THE LABOUR WAR.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10401, 23 August 1911, Page 3

THE LABOUR WAR.

RIOTS AT LLANELLY

United I'ress Association—J' / VAcc trie Telegraph—Copyrhjhi.

(Received August 22, b.5 a.m.)

LONDON, Augrst L'l. The details of tlie riots at L'anelly show 11 at the eiwd ' rvjprl until the train approached "!o Union b:idgc, wile: - ;' :r.;iny were eongvogntcd. Sono jumped on to the footplate and struggled with tlio driver and fireman, the driver being badly hurt. Tlio fire of the locomotive was extinguished, and the machinery wan thrown out of gear. The Worcester Regiment had been previously withdrawn to the Great Western station, two hundred yards distant. They relinked in double quick time. The people ascended the slope, and scaled tlio walls of adjoining gardens, whence they threw stones and pieces of railings itorn from the top:; of the walls at the soldiers and train officers. Two soldiers went to the gardens, causing a temporary stoppage of the fusilade, an officer shaking hands and talking with some of the aggressors. Meanwhile, the mob stoned tho troops from other quarters, several soldiers being struck. Thereupon the military, with fixed bayonets, rushed towards the crowd.

Some of the rioters shouted, and the soldiers did not dare to go to extremes. One man bared his breast, challenging the soldiers to shoot. Finally Mr Jones (the Mayor) read the Riot Act, but the seiiousness of the situation wias still unrealised, and laughter and jeering followed. A/Violey was fired in the air, and there were sihouts of "Only blank cartridges." Tlie crowd continued stoning and rusliing at the soldiers, from all directions. Further stray shots followed, and the belief that tho shooting was a bluff appeared to be confirmed. Two youths seated on a wall fell backwards

; SHOT DEAD. Then two fell injured in (the same garden, and the horrified crowd fled. Leonard Worsey, the Londoner who was killed, merely went into the garden out of curiosity arising out of seeing men coming over the wall. An indignation meeting of strikers and sympathisers vowed vengeance upon those responsible for the reading of the Riot Act. The mobs grew while the police and, soldiers wero engaged near the railway station, and crowdis swarmed along the line, looted a stationary train, and seized liquor and ammunition intended for the soldiery. The v;ans were then set on fire. The mobs then marched into town, wrecked the magisterial premises, smashed the windows of Mr Jones's residence, proceeded to his business premises in Market Street, broke his windows, looted his provisions, and wrecked an ironmongery store belonging to Mr Wilkins, the magistrate, and also another shop. Then twenty constables and a hundred soldiers quitted the station and took possesion of Market Street, and made baton charges. The mob being repulsed in the town they returned to the railway and burst into the Great Western goods shed, pilfering warehouses and scattering provisions. They burst open casks of drink —wisky and beer — ladling the liquor out in Pails. The shed was soon ablaze. Trucks in the siding were looted and set on fire and some of the trucks being loaded with cylinders of gun powder, oarbide and 'gelatine, which exploded. Portions of the blazing trucks' contents Avere hurled through, the air among the crowd,'and in the frantic efforts made to escape, four were killed and a dozen injured, one fatally. A crowd of women and children were among the looters of the shops. Portions of the main up and down lines had previously been destroyed, and telephoning was difficult. The hotels were 1 closed, and all business suspended. The Worcester Regiment, in a bayonet charge near the station at midnight, injured several.

The riots Las-ted till news of the settlement arrived at three o'clock in the morning. One man died of suffocation due to excess of alcohol. A mass meeting in the afternoon protested at the importation of troops and demanded a Government inquiry. There were several dead at Llanelly and twenty-five injured, including soldiers and police, but not including the injured removed By the rioters. Seven are suffering from bayonet . thrusts, ■one from a bullet wound, and the remainder from tlie effects of the explosion. There were extraordinary scenes in Lancashire.. Several thousands of the working classes and holiday makers stranded at Fleetwood, Morecambe and Blackpool, tramped towards Lancashire towns. The dhurches, chapels and theatres were thrown open to afford sleeping accommodation. Long processipns of perambulators and luggage laden persons walked tlhirty and forty miles. The plight of the women and children was pitiable. The local authorities where possible provided food. Liverpool's leading men kept the electric light and tramways running. Merchants, barristers iand clergymen acted as stokers at tlie power house under the direction of a mercantile marine captain, while skilled merchants attended to the machinery, the soldiers guarding t'hem from the menacing crowd. Amateurs are similarly acting as scavengers to conserve the city's health. The newspapers and public generally approve the promptness and efficienty of the War Office's action, without which the violence and sabo-

tage would have been much greater. The troops are still guarding the goods depots at Manchester and Salford. Of ninety thousand railwaymen, dockers, seamen and carters on strike in Liverpool, one-third resumed work to-day. The midland Railway strikers at Burton-on-Trent, on returning to work, were informed that they had lost their seniority, the loyalists receiving promotion. Thereupon the strike was resumed. Similar action resulted at Carlisle. The Midland guards at Cricklewood refused to resume. Mr Thomas, assistant secretary to the Railway Servant's Society, rtat<ss that if the companies do not adhere to the terms regarding reinstatement, the men will be called out again. The Railway Executive is again conferring with the Board of Trade. Mr Ramsay Maodonald states that there is a slight hitch which, he is confident, wall be overcome. The lightermen finally agreed to refer future disputes to the Masters' and Men's Ass ociations, and failing settlement to then refer to the Board of Trade. .■ The position' o.n the North Ea stern line is still serious. iPhe strikers will not return until their demands have been granted. Leeds station has been barricaded and is guarded with troops. The men believe that the. company are attempting to give priority to j non-unionists. The Hull dockers have agreed to ! strike if the railwaymen desire them to do so, ) One thousand one hundred troops have been despatched to Darlington and Bishop Auckland, where rioting is proceeding. The Midland men have notified the company that unless all men aro reinstated to-night, the strike will be resumed. A conference at Liverpool regarding the loch-out resulted in an (agreement j to resume. ( Twelve thousand Rhondda miners j threaten an. immediate strike regard- i ing the minimum wage. The Daily Mail says that the best bulwark against a general strike is compulsory arbitration. The Daily News blames the Government for not compelling the companies to meet the. men's representatives before summoning troops.