Police Cases

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 90, 6 December 1912, Page 4

Police Cases

By H. E. HOLLAND.

COTTER'S OPENING DEFENCE.

In opening the catfe" for the' defence ih the charges against Gray, Bostock and Delaney, Mr. Cotter traversed wearisome ground, repeated the slanders against the men andi women of Waihi that have become' so parrotlike, and generally ooveneri the ground subsequently gone over in evidence, with a few extraordinary elaborations and embellishment 9.

By way of weak explanation, he averred thai if tlie police had prosiecttted the men arid wdmeh of Waihi, the fact would have caused a scandal. (Hβ ignored the fact that tne whole , conduct of the Government has scandalised New Zealand co much that the Premier dare not appear in any industrial ceritre unless guarded by strong forces of uniformed; and special constables).

He thanked the Government and iihe police on behalf of the soabs for the way they had acttSd. (It eoundecL to the writer like the law eulogising the law-breaker.) He promised te outside evidence, in addition' to police, to show the ridiculous exaggeration of the Federation's charges. (The outside evidence wasn't forthcoming.) But for on© thing— tone open l confession —we have to thank the eminent K.C. He told us in unequivocal language that If something had not been done, the tactics of the Federation would have succeeded, the ecabs would have ceased work and the unionists tfould have victors. Hβ explained how aoid why this tvbidd have happened. Therefore, the assaults on the strikers; therefore, the raid on the hall; therefore, the stealing of the stores; therefore, fhe police-organised thug-dielivered notices to the unionists to leave the town.

He made, unsupported assertion® as to the way tie vote to strike was taken.

He referred: to thel sirikfera as recipients of charity; but said nothing of the bribes to the bought-and-sold scabs. He. sneeringly proclaimed that the unionists had set at naught the law of the country by going to gaol instead' of obeying the magistrate s orders to be bound over. "They preferred to be faol-birds," said this man. jid then he proceeded to tell the Court what gaols were made for. How the police department had to provide vehicles to take the company's scabs to Tvork; how the policemen hAd to become scab-drivers; how the miners were not angels; how they were "deserted by their leaders" (the act of desertion consisting of being sent to gaol by the Masses Crovernment); how thei unionists were an irresponsible body—all these things formed part of the wail of the" K.C.

Mr. Cotter, then proceeded to make what was virtually a plea of justification for the lawless acts of the scabs and thugs employed to wreck the strike. The strike Breakers' should, even if convicted, he subjected to no penalty whatever—this was the extraordinary argument.

"Heroes of the Red Flag " was how the unionists were referred to. label fastened on the murderers,*" housebreakers, thieves, city hooligans, hereditary blacklegs, wandering scabs, professional pugs, and hired thugs who went whisky mad on the 12th. But space will not permit of further reference to this remarkable pronouncement-