NO AUDIENCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 930, 25 March 1930, Page 16

NO AUDIENCE

“SO I THOUGHT BUSINESS WAS BAD” MR. SKELTON EXPLAINS The recent clash between the Salvation Army and the leaders of the Samoan Defence League at one of the street corners in Onehunga has drawn an explanation from Mr. A. Hall Skelton, which he communicated by letter to the Onehunga Borough Council last evening. He denied having broken up the Salvation Army meeting, which comprised only three or four bandsmen and a woman Salvationist, “but not a single person as an audience. They were just finishing a very discordant piece,” he says. “I could not diagnose whether it was ‘Auld Lang Syne’ or ‘God Save the Ring.’ When they stopped, no one appeared: no Salvationist even offered a testimony, so I concluded business was bad for them that night and that they were closing down.” He declared that he and his colleagues would never dream of offending the susceptibilities of the Army or of trespassing against the proprieties. He described the Army’s complaint as “much ado about nothing.” On the suggestion of the Mayor. Mr. E. Morton, it was decided to forward Mr. Hall Skelton’s explanation to the members of the Salvation Army in the belief that this course would have the effect of closing the unpleasant incident.