SCENE AT A SHIRE COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3466, 1 April 1874, Page 3

SCENE AT A SHIRE COUNCIL.

The ‘Bendigo Advertiser* states that the Huntley shire council has earned a notoriety of a very unenviable character on account of the frequent scenes of disorder which occur at its meetings, and which never happen but when Cr. Slade is present. On 4th March a scene was enacted in the council without parallel in the Bendigo district. The council had gone into Committee to, open tenders for several works. The box was cleared and all the tenders in it duly examined. Two of the tenders were accepted, and just then the secretary, in looking round for a paper, espied two others lying on the chair beside him. These he took up, and apologised to the council, saying he had overlooked them, but they were still in time, as he happened to know that they were not for the works accepted. Cr. Slade demanded to know how he became aware of that; there must have been some tampering with the tenders. The secretary, in reply, said he knew from the face of the envelope, on which was written the work tendered for. The tenders, he said, had been received at the last meeting, and as the council had ordered all the tenders to be returned if asked for, and fresh tenders to be called, he had returned all but these two, which he had not put in the tender-box, as he expected they would, have been called for like the rest. Cr. Slade, not satisfied with the explanation, again assailed the secretary, and amongst a number of other expressive words said that there was a lot of dodgery in connection with the tenders. The secretary asked if he charged him with dodgery, and Cr. Slade said he (the secretary) could take it if he liked, and wound up his harangue by calling the secretary a coward. Rising from his seat, the secretary excitedly walked over to Cr. Slade, muttering, “You call mo a coward, do you.” Cr. Slade rose from his seat, and in an instant the two closed, and a tussle took place. Then they separated and squared at each 1 Other, each lunging bout, as oppor-

tunity offered, to damage his opponent’s face. Again they closed, and now the ocher councillors interfered, separating them. Or, O’Keefe held the secretary back, and while the secretary was thus held, Or. Slade dashed at him, and struck him a heavy blow in the chest. The secretary thrqw Or. O’Keefe out of the way, and rushed at Or. Slade, whose head he succeeded in getting under one arm, and punched away at it with the other. From this awkward position Or Slade managed to extricate himself, and with head down made a rush and a butt at the secretary, at the same time catching him by the legs, with the object of thus obtaining his overthrow. This sndden manoeuvre nearly succeeded, and the secretary was thrown back against the wall near the reporters’ table, which was instantly removed by the reporter. Having the support of the wall, the secretary kept pummelling away at Or Slade’s head until unexpectedly, and from no apaparent cause, both went down together. Then Or 0 Keefe again interfered and separated them, and the reason of the sudden fall was discovered, for Or. Slade held in his hand the half of the secretary s beard, which he had pulled out by the roots. He threw it down, and the secretary picked it up, remarkThat’s the way the cowardly fellow fights; ho won’t stand up fair like a man.” This concluded the scene. Or. Slade resumed his seat, and was quiet for the rest of the meeting, and the secretary proceeded with the next business.