town and from the position of the riflemen it could be seen at a glance by a man with South African experience that no crowd could force an entrance that way. The whole approach is covered perfectly by rifle barrels peeping out from snug entrenchments, anc -t would be >i big force indeed that could live two minutes on that long sloping road. 'The other approaches that look easy are along the railway running into the leases from the south and where it leaves the property again in tho north. But here again a series of entrenchments 'and sailgars placed with consummate ‘.strategical skill render the permanent way a veritable path of death. And so in other places where an entrance on to the property might be effected the way is barred. Here lesser fortification is needed, because in each ol these instances the attackers would be forced by the lay of the country and the dumps to come up in bodies not large enough to 'worry a small squad of cool, disciplined riflemen. There were over a hundred defenders on the mine—the great bulk of them, of course, being constabulary—and a survey of the plan of defence tiiat had been mapped out by Inspector Roche left the impression that the Proprietary- mine could not have been taken, h.v the crowd until the clumps had (literally run with blood. The work of “defence,” such as it turned out to be, worked like clockwork, and. reminded one with startling distinctness of army methods, when a small garrison was pressed in South Africa. Everything'is done on military lines, and the smooth working of' tho system, which effectually covered the big lease, was seen to, even by such details as connecting all the sentries- and outposts by telephone. The civilian portion of the garrison —a few over a score —looked well, fed and decidedly happy. Even those who had received such a bad mauling at the hands of the pickets on Monday were all smiles, with the rest rather making a joke of the whole thing now that the tension was slackening somewhat. As to the constabulary, the nion soon in the trenches seemed to be half 'humorously regretful that the fortifying work they had done threatened "to ho undone without being put to the test.