A COWARDLY CROWD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 234, 11 February 1911, Page 9

A COWARDLY CROWD

That an Australian crowd can be mean, cowardly mid utterly contemptible is a shameful thing to have to say, but the truth of it was displayed last evening (says (he Melbourne Aire of January 13). in Swanston-.street. when hundreds of the youns! and well-dressed loafers who »re allowed to idle about the footpaths collected round two yovtncr people who were walking towards Flinders-street station, jostling, jeering, and otherwise annovins them. As the howling mob surrounding its victims (a young man and a young woman) progressed, it was added to by an immense number, who rushed from all directions to satisfy their curiosity, and by the time the main entrance to the station was reached the crowd numbered thousands. The young man, who had the appearance of being a perfectly up-to-date English "Johnnie." bad, it seems, committed the offence of wearjn<r the Tcrv latest style in clothes, including' turned-nn trousers and white socks. This, in the eyes of the i<morant street hoodlums, was sufficient justification for the cowardly demonstration made against him. As' for the girl, she had done nothing worse than to look lady-like, hut the fact that she appeared terribly distressed and mortified at being made the centre of such an unseemly display failed to gain her any respite from the pack around her. At length the pair succeeded in escaping from the crowd by getting through the railway barrier, aided by the ticket collectors, and the crowd slowly dispersed; the idle young men'who had caused the disturbance returned.to take up their positions in the water channels along the footpath in order to seek fresh victims of their malice. This sort of thing lias occurred several times in Melbourne lately, but why the police permit it is past all comprehension. Tf visitors from other lands are to be subjected to treatment of this des«ription merely because thev deem it desirable to conform to the dictates of the latest fashions (absurd though such fashions may be), Australia will gain a most uneviable reputation as a" land where the people are as intolerant of strangers ns-are.the inhabitants of the interior of Thibet.