“I WILL NOT BE GOAT FOR ANYONE.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19270, 6 January 1931, Page 8

“I WILL NOT BE GOAT FOR ANYONE.”

MR ECROYD MAY TAKE ACTION AFTER FRACAS

Suffering from a blackened right eye and an injured head as a result of having been struck by Mr W. E. Leadley yesterday, Mr R. J. Ecroyd declared to dp- that he would not be made a goat for anybod}". He stated that the question of seeking legal redress against M; Leadley would not be settled by him until yesterday’s affair had come before the next meeting of the finance committee of the Citizens’ Unemploy ment Committee, which will be held next Monday. Mr Ecroyd, who is a member of the Unemployment Committee, is confined 11 his home at Burwood through the injuries he received. He has decided to cancel several important meetings and engagements as, he states, he “ will not t. 3 fit to be seen among decent people for a week.” His head injuries did not trouble him greatly yesterday', but this morning he was not feeling at all well. The skin round his right eye is discoloured, and the back of his head, which in his fall struck the balustrade of the stone stairway in the City Council Chambers, is swollen round a sharp cut. His nose has also been giving him some trouble. Giving his account of the happenings just before the meeting of the Unemployment Committee yesterday, Mr Ecroyd stated to-day that Mr Leadley had shouted to him and accosted him at the top of the first flight of stairs. Mr Leadley, who, as a member of the Unemployment Board, had been at the previous meeting of the committee, asked Mr Ecroyd if it were true that the latter wanted an apology from him for his having said that it was Mr Ecroyd, and not he, who had stated that the unemployment levy would have to be increased. Mr Ecroyd replied that he wanted an apology. Struck Twice on Face. 44 He stuck his face in mine and said that I would not get an apology’,” ! Mr Ecroyd. “ I told him that he : w**" ~ damned liar. He then struck me an unexpected blow on the mouth. I never thought to retaliate, for I am not a fighting man. “A few moments later Mr Leadley was at the top of the second flight of stairs. He was standing in front of Mr J. W. Beanland and several others When I climbed the stairs and came level with him he said, ‘You called me a “damned liar.” ’ I replied in the Affirmative, and his fist connected with my eye. I was knocked backwards and my head struck the stairway.” Mr Leadley is forty-six years of age, and Mr Ecroyd is sixty-nine. Wants Statement Withdrawn. Air Ecroyd stated that Mr Leadley had afterwards apologised several times for having struck the blows, but Mr Ecroyd was not satisfied with that. He wanted a withdrawal of Mr Leadicy’s statement that he (Mr Ecroyd) had said that the unemployment levy would have to be increased. At the previous meeting of the Unemployment Committee, continued Mr Ecroyd, the meeting went into committee and the proceedings degenerated into desultory talking. It was at that time that Mr Leadley had said that there was not enough money to attend to all wants of the unemployed, and that it was almost certain that the levy -would have to be increased. Mr Ecroyd did not blame the reporters for apparently not having understood that the matter was in committee. The only reference to committee work was made by the chairman, who did not put a motion to that effect to the meeting. Resented Accusation. “There is no need for Mr Leadley to have laid the blame on me,” stated Mr Ecroyd. “Having seen his remark in print, lie could have said that he was misreported or* that it was only his private opinion. To allege that one has been misreported, in order to get out of a difficult situation, is a frequent practice with public men, and it is one of the crosses which the newspapers have to bear. His second mistake was in laying the blame on me, for I will not be a goat for anybody. I have been before the public for twenty-five years and I have been strictly honourable, but I don’t want to take the/ blame for other people’s doings. Mr Leadley could not have hurt me more than to have made the accusation that the statement came from me.” “ Not Enough Funds.” Asked whether he intended taking K~al proceedings, Mr Ecroyd said that that question would depend upon the result of the proceedings at the next meeting of the Unemployment Committee. Messrs E. 11. Andrews, P. R. Climie and J. W. Crampton were the only members of the committee, besides Mr Leadley, who had been present at the meeting at which the troublesome s J -tement had been made. Those members, with the exception of Messrs Crampton and Leadle}-, were absent fi : the city. Mr Ecroyd was pleased, in a sense, tf" *- the matter had been reported, as h-- urge that sustenance should be provided immediately was also mentioned in the newspapers. He believed that the district committees to be set up could not function properly owing to a lack of funds, and that they would soon go out of existence. The best method i appeared to be that followed in England, where public bureaus dealt with the men, and gave them work or sustenance. The postal officials should be the ones to act in the country districts. Mr Ecroyd is a member of the Burwood Burgesses’ Association, and also president of the United Burgesses’ Ass ’ation, from which body he was elected to membership of the Citizens’ Committee.