Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1879. THE RIOTS DOWN SOUTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 36, 30 December 1879, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1879. THE RIOTS DOWN SOUTH.

The news we publish this day in our telegraph columns regarding* the sectarian disturbances at Timaru and Christ-church is of a most unpleasant character. It has hitherto been one of the boasts of the Colonial life that out here those deep hatreds which have so firm a hold upon the two great masses of the Irish people had been laid aside, and we have as a young people pointed with pride to New Zealand as a country where religious intolerance and sectarian bitterness were almost unknown. The experience of Friday last shows that unless the matter is treated with a firm hand and tho severest punishment inflicted upon the aggressors, "we may find ourselves in the same unhappy state of internal strife as Ireland has suffered for hundreds of years. The right of any body of men to form a procession, or wear certain regalia, cannot be doubted, provided they conduct themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner. If they act contrary to law, or in a manner calculated to provoke a breach of the peace, means are provided by which they can be punished. In the present case, two attacks were made upon bodies of men. At Christchurch the Protestant Alliance Society, and at Timaru a lodge of Orangemen, were attacked, simply because their appearance gave offence to a number of men who hold different religious opinions. We can only characterise such conduct as disgraceful in the extreme. We are quite prepared to admit that an Orange Lodge or a branch of the Protestant Alliance Society may be an eyesore to some few bigoted Catholics, on just the same grounds as bigoted Protestants may feel offended at the sight of the Hibernian Society in regalia ; but the fact that a man feels hurt at another man parading his opinions does not give him the right to attack him, tear off his regalia, and beat him. If this conduct were allowed, we should soon have graceless zealots of either persuasion wanting to tear down the chapels and churches of those who differed from them. The publican may feel his temper rising at beholding a procession of Good Templars, but we have not yet heard of the Licensed Victuallers attacking a lodge •of them when on parade ; and we fail to see why in the matter of sectarian feeling both Orange and Green cannot allow to others the same latitude of opinion and action as they claim themselves. If the "wearers of the green " wish to show their , opposition to Orangemen, it would 1 be an easy matter' for them to get up a counter procession, with their , own banners and distinctive badges. Surely that would be a bettor kind of opposition than dealing in bludgeons, shillalahs, and similar weapons. This sort of thing must be stamped out at once. Public safety demands it. The right of every man to enjoy his own opinions, and of every body of men of one mind to walk through the streets without fear of molestation, must be upheld. We therefore trust those who have outraged the public peace will be punished severely— not only because their offence is great, but also because the Old World hatreds and dissensions must be prevented from taking root amongst the youth of this country.