A new issue of NWTRCC’s newsletter is out, with content including:
. The “passive resistance” campaign against the Education Act is well into its second year. Here is some of the newspaper coverage from .
An article in The Bath Chronicle of described an auction of goods seized from resisters:
Passive Resistance Sale In Bath.
At the Cattle Market, , the goods
seized from the houses of various citizens who decline to pay the Education
Rate were sold by public auction. This was the third time the process had been
carried through, and the second auction, for, on the last occasion, the goods
were put up to tender. However, this procedure did not prove exciting enough
for the Passive Resisters, at whose request (we believe) the auction was
reverted to. The arrangements were better, and the proceedings far quieter
than at the first auction. This time the seized goods were placed in a shed
upstairs, and from an opening in this the sale went on, the spectators
standing in the market yard below. The auctioneer was accompanied by the
officials from the Rates Office and the assistant overseers from parishes near
Bath, Twerton, Weston, Bathford, Claverton,
etc., who had
brought their “seizures” to participate in the general sale. Mr. George J.
Long, Mr. C.H. Hacker, Mr. Walter Pitt, and other prominent “resisters” were
also under shelter, which was very acceptable owing to the heavy rain that
descended. Mr. Long spoke a few words expressing the continued resistance of
the objectors, and Mr. W.G. Burnfield, who took the part of auctioneer,
explained that was giving his fees to local charity, and that he was acting
with the agreement of the leaders of the Passive Resistance movement, and
merely to facilitate business. The proceedings were of the usual farcical
order, the articles all being bought back by arrangement for their owners. A
large number of police, under Inspector Barter, attended, but they had nothing
to do, the crowd being very orderly. Mr. Hacker, who acted as “bidder” for the
Passive Resisters, occasionally made a remark as to whom the article being put
up belonged, such as “This from one the very few Wesleyans with us.” He
complained that in the case of Weston the costs were excessive, that while the
rate demanded was only 2s.
6d., the amount
required was 30s. Mr.
Carpenter protested that this was not correct, and explained that if what was
needed was exceeded, the money would be returned. Mr. Hacker announced that
one of the rural assistant overseers, Mr. Ward, without any inquiry, sent
goods to the salerooms of Messrs. Fortt, Hatt and Billings, but they had
refused have anything to with them (cheers). — Mr. James Everitt, of the
National Passive Resistance League, from London, was called upon by Mr. Long
to speak. He stated that that morning he stood in the dock with the
Rev. J. Clifford for
non-payment the rates. Over 34,000 summonses had been issued since the
movement began, and they were going on keeping on until the Act was ended or
mended.…
In all about 140 lots were offered, seized from ratepayers in the city and
district as follows: Bath, 117; Weston, 8: Twerton, 5; Bathford, 3;
Batheaston, 1; total, 134.…
A letter to the editor from Rennie J. Brown in the Hastings and St. Leonards Observer claimed that “[t]he number of summonses is about 35,000 to date, and 42 imprisonments have taken place. There are 632 Citizens’ Leagues formed all over the land definitely to support the opposition to the Act.”
Another letter came from a citizen opposed to the passive resistance movement who noted that a Citizens’ League meeting was to be held at the a Congregational Chapel which was exempt from property tax “on the grounds that it is used for religious worship only.” The author suggested this exemption be revoked on the grounds that the property was being used for a political meeting.
