WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21248, 30 July 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

WOMEN'S CONFERENCE

FIGHTS AND EJECTIONS STEWARDS' TUSSLE WITH MAN WRESTLING MATCH ON • FLOOR Fierce struggles took place between women stewards and a man and then a woman who interru?ted the proceedings at the National Women's Labour Conference at Brighton, England, on June 15. Uproar ruled in the hall for over a-quarter of an hour. The first trouble started when a working man in the visitors' gallery shouted " Hear, hear," to a speaker s criticism of Miss Margaret Bondfield and the la Labour Government, of which she was a member, for putting tho Anomalies Ac on the Statute Book. , "Be quiet, or I shall clear the g lery," laid Miss Susan Lawrence, e chairman. • ~ " Clear it, then," shouted the .man in reply. He then threw down a sheaf of typewritten documents on the heads o tho delegates. These proved to be a letter signed by the Brighton branch of tho National Unemployed Workers Movem Women stewards rushed forward and tackled the man, but they were powerless as he gripped the railings while running round the gallery and shouting vehemently and violently. t One steward pulled off the man s cap, another seized him by the hair, a thir threw her arms around his neck and hung on desperately, a fourth puncbe him on the chest and gave him a blow on the face, while a fifth rained blows on

his back. Police whistles were blown, and eventually an elderly man motioned the women aside and pulled the interrupter over the seat behind him, after which he was ejected. No sooner had the delegates settled down again than a young woman in another part of the gallery launched into a passionate address to the conference. Women stewards a|;ain rushed forward. The interrupter's hands were forced off the railings and she fell back on to the seats with the stewards on top ■of her. A wrestling match followed, the fighters rolling over and over on the floor, locked in each other's arms. This time male assistance was not needed, and the woman was carried out struggling and screaming. Some time later there was still a third interruption from the gallery. A speaker was denouncing tho hardships inflicted by the means test, when a woman called out "Whose fault is it?" She followed this up by an excited address to the conference, but in this case she was ejected without much trouble.