BOYCOTTED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 206, 1 September 1933, Page 3

BOYCOTTED.

ELECTION MEETING. INDEPENDENT LABOUR MAN. « SURPRISED AND DISGUSTED" (Br Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Mr. E. L. Hills, Independent Labour candidate for the LyHelton seat, was chagrined, on arriving in Lyttelton last evening to address his first meeting in the port, to find the hall thoroughly picketed by men, who were turning away the people anxious to enter. Apparently a carefully-arranged boycott of the meeting had been organised by supporters of the Labour party, who resent the intrusion of Mr. Hills in the contest. The fact that the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, was also addressing a meeting in Lyttelton aided them. Eivc policemen, four reporters, four youths and six men comprised Mr. Hills' audience . The candidate took the opportunity of making a bitter attack on the Labour party. "The fight is on from this out," Mr. Hills declared. "I'm not going to spare my friends of the Labour party. He declared he had overheard a conversation which proved to him that the Labour party had made use of Mr. Ransom's visit to "sabotage" his meeting. The tactics indulged in by the Labour party would have a most reactionary effect on the vote cast for the Labour candidate. "I'm surprised and disgusted that the Labour party should adopt such unsportsmanlike tactics," Mr. Hills said. "They and we of the working class have always advocated the right of free speech, and the people who have supported the Labour party in the past are becoming very dissatisfied with its tactics. As one who has served inside the part}-, I know that its object is to capture power, no matter what is the cost." He believed that next election the people would have an opportunity of voting for Independent Labour candidates all over New Zealand. The small audience listened to Mr. Hills attentively while ho outlined his platform briefly, and then passed him a vote of thanks. Mr. Ransom "Well Received. Mrs. McCombs, the Labour candidate, did not address any meeting last night, but the Coalition campaign was carried on by the candidate, Mr. F. W. Freeman, and by Mr. Ransom. Although there was no lack of good-humoured interjection to leaven the rather solid material of Mr. address, be more than beld his own. When ,it pleased him, he answered the interjector pointedly, but more often he talked his interruptors down. Eor the most part th© interjections were of the pointless variety, having much to do with "beer," "home brew" and the iniquities of certain members of the Government, whoso Christian names were bandied about freely., The chairman, Mr. W. T. Lester, Mayor of Lyttelton, expressed sincere thanks for the manner in which the port had listened to the Minister. Perhaps even Mr. Ransom was agreeably surprised at the cordial reception he got. "As a matter of fact, I'm much more popular down here than I expected to be," he said at one stage. "I am having a really lovely time." When the meeting ended Mr. Ransom was accorded a warm vote of thanks, and a request for cheers for the Labour candidate, although answered by a few, was greeted with laughter. The honours of the night were definitely Mr. Ransom's. Mr. Freeman at Heathcote. Heathcote last night accorded Mr. Freeman a much better reception than he encountered there when campaigning two years ago. He was subjected to considerable interjection, but it was good humoured in the main, and there was more than usual .point to the questions asked. He was given a vote of thanks.