FIGHT FOR FARM

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 October 1928, Page 8

FIGHT FOR FARM

FORCIBLE MEASURES USED. Some stirring events are reported to have occurred recently in a certain dairying district located between Blenheim and Nelson, when a pitched battle, in which nature’s weapons and

billets of wood were freely used, eventuated in and around a farmhouse. The feud is alleged to have had its origin in a dispute over possession of a farm occupied by a man who was milking’on shares with the owner. The owner took legal action to determine the contract, it is stated, but failed, and the occupier agreed that the dispute should be submitted to arbitration. Two assessors and a referee were duly appointed, and the upshot of their deliberations was that the farmer should vacate the property in consideration of the payment of a sum of £l5O. The verdict of the arbitrators, however, proved distasteful to the sharemilker; and the fun started when a party, representing the owner, arrived at the farm to take possession. They were met with shouts of defiance, and found to their dismay that the windows and doors weer locked and barricaded. Peaceful persuasion having failed to elicit any response,, they are aleged to have broken open the door, over-pow-ered the stubborn sharemilker and piled him and his furniture outside on to the road. But the occupier had previously sent out an S.O.S. telephone call for assistance, and very soon several neighbours appeared on the scene and threatened to walk the invaders off the. farm. The presence of superior forces, in the shape of a IGst. Maori, armed with a club, and a certain other stalwart armed with authority, caused them to consider that dis-

cretion was the better part of valor, and they gracefully withdrew. Peace reigned for a time, but the real storm had yet to break. It was not long before a small army of some forty residents marched up to the farmhouse, and, without more ado, set about clearing the property of the shareholder’s opponents. A sanguinary engagement was waged in the house, in which the invaders had taken up a strategic position, and th© party of four were outnumbered ten to one. They put up a determined resistance, but first one and then the other was knocked out, and the attackers gained a decisive victory. So far as is known the sharemilker is still in triumphant possession, but the chances are that more will be heard of the matter shortly.