AUCKLAND NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 24 June 1932, Page 3

AUCKLAND NOTES

Being away in the south at the thne I did not see the damage done in the mad rioting of April last. But the Auckland people \vi<l] easily forget the deplorable exhibition of lawlessness and looting. As tone of the local papers put it: —“In an hour or two last night New Zeal: :id lost more reputation than in any period,, long or short, in its history. This is one of the most orderly communities in the world, and the orgy of destruction and thieving that suddenly developed in the heart of the city strikes the average citizen as all the more horrible because he has never seen anything like it before in his own country. In some other communities such frenzies, showing the beast within the man (and the woman), occur now and then, but in the whole history of New Zealand, even during th e worst strikes, there probably has been nothing resembling this spectacle of a .mob „ 01 hind .old bent on mischief. For quite a while last night Queen Street,, was entirely in the hands oi the mob, who destroyed and looted without hindrance, and though the actual damage io serious, it is not nearly as grave as the exhibition of savagery that produced

Auckland has, however, every reason to congratulate itself on fHe prompt and effective manner in which the? outbreak of the i;rim'nal and hooligan element was suppressed. The action of the police was beyond all praise and it :> lways 1.. e remembered how some thirty of them held the howling mob

at bay and prevented the doers of the Town Hall being forced, which, had it happened, must have led to a panic and probably loss of life. The prompt arrival of a detachment of navals from the Phii'omol, and the immediate response to the appeal for special con-st-’bles showed that even in a sudden emergency the community uvs aid ' to muster adequate forces for the maintenance of law and order. However this is stale news now, and ••our readers will have 'learned l'ot only how the trouble was suppressed m Auckland, but how '.similar demo-stra-tions were dealt with in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. There are certain aspects which must however, be kept in mind. There is just now a great and unfortunately unavoidab’e amount of poverty and distress. Phi’se years ago the value of New Zealand exports was £57,000,000, and last yoai this had dropped to £23,000,000. Under thes e conditions depression, stagnation m trade, and unemployment are unavoidable. The responsible section of the community has risen to the occasion. The country has taxed itself to the verge of exhaustion .to provide funds for the rejief of une , mploym' , Ui,, and social' workers have strained every i-erva to con® with iorliv" 1 ’' 0 ' ”

hardship and distress; Ther e is an

~,j section, however, which has endeavoured systematically to make holitical capital out of the distress of the people, and the debate which tops place in Parliament on the . night after „h - .Auckland riot when one Labour member after another repeated, like parrots, that the “people were starving • n:1 mas: be fed,” was an indication of where the incitement to lawlessner-s really originated. This incitement may have been indirect—may have been merely a matter ol suggestion. l’at it is nevertheless dangerous at a time Ike the present. However, the (!<>vcrninent by passing che Public Safety Bill and by takin” action now to, suppress seditious Communism; and the

c ■ prompt response to request for assistance t<j maintain law and order has pretty well assured that, hat"vcr trouble this country has .yet ■i. fact', the maintenance of law and ■ !,.r u-lm-h is the basis Ilf all civilisation— is in future to be assured. One linl'ortuiiiite aspect, however, is !« I (AC of credit to tlie country at a time when -the most strenuous efforts are being made to, at all costs, maintain it. And this lias been made worse by the exaggerated reports which have been broadcast to the world. I hese reports ar e now being counteracted to some extent, and the '-ruth will cventu- • illy be known, but lies which arc given <a start are very hard to overtake. A financial authority only the other day, on reviewing the relative positions of Australia and New Zealand remarked that while the credit ol New Vahnd had remained very lii'di f: was • - :uinreci,"ble decree affected by Langism in New South TVales and the

a, i- ,i , c . iif uism.lc:' mJ rioting. Well, Langisrn is now a tiling of tlie ; fin cne-s" we inav hope that the true facts of the recent dis„(iers :ii tins country will be viewed 'n thoir propel' perspective, and the damage to the reputation of New Zealand will prove to have been only temporary.