A FLEET WEEK INCIDENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 426, 20 August 1908, Page 4

A FLEET WEEK INCIDENT.

The Two Flags.

How a Blot Was Averted.

One of the matters most generally commented upon was the absolute freedom from anything approaching disorder in the streets at Auckland during Fleet Week. On one or two occasions, however, there were incidents which went perilously near the borderland of a riot. One such instance, illustrative of the easy manner in which a crowd may change from a happy to a truculent mood, is thus told by the Star : —The crowd was at its thickest at the tramcar terminus at the foot of Queen Street. The bars had emptied out their hundreds, and the brilliantly-lighted streets were packed with a swaying, seething crowd. Here and there were to be seen groups of bluejackets who had been imbibing perhaps a little too freely, and it was evident that one such group was on the look out for any amusement which might present itself. They sang, they laughed, and, while rather more boisterous than others, were nevertheless not guilty of anything which would cause offence to passers-by. PUIAKD THE FLAG DOWN. As they neared the bottom of the street, however, one of the party was suddenly inspired to a little more exciting devilment, and without hesitation he shinned up a post to which two flags, a Union Jack and a Stars and Stripes, were attached. Seizing the Yankee emblem, he pulled it irom his position and affixed it a couple of feet higher up than that of the British Ensign. At this rather critical moment a small party of British tars chanced along. Noticing the American flag flying above the British, a sailormau climbed up the pole with all the agility of a true British tar, and from this position above the heads of the seething crowd he tore the Stars and Stripes to fragments. BI.UEJACKET3 AT FISTICUFFS.

An angry roar went up from several hundred American throats, and as the Britisher dropped to the ground, the American who had been originally responsible for the trouble rushed at him. The Jack tar knew how to use his fists, however, and the American went down like a log. Several members of the Fleet patrol picked their man up, and hustled him away, while a crowd of citizens surrounded the Britisher. For a while it looked as though a riot was imminent, and there was an uneasy feeling in the air. About 700 Americans and a large crowd of British tars were surging about the scene of the fracas, A true chord of the good feeling which prevailed, however, turned the situation from one of gravity to that of enthusiasm. A bluejacket, pushing his way along the street all alone, singing happily to himself, and waving the Stars and Stripesltotheaccorampanient of his own music, took in the situation at a glance. NEITHER ABOVE EITHER. Clambering up the pole with monkey-like agility, he thrust his flag into the socket from which the other bannerette had been torn, alonside the Union Jack, and the two colours mingled together again. From his vantage ground at the top of the pole he drawled out with a happy Yankee twang, “ Boys, I guess this is just how it ought to be. Not one above the other, but side by side.” Instantly the scene was changed. The tension gave way to lightheartedness, and cheer upon cheer rang through the air.