STRIKE RIOTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1922, Page 5

STRIKE RIOTS.

CRISIS IN SOUTH AFRICA, ANGRY TEMPER SHOWN. CLASH WITH POLICE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Capetown, March 7. A large crowd of strikers besieged the Johannesburg telephone exchange and post office and came into collision with the police. A striker was bayonetted in the lungs. Later the police intervened to prevent the staffs from being pulled out, and fired blank cartridges over the heads of the crowd and succeeded in clearing the precincts. The police, with fixed bayonets, now surround the buildings. The police issued a stem warning to the public to keep the streets clear.

The railway fitters in Germiston and Bloemfontein shops and other centres indicate no general disposition to participate in the strike. The federation executive attribute the declaration of a general strike to the provocative tone of the Chamber of Mines. The latter expresses satisfaction at the response to the invitation to the men to return to work.

Messages from Johannesburg state that there is great excitement. The strikers’ commandos and the police are

parading the streets. Several acta of gross intimidation have been reported. An incendiary bomb was thrown into a workers house at Benoni. He and his wife beat off the attackers with rifle and revolver fire. The strikers are interfering with the motor service, which was started to replace the trams, pulling off the passengers. So far there has not been any response to the call for a general strike, except in the building trade. The railwaymen generally refuse to acknowledge the authority of the strike call, although one train was abandoned on thh veldt and the fires drawn. In other cases the attempts made to stop the running of trains were unsuccessful. Several shops have been compelled to •lose owing to threats by the strikers. TEMPERS GROWING WORSE. A DANGEROUS SITUATION. PREMIER OFFERS HELP. Received March 8, 7.35 p.m. Capetown, March 7. The Premier, in a statement in the Assembly, said that evidently the tempers of both parties to the Rand strike were growing worse. He declared the Chamber of Mines’ reply to the federation was conched in a deplorable tone, and was followed by a worse move on the other side in declaring a general strike. A bright spot in the situation was the exemplary conduct of the police, and he strongly deprecated the disparaging references made regarding them. So far it had been unnecessary to take special precautions to maintain order, but it might become necessary if the situation grew worse. His services were always at the disposal of the disputants in an endeavor to effect a settlement.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Ah n.

STRIKERS ATTACK NATIVES. RETALIATION FEARED. Received March 9, 1.5 a.m. Capetown, March 8. The night long the Voededorp strikers were attacking the natives with wantonness. Two natives and an Indian woman were killed, three natives were taken to hospital and a native doctor was wounded. A grave feature ie the not unnatural disposition of the natives to retaliate. The police casualties in yesterday’s affray with the commandos were an officer apd two men woundrd.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.