MR TOWNSEND ANNOYED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22889, 25 May 1936, Page 9

MR TOWNSEND ANNOYED

INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE DEFIED PARTING WORD TO FOLLOWERS WASHINGTON, May £!. (Received ftlay 24, at 13.30 p.m.) Mr Townsend's defiance of the in v litigating, committee wns continued yesterday with the issuance of orders f o all the officials of his organisation to lwycott the hearings. Ignoring threats to cite him for contempt, Mr Townsend himself left the city with the parting word to his followers, "We will go to goal .before answering the question." The committee finally adjourned without taking any action. A cablegram under date May 21 read as follows: Investigation of the Townsend movement was halted suddenly to-day, when Townsend bolted from a committee meeting in a huff. He said he would give no further testimony and defied the House of Representatives to have him arrested. Townsend's defiance followed an allegation that his organisation used the mails to defraud in soliciting pennies from inmates of a Masonic home for aged people on the promise that they soon would be awarded a 200-dollar monthly pension. The committeemen indicated that he would be cited for contempt, possibly involving prosecution and punishment by a gaol sentence.