Sir H, Gollan—I see you sey nothing at all about the discharge of blank cartridges first, Witness replied that they dee Mberately refrained from mentioning blank cartridges because of very strong opinion expressed once by Lord Haldane before a Parliamentary Committee that it was quite a wrong thing to do as it gave a riotous mob the impression that there was nothing more than blank to be used.
Gollan: And therefore you should not fire until it is am absolute need to fire and then fire in order to stop the mob—Exactly, In reply to further questions by. the British Commissioner, Major HiltonJobnson said that firing overhead was dangerous as it might result in wounding people a long way off and also might result in ricochet. It was expressly Inid down in the Mobilization Instractions that first of all the man who fired or who ordered the fire action must be satisfied that serious damage to property or loss of life wag imminent, and secondly that such damage or ons of life could ba prevented by no cther means, Coming to the May 20 affair, Sir Gollan asked witness whether, in' the light of his experience, be could account for the sudden change the attitude of the mob or give any cause for it.
The Commissioner-General replied that he had nothing to add in that respect to what he had ale ready said. What was aiid to have happened was, in his opinion from his experience, quite what one might expect. It did not strike him as remarkable, and was in keeping with what he had noticed elsewhere, this sudden change from comparative peacefulness to frenzy.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.