WAIHI TACTICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 70, 9 August 1912, Page 5

WAIHI TACTICS.

SPIRIT OP THE PEOPLE. CONCILIATIONCOManSSIONERS' VIEWS, "MEN IN FEAROF THEIR LIVES." (By Telegraph-Own Correspondent.) \r, n tt }y ellin e ton > Last Night. .Mi. P Hally, Conciliation Commissioner returned to Wellington from Blenheim to-day. Ho, had noticed the remarks made by Mr. Parry i„ the press with reference to the recent visit of -ur iriggs, Christchurch Commissioner and hnnselt, to Waiai. -'We were not authorised," said Mr. Mally, "to attempt , a settlement, but to gather information for the Minister for Labor. We gathered information, and it has been forwarded to the Minister. Mr. £arry,» he continued says that there is no distress in Yiailn. If he means no visible suf- ', fermg of the people from want of proper ■shelter, food or clothing, he is ri4t but there is undoubtedly suffering oiUhe part of the people which can be attributed to the strike. No doubt many of the miners foresaw what was cominoand when the mine was working they flight have made provision for a period of enforced idleness, such as is bein" experienced. Besides, strike pay is coming regularly in week by week." The carrying of firearms was referred to. -Mr. Halley said that it was unquestionably done by some of the Waihi residents. "Notwithstanding Mr. Parry's denial," he said, "I am quite prepared to substantiate what I said about firearms. 1 do not only know tliey are, or were, being carried, I saw- them myself, and they were not carried for show. When I afc'ked why they were carried, I was told by those who had them that they felt the deed of something more powerful than hands to defend themselves in case of emergency. They were, I learned, carried in self-defence, I would give the names of people whom I met with firearms if it were necessary to do so. These people, I learned, constantly carried revolvers, because they went in fear of their lives in Waihi. Waihi was orderly, however, when I was there," Mr. Hally continued. "I saw no rowdyism and no boohooing, except on one occasion when some men came out of the Miners' Hall after a meeting, and saw two enginedrivers working together. These enginedrivers always go in couples for their mutual protection. I was told the language used by men coming from the hall i to the engine-drivers was, to say the very least of it, provoking." "I learned," Mr. Hally concluded, "that there wag a good deal of pettv tyranny going on. The children of engine-drivers were called 'scabs' by the miners' children, until the practice was promptly extinguished by the headmaster. The bar- , hers who cut the hair of the engine- *~ drivers suffered by the loss of custom from the miners on that account. Suspected people were followed about, and in one case a perfectly neutral party had his coal supply cut off because lie incurred the displeasure of the ruling party in Waihi. The men are putting in their time quoit-playing or sitting about the . streets discussing the situation, when they are not attending meetings. With regard to the hospital, it was certainly full on the day I saw ft, Sunday, July * 18. The Mayor was my informant, and ■ he should be a better authority than Mr. Parry. As to a child dying of diphtheria, «, that was clearly due to stoppage of the' mine waters, which are utilised in flushing the drains of the town. This sanitary service is now automatically stopped so far as business is concerned. ' 1 know of two 'business places that have actually closed up in Waihi since the strike. Their book debts ainpunted to £1800."