Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Thursday 27 November 1913, page 9


TAX RESISTER.

Siege of Suffragette's House.

Bailiff Uses Battering-Ram.

LONDON, Nov. 26.

Primitive but effective means were re-

sorted to yesterday by a bailiff, who, acting on a distraint order, sought to enter the house of a leading suffragette.

The lady in question was Mrs. Kate Harvey, of the Women's Freedom League. She had declined to pay taxes, and was being supported in her resolve by Mrs. Charlotte Despard, the well-known pre[si]-dent of the league.

Mrs. Harvey resides in "Brackenhill," a large mansion in Highland road, Bromley (Kent).

Failing to gain an entrance to the house, the bailiffs procured a battering ram, and, with the assistance of the police, accom-plished his purpose at the end of two hours by smashing in the front door.

[Mrs. Harvey has for years been an ardent exponent of tax resistance. In 1911 her goods were seized and sold inhabited house duty, and last yeur her residence was barricaded against the King's officers for eight months, entry by force being a last effected under a warrant. On the same date Mrs. Harvey was sentenced to distraint or seven day's imprisonment for a tax un-paid on a male servant. Her companion,, Mrs. Despard, has served two terms of im-prisonment.