A DISORDERLY MEETING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 5

A DISORDERLY MEETING.

JEDEN TERRACE RATEPAYERS. ~ £j| — • *i! j ■ v It it reputed that in tho good old days, { ir -i3 political meetings and fairs in Ireland eon- ?f ; eluded with a wielding of ishillalahs and the spilling ,of . blood; and the Eden Terrace . . , ratepayers must have been making- a study - |p| of the subject, if a 'meeting held last.night ■* wig is anything to judge by. A statutory "meet- *■ .. ing was called to- consider a proposal by tbie t£§j| Eden Terrace Road Board to raise a loan -of; " "> j! £15,000 for improving the streets and roads , in the ■. district, and ' the promoters naturally f hoped for a peaceable \gathering ' which - fp|| should pass an approving jresolßtioa. : -i s:TJnrfortunately the meeting was packed wipn'oft-.i '-'Ji poaitionigts, among whom some" of J;f|| cipal speakers were ex- members of the §p|§ Board, and inmost throughout j.t",'fljsplaye(d a spirit hostile to the loan, ~,V—'•< ?£*>-••• ; The chairman, of ; the ,Hoard, '"K, "V Moor, was not present, and ■> 'the p d&pttiy- Sffi chairman, Mr. \V. H. Haaleft,,, pcesxdod. •" The chairman's absence served foj- .ooft. Ob- 1 - jector to hang an objection upon,< and the -V. speaker, Mr. Cleveland, proceeded to criti- >, S, cise the proposed improvements.piecemeaL ' The items, as-he read them out, greeted •" v ; v i with derisive remarks and'wit fa whistles o'i ; ; astonishment, but ■ the '.;; jn^etinglistened , *' quietly enough to _ the explanations of the Board's consulting ; engineer, Alis.SL H. . V Creagh. •j. •: •••• '•-< • The discussion proceeded along . quite in- . formal lines, and as the time passed, the .---J meeting gradually got out,of, hand. One very persistent interrupter caused a great' •; ' '.fe deal of annoyance and another, an old man, who got up but seldom,- but made very : lengthy and very loud remarks, until he was : '•$ forcibly sat down, brought the meeting to the verge of hysteria every time ho spoke. *"'£ Ultimately a resolution waa- mowklby Mr., /- G. A. Coles, and sooondod by Sr. Ctew| " it; land, to the effect that the meeting strongly *5 objected to the proposal t to", raiser the as it was considered quite 'cume&eßsajy. f \ ""S'f From, that point : the meeting got oui <t)f. hand. ■ •' The . chairman ta^pect, on the ' table/t and thumped violently upon r.j.'3t£ I the resounding wood with •. his. knuckles,: but 0S the two ohiel interrupting voioea, the ©ante© of a: great din of laughter, made : him. sod ; ; the speaker inaudible for 'some time. L In " : brief lulls of silense, ■ x&completqd forded amendments were proposed, but they;'were swept away again by the, storm .of language from the unruly, a storm. in which the voices of women formed a prominent < note.. The chairman at last succeeded ' in quieting the meeting to some extent by a threat to terminate it, and then, put, the motion, which, he explained, would have no' effect - at all upon the putting of the proposal to, the ballot. A number of hands went up inits favour, and very few against it; but : . j relying upon' the fact that very few know j when they were called on to, vote against j if tho chairman declared th© motion tow. i _ • It is probable that the announcement was ; . - lost upon the meeting, for it had already ; broken up in noisy disorder. • _ But the end was not yet, for as the crowd was leaving the hall, a .sudden scuffle took place, and those.who quickly gathered were lust in time to see ono of the members of the Board and a xtieioiber of the fire►brigade. being separated by their friends, with battle jf { in their eyes and making belligerent re- - r marks to one another. The disturbance was quelled with some difficulty, and the rote-. payers, after wasting over three hours; at »< >$gg| meeiing. which had behaved itself far from ,gg|| creditably, hied i them home. * ■' v '"SlB