LIVELY MEETING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23659, 18 May 1940, Page 13

LIVELY MEETING

MANY INTERJECTIONS WOMAN ESCORTED FROM HALL CAMPAIGN OF MR. FORTUNE Repeated storms of interjections from a small group in the audience made the meeting addressed by Mr. W. H. Fortune, Independent candidate for Auckland West, in St. James' Hall, Wellington Street, last night one of the liveliest of the campaign. A woman was escorted from the hall by a policeman, a man left after being warned by the chairman, Mr. S. A. deal, and several other men heatedly attacked opinions expressed by the speaker. In spite of the vociferous opposition, an overwhelming majority of the attendance of about 200 appeared to support Mr. Fortune. This was early apparent when he asserted that the Prime Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser, and members of the Cabinet had come to Auckland at the public expense to concentrate all their guns on him in an attempt to stifle political opinion in Auckland West when they should bo giving all their attention to the country's war effort. Vigorous applause greeted the statement. What caused the greatest disturbance, however, was the question of conscription. When Mr. Fortune said ho was in favour of conscription of manpower, for overseas service, if necessary, lie was immediately criticised by a woman, who constantly interrupted over a period of 10 minutes. Shouting loudly to the audience, she eventually left escorted by a policeman. Others in the audience continued to interrupt, but prolonged cheering and clapping indicated that most in the audience were in agreement with the speaker on this subject. A vote of thanks to Mr. Fortune was warmly applauded, although there wore isolated boos and cries of dissent from several parts of the hall.