A LIVELY SCENE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20743, 10 December 1930, Page 15

A LIVELY SCENE.

UNEMPLOYED AND MAYOR.

POLICE DRAW THEIR ? BATONS.

INCIDENT IN CHRISTCHURCH*

[BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH, Tuesday. There was a disturbance at the City Council chambers to-day, when a leader of the unemployed and some of his followers held the Mayor, the Eev. J. K. Archer, up to ridicule. These men, about 50 in number, marched up the steps into the council chambers with their banners unfurled, and whei inside demanded to see the Mayor.

When the Mayor arrived, Mr. A. F. Marshall, whose manner was objected to, was told to ieave the chamber, but refused to move. The Mayor then asked the police to put him out. There were shouts of protest from the men as the police advanced and it looked as if there were going to be a fight. Mr. Marshall was seized round the neck by a plainclothes constable and ejected from the room.

A sergeant of police produced p, truncheon, and in the scuffle one man went down. Several of Mr. Marshall's companions joined in the melee, and the situation became very ugly for a while. A section of the crowd rushed at the police, and endeavoured to prevent them from taking Mr. Marshall away. So menacing did they become that it was found necessary for the police to draw their batons and threaten to use them.

When the crowd saw that the police were prepared to meet force with force, some degree of order was restored. Mr. Marshall, still struggling fiercely, was drawn clear of the rest of the men, and taken downstairs. On being released in the street he walked away quietly and did not return until about half-an-hour later. A number of the men tried to follow Mr. Marshall out of the chamber, but the police forced them back and once their leader was out of the way they carried on very quietly and made a number of representations to the Mayor in a respectful manner.

At the conclusion of the interview with the Mayor, the police took the names of the banner-bearers and made an inspection of the banners. The men were warned that if the banners were carried in the streets without permission having been obtained they would be prosecuted. Standing on the bar of a bicycle, Mr. Marshall then addressed the gathering. iTe had not completed more than two sentences before four or five constables advanced upon him. They drove the speaker in front of them to the outskirts of the crowd, many of the rest of the gathering " booing " the police. Finally, Mr. Marshall and others unfurled the banners and marched north along Manchester Street. EVICTION EPISODE. DEMONSTRATION AT HOUSE. [Br TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHFISTCHURCH. Tuesday. Remarkable scenes were witnessed in Bealey Avenue this afternoon, when unemployed men, who had earlier taken part in demonstrations, assembled in front of a house from which it, was stated the occupan,t an unemployed man, was being evicted. This man at a meeting of unemployed in Victoria Square had explained his case, when a collection was taken up to pay "legal expenses," which realised 21s 6d.

Then about 150 men proceeded to Bealey Avenue, with the declared intention of preventing the eviction, and a crowd of several hundred persons was quickly attracted to the scene. The unemployed assumed a threatening attitude and the police took from one of them a heavy piece of wood. Many policemen were present, carrying batons. They were posted strongly from the gateway to the back door of the house. One or two scuffles occurred, but nothing very serious happened, the men being prevented from entering the gateway. When the tenant left the house to join the crowd in the street he was loudly cheered. The house is a substantial one, in a good neighbourhood.