RIOT IN HOBART.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1710, 29 December 1919, Page 8

RIOT IN HOBART.

CANDIDATE ATTACKED

IIOBART, Dee. 13. A brutal attack was made last night on Mr Laird Smith, the Nationalist candidate for Penkon, Mo attempted to address the crowd from the balcony of the Union Hotel, in the centre of the city, and at once met with a hostile reception. Ho was hooted and counted out; eggs and .stones were thrown, and* a window was smashed. At the rOr quest of the hotel landlord Mr Smith left the balcony, but said he would not be bluffed. He then attempted lo speak in thi/ middle of the street, but the crowd refused to listen to him, and ngqin resorted to counting out and hooting. Mr Smith, recognising that Lis task was hopeless, proceeded to his boarding-house, a short distance away, and was followed by the mob, several hundred strong, which jostled him, howled, counted him out, and balled him a scab. Stones were thrown at the lioardlng-house windows, and soveral panes were'broken before tlio police dispersed the mob. Reaching his room, Mr Smith collapsed and became semi-conscious. He was removed to a private hospital, and examined by Drs Duller and Scott, who found a big bruise on the top of his head and signs nf a heavy blow over tlio kidneys. Mr Smith's? condition for a time was serious.