Distribution of leaflets

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33093, 7 December 1972, Page 16

Distribution of leaflets

Sir, —On entering the Show Grounds on People’s Day by the Lincoln Road entrance, my friend and I were accosted by members of W.A.R.D., who offered us leaflets which came from a table set up beside the gates, and manned by two or three people. The Town Clerk’s reply to P. R. Johnson’s letter says that W.A.R.D. was refused permission to set up such a table. W-A.R.D.’s insistence on respect for law and order is wearing thin to the point of transparency. — Yours, etc., P. METCALF. November 30, 1972. [Mr P. R. Johnson, secretary of the Canterbury branch of W.A.R.D., replies: “W.A.R.D.’S aplication to the City Council was submitted as requested in writing and was expected to be a mere formality, in view of the fact that at the same time last year two tables were set up in the same area, one by Mr C. G. Marshall and the other by the Mayor (Mr N. G. Pickering). Assuming that both were granted official permission, the Town Clerk’s reply to our request this year was received with the utmost disappointment and smacked of victimisation towards W.A.R.D. Because of this, some of our members volunteered to set up the table and were prepared to suffer any consequential recrimination, to test the righteousness of the council decision.”] [This correspondence is now closed — Ed., “The Press.”]