Among the notable strike leaders detained in the Terrace Gaol were: Harry Holland, Maoriland Worker editor and later leader of the Labour Party; Bob Semple, UFL organiser and Minister of Works from 1935; Peter Fraser, Social Democratic Party activist and later Prime Minister (1940-49); and George Bailey, the chairman of the strike committee. All were held on charges of making ‘inflammatory speeches’. Tom Young, the president of the UFL and secretary of the seamen’s union, and Tom Barker of the Industrial Workers of the World were held on charges of sedition. Also in gaol were 28 firemen (stokers) from the New Zealand Shipping Company vessel Opawa, who had refused to work because their ship’s cargo had been loaded by scab labour.
See more images of Wellington during the 1913 strike here (Flickr)
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