HOWLED DOWN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19805, 22 May 1934, Page 13

HOWLED DOWN

LORD BEAVERBROOK’S UNPOPULARITY (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 30. Lord Beaverbrook was the central figure last night at one of the wildest meetings in the history of the London County Council elections. Accustomed as he is to booing, catcalls and persistent interruption, he found the audience at a Camberwell, Maths meeting, called in' support of Municipal Reform candidates, to much for him. He was howled down and had to leave the hall escorted by a bodyguard. The chair was taken at eight o-clock by Mr J. D. Cassels, K.C., M.P. for North-west Camberwell, with Lord Beaverbrook by his side. The baths were packed, and all the speakers were met with boos, cat-calls and cries: “We don’t want them.” Loud Speaker Wires Cut Mr Cassels attempted to open the meeting, but his voice was drowned by the singing of “The Red Flag.” Many red flags were waved throughout the hall and some of the wires of the loud speaker apparatus were cut. Lord Beaverbrook then made an effort to stop the din, but the long, loud boos grew only longer and louder. Someone repaired the wires of the loud speaker apparatus and someone else immediately cut them again. 45 Minutes of Shouting For about 45 minutes those on the platform shouted to make themselves heard and for the same 45 minutes all that was heard was one long, continuous boo-00, boo-00. Suddenly people in front of the hall rushed forward and stormed the platform. The police intervened and there was a struggle, but no one was arrested and no one was hurt. This opportunity was seized by the supporters of Lord Beaverbrook to whisk him off the platform and get him through the back door down a narrow passage-way, which the police had just previously cleared, and to drive him away. The meeting was abandoned a few minutes before nine o’clock, but the crowd flocked out into the open, and for the next hour or so rushed excitedly to and fro chasing false alarms, while dozens of good-tempered policemen kept pace to prevent serious disorder.