When the “Hoola” Doesn’t Signify Hawaiian Dancing!

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1040, 2 August 1930, Page 18

When the “Hoola” Doesn’t Signify Hawaiian Dancing!

ALVANISED Into action by a shout of "Hoola!” a iul (Vcs=a I a mob of coloured men. Ws>l flou rishing knives and pßvyfr 3Pi razorB > dashed furiously tp the charge, slashing

right and left at every white person they encountered. This was the graphic description given to the South Shields magistrates of the recem rac al riot on the New Quay, which was the climax to friction over the employment of Arabs on the British ship. Three Somalis appeared In the rlrfck: Mohammed Said, 30; Yous.f Mohammed, 29, and Moelem Yehia, 30 charged with 'unlawful wounding. A police sergeant gave a vivid p:c ture of the exciting events. He stated that white seamen had been signed on for the steamer Cape Verde as deck hands, and coloured men engaged as firemen, but the Englishmen had refused to sail with the Arabs. The white seamen crowded the shipping office door and prevented the Arabs entering. When he saw that by every ferry from South Shields the number of coloured men increased, he coin mun'eated with police headquarters. Then the chief engineer of the Cape

Verde announced from the shipping office doorway that the vessel would not sign on that day. Instantly a shout of “Hoola!” went up from the coloured men, and they drew out knives and razors. Some opened them with their teeth. They then made a rush at the shipping office door, into which the white seamen again crowded. Policemen drew their batons and attacked the Arabs, who, with their kinves and razors, were slashing at every white person within reach.

Holding up a bloodstained- whitehafted razor, the sergeant declared that it was the weapon with which he saw Mohammed Said attempt to slash the face of Charles Gallagher, of Cedar Grove. South Shields. The Arab missed, but caught Gallagher iu the back, causing a deep wound. Moslem Yehia was alleged to have struck Charles Turnbull Duuu in the neck with either a knife or razor, r; was stated that he then rushed along the quay, where he was struck down with a long-handled brush. The crowd got round him and dragged him down to the water’s edge. The three Somalis were committed for trial.