UPROAR AT CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20967, 2 September 1931, Page 12

UPROAR AT CHURCH.

USE OF CLENCHED FISTS. CALLING IN OF POLICE. Parishioners striking at each other with clenched fusts; two men—including the vicar's warden—hurled to the ground; police trying to soparate the combatants; the vicar mobbed on his way to the vicarage—these were episodes in renewed disturbances outside St. Michael's Church at Lumb, in Rossendale, England. The trouble arose over the vicar's appointments to tho choir. The opposition, after a demonstration of counter-ringing, paraded the aisle, and finally crowded at the chancel steps. The vicar and his supporters were loudly "booed" when they left the church. Soon there was a freo exchange of blows between tho parties, and two men were knocked down before the police could restoro order. Worshippers on assembling at the church in tho evening found the doors locked and learned that tho vicar had conducted evensong that afternoon. Having procured the keys, the dissentients decided io hold a service of their own. Mr. Frank Rindle, the people's warden, conducted it from the foot of tho chancel, and Mr. A. Mercer, tho former choirmaster, played t+io organ. There was a crowded congregation.