POLICE CALLED IN.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18927, 16 February 1927, Page 5

POLICE CALLED IN.

LIVELY MEETING AT EDEN. [THE PBBSB Special Service.] AUCKLAND, February 15. Heated arguments at a meeting of tho Glen Eden Town Board last evening culminated in an uproar, the chairman, Mr W. H. Shepherd, calling in Constable Smith to eject Mr J. HHayes, a member. There was a fair attendance of ratepayers. The trouble commenced when Mr Hayes and Mr J. M. West made formal objections to the miuutes of a previous meeting, when they walked out owint to an argument as to whether the meeting haa lapsed for want of a quorum or not. They maintained there was not a quorum present at < *» o'clock, the timo limit, and the chairman held that there was a quorum present before 8 o'clock, and everything was in order in continuing tho meeting. The main objection of the two members was that the episode when they left the meeting was not correctly reported. Several members joined in the argument. The chairman finally stood up, and, thumping heavily on the table, demanded a hearing. Mr Hayes: Wo all know you »re chairman of tho meeting, but you are not Tsar of it. The chairman: I demand an apology from the man who put that report in the papers. I say tho report was not true. Mr Hayes (shouting): It was true. The chairman: I move that Mr Hayes be suspended. Mr West: Such a motion is ridiculous. Mr Hayes: I wrote the report, and sav it is true. What more do you want? Mr Shepherd: To put an unsigned artic'a of that description in the parjer is a serious matter'. I will stand insults from no one. I order you out of the room. Mr Hayes: You cannot. Mr West: You cannot make him go. Constable Called in. Mr Shepherd, to Mr H. Croucher, tho clerk: ''Ring up Constable Smith to come along. In the meantime business will cease. Tho meeting waited for half an hour before the constable arrived, Mr West in the meantime quoting tho law on the subject to show the chairman could not take such a step. When the constable arrived, the chairman said he had suspended Mr Hayes, but he had refused to go. Mr Hayes: He did not suspend me. He ordered me out: He has been suspending people all night. Mr West: The law on the subject states that such a step is illegal. The chairman: We arc not arguing the law now. At this stage, Mr West, retired from the meeting, stating as he went out of the door that he would not sit under such a chairman. Constable Smith then perused the Town Board Act, and stated he could not find provision for the ejectment of a member. The chairman: It does not say a member cannot be ejected. The constable, to Mr Hayes: Why not use a little sense. Mr Hayes, and go out. You have the proper course for any redress. You will not lose any prestige by leaving the meeting. The chairman: If a man obstructs the business of the Board, he can be ejected. The constablo: lam in this position. I am not going to leave myself open for a technical assault. I will be quite candid about the matter. After further discussion, it was unanimously decided to adjourn the meetinuntil this evening During the evening, Mr Hayes handed a notice of motion to the clerk that the Board protests against the action of the chairman in withholding from tho knowledge of the Board certain correspondence from the Auditor General, and demands that the correspondence be produced.