UPROAR AT MEETING

Chronicle (Levin), 25 May 1949, Page 5

UPROAR AT MEETING

Press Association)

Hostility- Uf Crowd Drowns Communist Speakers

(Per

GREYMOUTH, ivtay zo. Firewoi'ks, 6oftstant interjeeaons' and counting oitt tufll6d a CSiiimtmist FdTty CipefL-air ttiefetnig iast night into aii upfciaf without pataile: in Greymouth in recent years, r. Pq ice mtfervention was necessar'y on sevefal occasions td testrain a few mehihers cfdWd ^1id eottlfflenced' to .use Violen! .anguage to tHe speakers, but as & general ruie the' strong' foi'ce cjx, ooiice stood cate-fully alooi. At the ehd of the meeting, hdweVer, When a large sectioh of ".he 3rowd of alnidst -400 spontapeJusly aang a few bars of the Nationa Intnerti, police dfflcef s mdVed' in- to see that the speakers Were abkbto leave the irnptdvised platfortti without molesta .ion, whicli appeared likely from the gendfai temper of a section Of the crowd The ffleeting was termed a "Protest meeting" by the Communist Party by reason of tjre faco tha efcorts to secure a hall in Greymouth had failed and it Was nfeceS4sary fbf the organisers to speak nt the opeh on a cold winter night. ' DUe to the hosti ity of a section of the crowd, the principal speakers, Mir. V. WUcox, ' Dominidr. organiser, and Mr. H.v MeLeod South Isiand organiser for the Communist Party, Were heard m most of the audience only m isolated patches, and httle better treatment was accorded local Communist speakers. '■ - Messrs Wilcox and McLe "*d have been addressing dis'.rict meetings in the past week. No other hostilc incidents have been reported.