THE DREADNOUGHT MEETING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2482, 22 April 1909, Page 6

THE DREADNOUGHT MEETING.

AX EXTRAORDINARY OUTBURST

TURBULENT SCENES IN CHRISTCHURCH. Never in the history of New Zealand has there been a .parallel to the meeting which took place in the King Edward . Barracks in Christchurch last week. 'People who hare attended public (gatherings for more years than they care to remember confess that the occasion furnished a new experience to them. The scene throughout was one which was absolutely unprecedented in New Zealand history. The meeting was called by the Canterbury branch of the Navy League to gire the citizens an opportunity of expressing their approval of the action of the Cabinet in offering one Dreadnought, and, if necessary, two, to the Britisn Government.

The proceedings are thus reported in the “Lyttelton Times”: A GREAT SEA OF FACES.

Sitting'in a row in front of the bench, and facing the audience, the speakers looked down upon an extraordinary sight. No seats had been provided for the public. They stood on the earthen floor of the barracks. This gave them an advantage they could not possibly have enjoyc-d if they had been seated. Their arms were free, and they were able to move about without much restriction. Many of them, in their excitement, used their freedom to leap into the air, in order to give emphasis to the vociferous declarations they imrled with ail their might at the* row of speakers. The fact that the audience, was standing instead of sitting gave it a strikingly peculiar appearance. It never ceased to sway backward and forward and to and fro. It Was a great sea of upturned faces, stretching across 'the building, with eddying currents running through it all the time.

There was an astonishing variety of expressions on the faces. Most of them were wreathed in smiles. They had fun stamped on every line. They evidently reflected the hilarious feelings that had swept their owners into a condition that seemed to border on sublime frenzy, in which everything in the world was forgotten except a mania to yell and shout at tlie height of the voice. Other faces, however, showed, that there were some members of that remarkable audience who took tho meeting, the speakers and tho Dreadnought offer with a deep and unfathomable seriousness. They were deadly serious in the epithets they launched out, 'and they seemed to feel that the fate, not of a New Zealand Dreadnought, or of New Zealand itself, but of the whole British nation for all time to come, depended upon the depth : 0 f their horrible groans and the ferocity of their hisses. There was one young man, a few yards from the platform, whose face attracted much attention. He worked the muscles on it with surprising ease, and as each ejaculation was thundered out, ids whole face became contorted with

grimaces. . ~ It was noticeable that most of the faces, were young. Only here and there could one. be seen with grey beard. Ihe great majority of the audience, m fact, wo* composed of young fellows, ranging from about sixteen or seventeen years to twenty-five, who had come out tor an evening’s amusement. Ladies' costumes could be seen, but they were veiy few. In this respect, the meeting was in marked contrast with its predecessor in His Majesty’s Theatre. _ Last night s meeting was a men’s meeting, and most of the men were determined to enjoy themselves in the way they liked best. The variety of faces was set off with & variety of‘hats. Many of them had narrow-brimmed straw hats cocked rakishly back, but tho black “hard-hitter was" in evidence, and there were large numbers of peaked caps. The last seemed to suit tho purpose of the evening best, as they could be waved with ease and without risk of going to pieces. The old grey hat of a well-known sheepfanner in the Timaru district was waved so vigorously that, when it at last regained its resting-place .on its owner’s head it was utterly out.of shape, and looked like, anything but a sample of civilised headggar. THE CHAIRMAN'S EFFORT. When at last the chairman rose to open the meeting, he was greeted with a roar which resounded on all sides, drowning all previous efforts, and, indeed, put them to shame. "Ladies and gentlemen,” he shouted. 'Phe “ladies and gentlemen.” however, only shouted back at him, andhis voice did .not carry as far as the front row. He subsided temporarily, and then somebody handed him up a large megaphone, which he scorned to use. “' When you are ready, ladies and gentlemen,” he continued, “1 am prepared to speak.” At last he sat down,- after almost five minutes’ continuous roaring from the crowd. When he rose again his reappearance was greeted with renewed shouts. Speaking in a voice that was almost inaudible, he apologised for the absence of the Mayor. The meeting, he continued, had been called, under the auspices of the Navy League, for the purpose of carrying a motion. All that couid be heard after that, .‘veil by those alongside him, was come .reference to “liberty of speech,” but it was evident that he was be-speaking a hearing for those who were to come after him. His own effort was an absolute failure. THE SPEECHES.

Major Hooday, on. rising, ■ received the same treatment, interspersed with cries of “We want Tommy.” Then a coterie near him raised a- cheer, and the crowd began to surge ominously. Meanwhile, Major Hobday continued to speak, but spoke directly to the reporters. Bishop Grimes, who seconded the motion, was greeted with a deafening noise. He was unable to make liis voice carry even to those of the audience who were near him. Turning to the reporters, lie said: — “'.As a citizen land patriot and a lover and advocate of peace, I have much -pleasure in seconding this, resolution. On another occasion, if justification were necessary, I should justify my -action in this non-political affair. Poaco is one of the greatest blessings that God ' . . lias ever bestowed on man—” The crowd had redoubled its vocal efforts, and Bishop Grimes gave up his task. HOW THE MOTION WAS Pl r T. THE BLACKBOARD INCIDENT. STRANGE SCENES IN THE HALL. With Bishop Grimes’s failure, all hope old big >a meeting on ordinary lines ■ quite abandoned. It was thought rst that the crowd would shout it- , jfcircd, and that the speakers, would |

then have the chance to say what they had tsT say. But the crowd seemed to gain strength as time, went on. It certainly became rowdier and more demonstrative. Popular tunes ran along the surface of the sea of faces. “The Red, White and Blue” was followed by “Soldiers of the Queen,” and other patriotic songs were shouted with a combination of yells that made a roar like the incessant thunder of an immense waterfall. There was a counci 1-of-war on the platform. It was carried on under the utmost difficulty, as conversation could be heard only by shouting into the car of the person spoken to. Tho result of the conference was that a message was sent out for a black-board. In a few minutes this was brought into the hall and handed to the chairman. Bishop Julius rose. Ho was greeted by a great demonstration. Hands were held "aloft land sticks and ha were waved on all sides. It was thought tbat he also would try to speak, but if those present wished to see him fail w:<th the previous speakers they were disappointed. Ho smiled £it tlicm and shook his head, and, with a .piece of chalk, wrote on tho black-board, m bold letters, the following strange device: “HANDS UP FOR THE RESOLUTION.” The chairman held the black-board before the raging people in front or him. There had been some 'tremendous outbursts of clamour, but they all faded a wav when the writing on the board was read. There were cheers, hoots, and sounds which bore no resemblance to either a cheer or a hoot, and vm.cn could have had no possible interpretation, except that they indicated that those who made them had gone stark, staring mad. . A forest of hands at once rose from -the crowd immediately m front of the platform. People at the. rear and sides of 'the hall, seeing hands going up, n.so voted, and a large proportion of the -crowd voted for the motion which was declared by the chairman to be carried unanimously. No request w-s made to the meeting for votes against the motion, and in such a closely-pack-ed?crowd it was impossible to make any estimate as to whether those who voted for the resolution outnumbered those who did not. MR TAYLOR. RECEIVED WITH REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION. In the meantime, Mr T. E. Taylor had arrived in the hall, and had taken up a very commanding position near one encl of the platform. H* rose and held up his hand. I his was the signal for the greatest demonstration 'that had been made up to that time. The storm of cheering and hooting lasted for over a minute, and was succeeded by the unintelligible babel of sounds which prevented other speakers from making themselves heard. Mr Taylor stood .silently for some time, but fiuclino- that it was hopeless to try to makeliis voice heard, he resumed his seat. He made several further attempts to obtain a hearing, and each time he rose, he was accorded enthusiastic cheers.

- THE BLACKBOARD IN THE CROWD. a PASSED FROM HAND TO HAND. A ROUGH TIME IN FRONT. The motion haying been declared carried, the blackboard wag passed down from the platform to the yelling people below. They fastened upon it like a pack of wolves on a victim, snarling and yelping at each other, and passing it up and down. Half a dozen of them, getting their hands on it, raised it over their heads, with the intention of passing it over the crowd either to Mr Taylor, or >to the door. One man, who objected to this, used his walking-stick on the knuckles of the hands placed on the board, and it (came down with a run. Nothing could be heard but snarling, veiling and cries, seme of which seemed to be uttered in real anger. Apparently, however, a section wished to take the blackboard’’to Mr Taylor and others resisted with all the:r might. When the swaying crowd had taken tho blackboard straight in front of Mr Tailor, a severe struggle took place. Time who were on the platform viewed the scene in front of them with some alarm for tike safety of the rioters. The play, if it could be called play, became so rough that dt seemed that someone must he injured. Several of the rioters reeled and almost fell, and a thrill went through all who were looking on at the scene. The blackboard went up and down again, but ultimately it was rushed to the outskirts of the crowd. There twenty or thirty young .fellows took possession of it ran with it to the far western end of the building, which had not been filled, and there a smaller meeting was held, with the blackboard and its device, which, of course, had been completely obliterated, as the subject of discussion. Ten minutes later on the blackboard came into the main crowd again. It was seen circling aro-und for a few seconds, and then a constable came to its rescue, and put it out of the way underneath the platform, and it was seen no more.

A FIGHT FOR THE STANDARD. THE FLAG PULLED TO TATTERS. When .Mr Taylor rose to move an amendment to the motion, he was checired louder than ever, but intermingled with the cheers were epithets far from complimentary. “You German sausage!” was a very favorite expression with his opponents. While his friends yelled," “We want Tommy,” liis opponents shouted, “Lie down, Tommy,” “Go .homo. Tommy,”-and other expressions of their disapproval of his view of the Dreadnought offer. Mir Taylor had prepared the following amendment, but it was never read, much less voted upon by the meeting, which would not let him say more than three or four words: —“That- this meeting pretests against the action of the Cabinet in pledging the. credit of this country for from two to four million sterling without first obtaining authority from the representatives of the people, and is of opinion that money would be better spent (1) upon increasing, if necessary, the annual subsidy, British Navy; (2) upon doing justice te the New Zealand Volunteer system; (3) upon improving New Zealand’s own coastal defences; (4) upon effecting closer land settlement and finding employment for our own people.” While Mr Taylor was waiting for a lull in the<- noise, a strongly-built young man, evidently laboring under great excitejnent, made a rush at a corner or the platform arid wrenched down a red ensign that was hanging there. His intention was to form a procession with it, but that was impossible, and somebody endeavored to take the flag from him. . « ’ A ■ ~ ‘ y _.

Tho most exciting scene of the evening was then witnessed from the platform. Half a dozen men rushed for the flag, and a struggle took place for its possession. One, who had grasped the pole firmly, tried to use it as a lance, in order to force his way through the crowd, but the pole was immediately snapped dn several places, and the flag was in remnants. In the noise and turmoil, it could bo seen that Mr Taylor, for the first time, was angry and annoyed. “None of that, boys,” he shouted. The rest of his words were completely lost, but he coukl ho seen shaking his head in expostulation. In the meantime, after several blows had been exchanged by some of those who were trying to gam possession of the flag, a strong and stalwart constable, forced a passage into the vortex and endeavored to separate the disputants. Using a piece of the broken pble ns a baton, lio waved it threateningly in front of tho rioters, and they gave way, and the incident passed off. In a second, however, a large remnant of the flag was hurled through the air at Mr Taylor, evidently in derision. It was caught by some person near him, and was handed to him and passed on to others, and ultimately came into- tlio hands of Hon. G. J. Smith. He waved it enthusiastically in front of the crowd, who cheered him again and again. Mr Taylor was now the centre of all attraction. The whole great mooting had concentrated all its cheers, all its groans, all its hooting, and all its wild discordant cry, upon him. He tried to express his deep disapproval of tne treatment that had been given to the flag by the thoughtless members of the audience. “You may mako it clear that I did mv level best to prevent that ■outrage,” he said to a reporter who was standing by his side. _ ' “Throw him out?” some cried. Others, again, expressed an opinion that he was a “German sausage.” Some roared “Pro-Boer,” others “give him the German flag,” while others again, waved handkerchiefs at him, signifying that they thought he should, be waving a truce rather than a Union Jack. But Mr Taylor was unperturbed, and remarked, “I am as patriotic as any of them.”

There seems to have, been somo arrangement that, at a signal, the flags on the platform should be raised m tho hands and waved. Tho time for this had now come. TT r , Seizing one of the flags, tho Hon. br. J Smith leaped on to the bench provided for the speakers. Ho waved it round his head three or four times, and. roared out “Three cheers for the blag. There was a mighty response from all parts of the crowd. Only a few people •could hear him, but all recognised the meaning of' his gesticulations, and a vast volume of sound was sent forth time after time. In the meantime a piece of the torn flag had been handed to Mr Taylor during the heat oi the excitement over the fight for possession. He had placed it under his arm for protection. Ho now brought it out and waved it in unison with Mr Smith’s flag. Chorus after chorus was sung. “The Red, White and Blue,” followed “Soldiers of the Queen,” and the crowd then reverted to the first song. At times nearly a score of patriotic songs were sung at the same time. The result was a medley and a confusion of sound that no pen could adequately describe. In each lull there could be discerned such phrases as “German sausage,” “Pro-Boer” and “Sit down, Tommy.” . , ~ . Dr C. J. Russell tried to obtain a hearing. “Rest your tongues just half a minute,” lie shouted; “you want to hear Mr ' Taylor, don’t you ?” The crowd cheered and yelled excitedly, and though he made several further attempts, Dr Russell failed to get an opportunitv to sneak. In answer to his query a "section of the audience chanted “No. we don’t,” and others shouted ‘ Yes, we want Tommy !” and suddenly there came thundering out the words of the National Anthem. The crowd cheered for everything and everybody it .could bring to mind, from S'tc Joseph Ward to the Navy, the nation and the Dreadnoughts. THE END. Shortly after nine o’clock some of tlve lights were turned out. It had a ver'y strange effect on the spectacular appearance of the gathering. The upturned faces could be seen only indistinctly, and the faces seemed to lose jthei/r expressions of good-natured enjoyment. Strange shadows passed over them, and the tumult had a rather grotesque effect. The ladies on the platform were quietly escorted down, and were taken out, but tho meeting still showed that- it was neither tired with its strenuous efforts nor disposed to end the evening’s amusement. There was an unbroken round of cheers. One young man made very effective use of a shrill whistle. Several stented a Maori haka. but this did not become formidable. After all possible subjects for cheers had been exhausted, someone called loudly for cheers for “the German sausage,” which were given wii.th boisterous derision. Matches were lighted on the platform and were held above the heads of men who tried in vain to speak to the meeting. Then those present remembered that they had not sung “Rule Britannia.” and it was given heartily. Suddenly the cry went round that “Tommy’s gone to Germany.” He had quietly left the platform and departed from the hall, tt was stated that Dr Rursell’s attempt to obtain a hearing was intended to divert attention from Mr the hall. It wa.s stated that Dr Russell was the centre of attraction, Mr Taylor quietly slipped away, the police forming a little guard of honor to prevent any hostile movement on the part of the crowd. The little ruse succeeded completely, and Mr Taylor’s departure was probably not witnessed by more than half a dozen people. More lights were turned, down as a hint that the 'meeting really must disperse. A general movement was made to the doors, and ‘one of the most remarkable gatherings - held in Christchurch was brought to an end, the public still muttering “German sausage’ and shouting patriotic airs as it went into tho street.