ABSTRACT
The stance taken by mission and government on virtually any issue involving the Welfare may have had a great impact on the opposition of Council members to the Welfare. The immediate initiative to violence was taken by the government, for the police had been practising baton charges before 6 February, the day which had been nominated three weeks earlier for the police action. The police officer called for Teosin, all tax-defaulters and those involved in the earlier melee to present themselves for arrest. The police laid in with batons and the Welfare tried to disarm them, pinion their arms or hold them to the ground. The received version depicts a scene of mob violence contrasted with noble restraint on the part of the police - a vicious attack by the Welfare intent on killing in a fight to the finish.
