SETTLERS' FREE FIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 302, 22 December 1930, Page 10

SETTLERS' FREE FIGHT.

COUNTRY SCHOOL GATHERING WOMEN SCREAM AND FAINT. DEEP-SEATED ANIMOSITY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) OTOROHANGA, Saturday. Following a social gathering on the occasion of the opening of the new Honikiwi School, and in the presence of the school children and parents, a disgraceful free fight took place among settlers of the district. It appears that a settler asked the chairman whether the new school could be used for . dances, and, not receiving what he considered to be a satisfactory reply, he asked further questions. This led to a member of the school committee interjecting, "Shut up!" and brought the retort from the first speaker that he would knock his "block" oil. Both men rose to make for each other,'and the chairman tried to part them, and in so doing the settler was struck 011 the jaw. The chairman was in the ensuing melee, and then other members of the school committee joined in, while women shrieked and some of them fainted. Apparently deep-seated animosity came to the surface, and suggestions about marked sheep only served to infuriate some of the me if concerned. There were no intoxicants at the gatherhi nr. Honikiwi is ten miles from Otorohanaa, in the isolated back country. Earlier in the day Mr..W. J. Broadfoot, M.P., and Mrs. Broadfoot, had formally opened the new school. They left at an early hour for Otewa, ,to attend the "breaking-up" ceremonies at the school there. i ...