A RATE STRIKE.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1921, Page 5

A RATE STRIKE.

COUNCILLORS REFUSE TG LEVY. ROUND-UP AND ARREST. By Telegraph.—-Press Assn —Copyright. Received Sept. 2, 5.5 p.m. London, Sept. 2. The round-up of the Poplar councillors under the writs recently issued has commenced, and nine out of the thirty councillors who are affected have been arrested—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

A writ of attachment was recently issued by the Lord Chief Justice against members of the Poplar Borough Counci for refusing to strike a rate to meet the London County Council’s levy’ of about £40,0p0. Several members of the council expressed their willingness to strike a rate, but the Labor majority out-voted them. The majority opposed the levy as a protest against the burdene being placed on poor people. The defendants were given 14 days to comply with the order. The councillors went in procession to the Court, headed by brass bands. Mr. George Lansbirry and others stated the council’s case, declaring that while the members were not seeking a cheap martyrdom, they desired to protect the poor. He pointed out that there were over 10,000 unemployed men and women in Poplar. Men scrambled for work at the docks like dogs after bones, and children searched the dustbins for crusts. The rates on a £34 house already equalled the rent.

The Lord Chief Justice, while admitting the honesty of the motives of the councillors, said that they were looking through a microscope at the suffering of Popia-r, not heeding the effort of their action upon the essential services of a community of 5,000,000. Their attitude was pure anarchy, and, if persisted in, would leave the community helpless. <