UNIVERSITY “RAGS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 January 1939, Page 9

UNIVERSITY “RAGS”

LIVELY GUY FAWKES NIGHT IN ENGLAND. TEAR GAS AT OXFORD. Fifth of November celebrations were made the occasion of "rags'' at Cambridge and Oxford, and there were lively doings at Lewes. Five undergraduates were arrested in Cambridge market square.' When others attempted to rescue them the police used their batons, and two men were injured, one being taken on an ambulance to a nursing home (says the "Observer”). Fireworks were thrown all over the square throughout the evening, but the police took no action until attempts were made to put out street lamps. Five were extinguished. The arrested undergraduates were bailed out by the college authorities towards midnight. Tear gas bombs were thrown into a crowd which had gathered in George Street. Oxford. People stampeded, but no one was injured or seriously affected. Nearby a car was set on fire by a firework, but the occupants escaped unhurt.

Following a firework display from the i'oof of Balliol College, college servants searched the roof for the culprits, but did not find them. Ten arrests were made in the city. There were record crowds at Lewes, where more than 50 police were on duty. Orders prohibiting the letting off of fireworks in the streets were ignored. and 20 people were taken to the police station to "cool their heels” until midnight, when they were released, after all buses and trains had left. Ambulance workers were kept busy with minor cases of burns, and there was one serious accident when a girl received a rocket full in the face. The London Fire Brigade had answered 245 calls by 10.30, compared with an average of 40 or 50 calls for a normal night, and a higher total than last year.