MR PETER LALOR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2385, 22 October 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

MR PETER LALOR.

TIM': STORY OK THK BALLARAT RIOTS. in ri.wmix.s in tiik af-strai.i\v. Tin: approaching re.liroment nf Mr Peter L-ilur hum his position as Spmilcur was anmhin< ml r.i■ tin: Assembly yesterday. Thus, al> 11 ir.'iit ly, wo have I hi: close nf a jiictur-i'-ilUi' public carc-u which is sun: of a place in the annals ■.f tin: country. A "lance at some of tin: incidc.nts of a life sn stormy, ami a sketch of a character so pronounced, will In: of interest at this juncture,, when in a public capacity the word ' f.uewell' has to he spoken. Mr Lalnr was one of the 110,000 people attracted to Victoria in 1 Soli by the fame of the "oldtields of Mount Alexander anil II illarat. He was L’o years ~f ape when he landed, having been burn the son of an Irish landed proprietor—inOneen's Comity, ISJ7. ||e had been educated at Carlow t.;,,liege and Trinity College, with the intention of becoming a civil engineer. lb: first accepted a situation in connection with the (lechm" and Melbourne railway, but 18-M found him at 11 dtarat. Those were the days whan the differs, whether they had money or not, were required to pay a license-fee of t.'t per month, and when ‘dinger hunts' were indulged in by the police, the men found without a licensn being tied together and marched into c imp as though they were a gang of convicts. Xu class would have submitted quietly to tills treatment. But the diggers nf that day were not working miners merely. They were high-spirited, resolute men of all classes and conditions, who were sue to feel keenly any injustice nr humiliation. It incensed them that they had mi political rights. It maddened them to be dragooned. They held meetings to denounce political privileges, and 1 1 denounce the conduct of the police and of the soldiers, and they began to return b'nw for blow. With a present knowledge of -Mr Tahir’s character—vehement, sensitive, and fearless—it is easy to realise that as a, young ami ardent man lie would he in the thick of the trouble, land that is where he was. Complications increased. The diggers accused the Ballarat police magistrate of corruptly screening a publican named Bmtly, charged with the, murder of a digger named Scobie in a scnllle. Hently was discharged by the magistrate. Thu diggers burned his house flown. The police mole indiscriminate arrests. A number of the diggers congregated at 1! ikery-ldll, erected a stockade, hoisted a 1 Southern Cross ’ flag, ami took an oath We swear by tin! Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and tight to defend onr rights and liberties.’ To find that I’e.ter Lalnr was elected commander is what one would expect. The statement that ho ordered pikes to bo fashioned for the men who had no gnus, ‘as six inches of steel would do fur the heart of a tyrant,’ is too Inlorish —for a Lalnr of ff(» or Iff—to be lightly sot aside.

A ‘digger limit' on the 80th November was a running tight, the irritated goldbeaters freely firing nn the police and the military, who as freely retaliated. This incident seems to have convinced Captain Thomas, comm lading the company of the ■loth who were at Ballarat, that it was his duty to capture the stockade and disperse the men there before disaffection reached a farther head—though probably had Captain Thomas delayed action the stockade forces would have melted away. 'Colonel Liter,’ hmvaver, was keeping his men busy at drill, believing that an attack would bo made, bat that it would not he delivered until the mam body of the -10 th, which had been ordered up, had arrived. Captain Thomas, therefore, rushing the place with 800 men early on the morning of Sunday, Brd .1 )eeemher, effected a surprise. There was a rapid interchange of volleys, the troops were soon in the stockade, and the half-armed, undisciplined diggers had no choice but to fly. The soldiers suffered, but the diggers lost the more, heavily. Some 8d nr 40 of their number were killed, and as many more were wounded. Mr Lalor, .as one would suppose, was not one of those who ran. When tiie soldiers left the ‘colonel’ was lying on the ground, badly wounded, senseless, and apparently dead, lint when the drays came to cart the bodies into the camp that of the leader was not there. Mr L dor, it is understood, on regaining his senses, was assisted away, and hidden in a neighbouring shaft and drive until the following evening, when he was removed to an adjacent lint of a Catholic priest. The liillarat doctors were there, and they amputated an ami—a difficult operation, owing to the bullet being embedded close to the shoulder joint. The story that, on Dr. Doyle, who was in delicate health, becoming faint with anxiety and heat, the siifl'erer cheered him on saying, ‘Courage, courage, take it olf, doctor,' is also a legend that commends itself to all the acquaintance of .Mr Lalor as being exactly what he could say. After a sojourn in a tent on Block-bill Flat a friendly hnlioek dray conveyed Mr Lalor to duelling. H it though the stockade was surprised, and the diggers were dispersed, and Air Lalor was wounded and in hiding, with a reward of £2(K) olfercd for his arrest, he had none the less wen the day. The I a inle took the matter out of the Governmeat’s hands, and granted an amnesty to such piisoners as were made by acquitting them in turn as they were placed upon their trial; and a Royal commission obtained political representation for the diggers, and also tbe substitution of an export tax on gold in lieu of tlie personal license-fee and with this redress of grievances disinfection disappeared. Mr Lalor was not the man to hide. So soon as In's recovery from his terrible injury was complete, he was at Hallarat again. II is said that ho attended a (lovenmienl auction sale, and signed the sale books .vhile the proclamation ot the rewind was still on the gum-trees. Hallarat became entitled to send members to the old Council, Mr Lalor was the popular candidate, and went in by the votes of the grateful and admiring diggers. On arriving in Melbourne, Mr Lalor went straight to the private residence of the I’remier (Mr \V. If. Haines) mid informed him that, proclamations or no proclamations, lie intended to take his seal, and that the (ioveriiment must bo answerable for the consequences if any attempt were made to arrest liim, and the next day all notices to Mr Lalor’s detriment were withdrawn. From that period (IS.Vi) to this, with only one brief intermission, Mr Lalor has been in I’arliament. Consequently he is the veteran of the veterans. When the new constitution was proclaimed he sat in Hie Hist House for < livnville, and subsequently ho sat for South Hrant. In IS7I he lost Smith Crant by a mischance, but the constituency made amends by returning him again in 1574, ami he has continued to fight for and to win Smith (Irani to the present day. I’rior to this (iefeat he had been for several years Chairman of Committee, and devoting his strong intelligence to the subject, ho became thoroughly master of the law and practice of Parliament, acquiring that knowledge which has served him so well in his later years.