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If there were any Tournament points awarded for the number of remits passed at NZUSA Conference, VUC would win hands down. In Auckland at Easter we presented more remits than all the other Colleges combined, and were defeated on only two issues.
Mr. Doug. Murphy, President of the National Union of Australian University Students, flew over from Melbourne to attend the meeting; NZUSA was thus able to return the hospitality accorded to its President, Mrs. Marguerite Scott, who attended the NUAUS Conference last January.
The Otago delegation included Mr. John Child, who is now well known as the most recent sacrifice on the altar of academic hypocrisy.
A "Salient" reporter attended all the sessions of Conference, and we produce here a summary of the most important business.
Business arising from the minutes showed that there is still some hope of alleviation of exam. fees in the future. As yet there has been ho reply from the Senate on the question of allowing NZUSA a representative on that body.
VUC then moved several constitutional amendments, which were carried. These provide for (1) the holding of two Annual Meetings per year, one in August and one at Easter, (2) reduction in time required for notice of motion on constitutional amendments, (3) granting of voting power to the Chairman at meetings of the resident executive, the Chairman also to count in the quorum.
The question of ratification of our affiliation to International Union of Students then came up for discussion. Extracts from the report of the Australian delegate to the last IUS meeting were read. This report is substantially the same as, but more emotive than, the report of Miss Janet Bogle to NZUSA.
Murphy (Australia): Mr. Arcus is not a completely unbiassed observer. Arcus had stated in his report that British NUS delegation was an unrepresentative, undemocratic, communist-run Union, whereas in fact NUS is very representative of English students. Although politics do play a part in the proceedings of IUS, we must remember that the European countries were less fortunate than Australia and New Zealand, and had direct contact with Fascism during the war; the result is that the students of these countries have a political and strongly anti-fascist outlook.
Morton (AUC): We are very indebted to Mr. Murphy for straightening things out, but on the basis of Miss Bogle's report AUC is alarmed at the extreme weighting of IUS by a political Eastern Bloc. OU moved, VUC seconded, that the affiliation to IUS be ratified. AUC moved, CUC seconded an amendment, that ratification be postponed, pending a full discussion by College Executives.
Taylor (VUC): We favour full cooperation with IUS, and if NZUSA disaffiliate we will send our own delegate. We suggest that the delegation be the maximum number and that they be different from last time, as one has not yet sent in a report, and the other report was sent in very late. We suggest that NZUSA endeavour to get a personal source of information in Prague.
Chair: We are fence-sitting if we stay out. We must get inside and try to improve the organization. I suggest information be collected from other countries represented at the Conference.
Morton (AUC): It will make us an insignificant fly on the nose of the Russian bear.
Dowrick (VUC): It appears that AUC think an Eastern Bloc is bad but a Western Bloc would be desirable.
Morton (AUC): We object to supporting in this organization any politics other than true liberal British policy.
Miss Brand (AUC): Mr. Morton is losing sight of the International view. I support ratification and so does Miss Garland (the other AUC delegate). However, as our delegation disagrees, I would like to see the issue deferred to allow for ratification by letter.
Taylor (VUC): This matter should have already been discussed. There has been almost a year to consider it.
The amendment was then put and lost and the motion was carried.
Moved VUC, seconded OU: That the full number of delegates be sent. That NZUSA arrange for a personal contact in Prague. That John Ziman be appointed delegate to the next IUS Council Meeting. (Only one is required.)
That the Prime Minister's Department be approached for financial aid. The motion was carried.
The meeting then considered the report presented by Mrs. Scott on her return from the Australian Conference.
VUC moved, AUC seconded, that "the Resident Executive be empowered to appoint a travel Director." It was felt that the Australian system, where all the information on travel, both at home and overseas, was in the hands of the central office, would be of considerable value in arranging Tournament travel, and also for students going overseas.
A motion was also passed thanking the Australian students for their offer to send an art exhibition to New Zealand.
The meeting then began to consider remits from the Colleges.
VUC/AUC: That the publication of "Rostrum" be discontinued. "Rostrum" has for some time been a financial failure and has never been a popular journal.
VUC/OU: That this meeting of NZUSA expresses the view that it is essential for all meetings of Students' Associations and their publications to be free from censorship or control by College authorities.
Gray (OU): Our paper was gagged and we were told that the Students' building which is owned by the Council, would be put out of bounds to students if anything was printed in "Critic" against the Council.
Nathan (AUC): In this case Freedom of Speech degenerated into License.
Child (OU): I hoped to stir a ripple of controversial thinking on the placid pool of Otago students. I was asked for the speech by a member of the SCM, and the next thing I knew it was printed and distributed all over the College. At the meeting it was intended to be humorous and was received as such.
Taylor (VUC): All this is irrelevant. Action to be taken in these cases should depend entirely on the attitude of the Students' Executive. If the speech is criminal, it is the Police, not the Council, who should take action.
The motion was put and carried.
The Chairwoman called for motions on the policy of NZUSA to be sent to Mr. Ziman as delegate to IUS.
CUC/AUC: That Mr. Ziman be directed to take a firm stand against the Eastern Bloc.
Taylor (VUC): This motion is political and we have agreed that we should keep politics out of our dealings with IUS. No mention is made of a stand against other forms of undesirable political influence.
Morton (AUC): We are opposed to totalitarianism both of the left and the right.
Dowrick (VUC): I would like you to reconsider the words "Eastern Bloc," We are not here in an anti-Russian capacity and we will not tolerate red-baiting.
The motion was withdrawn and redrafted as follows: "That Mr. Ziman be directed to take a firm stand against Totalitarianism, both left and right, and lose no opportunity to put forward the ideals of New Zealand Liberal Democratic Tradition.
Child (OU): We are not sending a delegate to an opposition party, but as a representative to a conference.
Taylor (VUC): We want our delegate to work with all sides for common good.
OU/VUC (amendment): "That the word 'fascist' replace the words 'totalitarianism of left and right'."
Murphy (Australia): We must cooperate for peace, and not start strife within the organization. It is surprising that those who oppose IUS as a political organization should support this motion which is political in character.
Both the amendment and the motion were lost. This apparent paradox is explained by the fact that the delegates from the Agricultural Colleges took the only sane view, and opposed any kind of political motion.
VUC/OU: That Mr. Ziman be supplied with all the information that NZUSA has on IUS including the reports of delegates to the last conference, with copies of the minutes of all NZUSA meetings, and the Executive's comments on the resolutions of the last conference.—carried.
VUC/CUC: That Mr. Ziman be requested to pay particular attention to the administrative and financial organization of IUS and to report fully on it.
The final day of the meeting began with a conference with the Tournament Committee. On the basis of the recommendations of this committee, VUC moved and OU seconded a motion that would give NZUSA the final say in all matters relating to the control of tournaments.
After some discussion, AUC threw in a bombshell. Mr. Nathan said that if the motion were put, his delegation would withdraw from the meeting, thus leaving it without a quorum, so that the motion would lapse.
McLeod (VUC): This is Power of Veto, Eastern Bloc, and all that.
Taylor (VUC): Apparently AUC is not prepared to abide by a majority decision.
A way out of the deadlock was suggested by the Chairwoman, and a straw vote was taken. It was thus discovered that if the motion had been put it would have been lost. The meeting then adjourned for a few minutes to allow for the drafting of a new motion.
This motion which was passed without dissent, specifically determines the power which NZUSA has over Tournament, but the important feature of it is that NZUSA has the power to adjudicate in the event of any dispute arising between the Tournament Committee and any sporting body.
This will mean that the difficulty that arose in
Most students will have read the article in "Truth" attacking the proposed Student Health Scheme. Apart from the fact that it is obviously a form of "yellow journalism" at its worst, the article contains both a number of direct misstatements and an even greater number of distortions, all of which require correction.
I propose to correct the more obvious errors:
These are some of the most glaring examples of "Truth's" journalese. Every sentence could be taken and shown to be either incorrect or so full of emotive jargon as to be useless. One can readily agree that there are arguments worthy of consideration by reasonable people against the proposition, but it is to be hoped that those students who read the article in "Truth" do not reduce themselves to the intellectual level of those to whom "Truth" habitually addresses its "messages" and accept this stuff as a correct statement of the case.
It is a commonplace that students are important not to themselves but to the whole community; and it is a commonplace that the world does not run automatically, but has to be run by people in it or some of them. When the task of running it is left to a few, or usurped by a few, the world is run badly, because it is run in the interests of the few against those of the mass. That is part of the reason why in the last fifty years in which nearly all the great countries have been run (under democratic forms) by narrow and powerful minorities, we have led such tragic lives, and met so many tragic deaths. With a world so developed that it can produce pretty well as much as it likes of pretty well everything, so that none ought to be so short of anything as to starve or turn to wars, we have nevertheless had more deaths in war, more starvation and famine in peace, more uncertainty and misery and crisis, than at any previous stage in history.
These horrors will be more readily cured if the mass of the people will take readily to politics; and students have more opportunity to take to politics, to persuade others to do so, and to give a political lead, than almost any other section of youth.—(D. N. Pritt, K.C., M.P., in his foreword to a Student Labour Federation Pamphlet.)
Albert Namatjira is an Australian aborigine; he is also an artist. The Bread and Cheese Club, a society of art and letters, did not publish his work as a curiosity of native production, nor even with the aim of encouraging the badly used aborigine.
"The fact that he is dark skinned, the fact that he is a member of a native tribe and has never left his tribal country, the fact that he has had none of the advantages usually gained by academic training and observation of the productions of great masters—all this should be ignored.
"Is it sound art or not? This man is now of sufficient significance to merit consideration as an artist, an artist only, forgetting all prejudice because of difference of race and foregoing for once that patronage so common to us whites when dealing with the work of a dark-skinned nation."
That is a passage from R. H. Croll's preface to the book. Such a preface would hardly be necessary to the work of a Maori. We accept the fact that our natives may excel in artistic as well as other fields; we do not need different tolerance standards to approach the product of a dark-skinned hand. But Australian public opinion has not outgrown the attitude that blacks are a species half way between humans and higher animals; the native "prodigy" tends to be greeted as we applaud a performing dog.
The capacity of Aborigines is, however, becoming more commonly recognised. Outstanding men like Namatjira are at once undeniable proof of native ability and the most potent propaganda for his race. The Australian black seems to be the most-maligned people in the world. In their early contacts with white men these natives were unfortunate; their environment had kept them at a primitive stone-age level, which made sudden adjustment to a European way of life almost impossible. But white Australians in their treatment of the blacks have a heavy charge to answer. Opportunities for even elementary education or training in a trade are slight; they have no political voice and without education or organisation cannot speak to the public for their own rights. Albert Namatjira was lucky. He was a stockman and shearer at Hermannsburg in Central Australia, the country of the Arunta tribe to which he belongs. The Mission authorities say he was a very good stockman, and he carved tasteful boomerangs, but had he not seen an exhibition at the Mission Station he would scarcely have become an "artist" in the white man's sense. Rex Batterbee and John A. Gardner were the exhibiting artists. Batterbee generously offered to give water-colour lessons to any natives willing to learn; it was his support that secured Namatjira painting materials and helped him acquire the technique of water-colour. Namatjira's progress was astonishing, but might have been ignored had not Batter bee arranged Melbourne exhibitions of his work. Since the first exhibition in
I would repeat, Namatjira is an artist and an aborigine, and he is very lucky. It is time that Australians recognised the undeveloped abilities of their natives, and gave them the opportunity to live and think to the maximum of their capacities. Blacks are good trackers and often lazy stockmen, we know. But is that the whole story—and do Australians care enough to find out?
Thursday, 24th April—
Thursday, 1st May—
Anzac Weekend—
Wednesday, 30th April—
Wednesday, 23rd April—
* * *
From sundry hurrahs resounding about town I expected "Diary for Timothy" to be the last word in film entertainment and the first word in a "new chapter of film history"—a new method of film technique. It was neither, and consequently I came away feeling a little disappointed—feeling that is perhaps understandable psychologically, but not conducive to cool and impartial criticism. The film said what it had to say, and said it well.
It was a 16 mm. film produced by Basil Wright and Humphrey Jennings and made in
Wright is one of the foremost writers on the history and theory of the documentary, and his avowed method of giving the audience the living action and the native scene gives us a dramatised film far above any manufactured from artificial settings and professional actors.
John Child has made a speech. This speech annoyed some people because, to quote the "Otago Daily Times," "it was improper that he should utter his exhortations, deriding the Christian faith and advocating sexual experimentation, in his official capacity to young students who have yet to formulate their views beyond the school-adolescent stage." This same speech has evoked a prolific stream of variegated letters, ranging from condemnation of outraged parents to glib approval of tongue-in-cheek advocates of free love. Most of their comment is either misplaced or irrelevant; scarcely anyone has considered the right of the Council to take any disciplinary action against Child. This they have done, in no uncertain manner: Child must according to the Council, (1) Publicly apologise; (2) If he resigns from the presidency of the Students' Association, be sent down until the end of the term; or (3) If he does not resign, be sent down for the duration of the all university affairs. Its decisions are law and there is no right of appeal. We challenge this right.
It is a poor comment on the status of the OUSA when it is completely superseded in the democratic privilege of passing judgment on its own elected representative. Furthermore it is unfortunate that the Executive of the OUSA should take such a gutless, apologetic attitude, smacking of the proverbial small boy who has broken the window. They have in fact, apparently deserted their own President. What are the salient points that emerge from the welter of volcanic prose on the subject?
John Child expressed certain immoral views, i.e., views inimical to the moral glasshouse of upright citizens and students. That these views were couched in such obviously ironic context has been overlooked by some, by others seen, but deplored as untimely or tactless, and by some accepted in a wholesome gulp, digested and excreted. It is important to point out that Child did not print and distribute his own speech and that the article published in the Handbook was passed by the Intellectual Affairs Representative on the Student Council as suitable for publication. The speech was printed and distributed by persons other than Child; it was passed on to the Council in an underhand manner. It is obvious that only people who have doubts about their own ability to maintain their individual moral standards should show such great concern for an antagonistic view, no matter how expressed. The University colleges are considered as useful for only two reasons, to produce more efficient workers, and to provide an object for self-adulatory oblations to the magnificence of our education system: but let there be any divergence from the elaborate moral structure (using the word in its fullest connotation), that the prevailing ruling class erects around its own fundamentally immoral basis; i.e., personal aggrandisement at the expense of the community as a whole, and the Blimps rise in shrieking chorus fulminating such pious, sanctimonious sentiments, as to vibrate, crying Red, Red. Sufficient has been said.
The Council has taken the view that the speech reflected discredit on the University. Be that as it may; considering those sections of the public who ever acknowledge the university that is probably true. But the Council has taken the occasion as a convenient one to demonstrate its dictatorial powers. Surely if the university students of Otago are sufficiently intelligent to elect a responsible body to represent their interests and manage their subsidiary organisations, they are sufficiently intelligent to attend to their own President when he makes remarks offending certain sections of the public and the University. As for the cheap jibes of "half-baked" immature ideas, etc., it is only reasonable to say that age does not necessarily confer wisdom, that many of the so-called immature students are ex-servicemen who were considered sufficiently mature to learn "how to put on a gas mask in the wind."
We suggest that the Executive of the OUSA take a more positive attitude towards the Council decisions, and that it maintain its democratic rights to manage its own affairs without peremptory, dictatorial usurpation by the College Council.
The Students' Executive, like every body in authority, comes in for a large share of unfriendly criticism. A word of appreciation now and then should not go amiss.
As one of those for whom Tournament was made possible I should like to say "thank you" to the VUC Exec. for their part in the arrangements.
It may be that all the students do not know that our Exec. spent a whole day making arrangements for the transport to Auckland of the three southern Universities. Also that they had in hand arrangements for fields, hall, etc., here in Wellington, should the Tournament have to be switched at the last moment. It was not an easy problem to be confronted with three or four days before Tournament. Our Exec. is to be congratulated on the very fine manner in which it handled the situation.
In its theoretical function as the centre of community enlightenment, it may reasonably be expected of the University that it should devote special attention to the preservation of that integral element of enlightenment, the right to free expression of belief and opinion.
But it was in the very exercise of that which he believed to be his natural prerogative that John Child, President of the Otago University Students' Association, in running foul of religious organisations, has been deprived of his livelihood.
On the night of the freshers' ball at the
A few days after the appearance of the speech and preface Child was dismissed from his junior lectureship, and sent down from the University, which means he will now be unable to continue with his honours scholarship and rehabilitation bursary. This action was taken by the University Council which, in its interview with Child, ignored his request for a statement of specific charges against him, and also chose to overlook his letter to the Council explaining the nonsensical nature of his speech and advice to freshmen and offering to apologise formally in the event of his comments having caused offence to anyone concerned.
A motion of rescission of the action of the Council entered by a member of the Council has failed to achieve more than the remission of Child's suspension to one term, subject to his public apology for an offence which his inquisitors have failed to define for him.
The action taken against Child for the simple if gauche expression of his views, has caused reprisals which in threatening his livelihood, have created a dangerous precedent in the administration of an institution which should be acknowledged as the inspiration and centre of the civic liberties.
The principle invoked in the punishment of a man for the overtly whimsical expression of some of his beliefs and views sets a precedent, which in view of the arbitrary and ominously vague charges against Child in the present case, is quite evidently susceptible of indefinite extension to many other hitherto unrestricted phases of university life.
It emerges as an urgent necessity that at this stage some organised protest by the student bodies of the University colleges should be made, and made most emphatically. And if the protest fails to achieve the complete reinstatement of John Child, then it will at least serve to remind the authorities that the students are jealous of their right of free speech. I propose to defend it to the hilt against all forms of authoritarian structure.
I am vain enough to believe that the reference in the
But I feel bound to point out that the Editor of "Spike" has done me wrong. I just didn't say in my unfortunate article either what he says I said, or what he says the Debating Society said I said. I don't object to discussions on whether "New Zealand provides ample scope for creative intelligence," but I do object to being employed as a stalking-horse in such discussions, and also to being forced to break a resolution of many years' standing that I should never again kick up a fuss in "Salient."
May I say, once and for all, that I fully agree with the resolution passed by the Debating Society. And I also believe that New Zealand "holds a future" even for people who are apparently incapable of making a reasonably accurate epitome of an intelligent argument.
The following verse is suggested by VUC's success in the Boxing Section of the
VUC's similar success in the Shooting Section of the recent Tournament reminds me that I have been told that a long time ago (perhaps twenty years ago) it was an annual custom for the Boxing Club and the Defence Rifle Club to combine in arranging a "Pug and Gun Dance," which was always a popular affair.
The students who went on the U.S.A. Canada Trip were able to make some very interesting observations on Students' Association activities in the overseas Universities.
Over fifteen campuses were visited throughout the States and Canada. They differed to a great extent. The Universities on the East Coast were older and more expensive to attend than the West Coast Colleges. This is mainly because the well-known Universities in the East are privately endowed.
Student Associations were large and active. The chief difference from the N.Z. Associations is that the overseas associations have plenty of money. This is due to the big football takings. The money obtained from public football games provides facilities for all other sports and in addition supports the student government. At the University of California this year the student body has made over $224,000 at football games. This does not mean that there is no Student Association fee. Fees at all universities visited ranged from $5 to $15 (30/- to £4/10/0) per annum. Sometimes the students were obliged to join the Association and sometimes it was optional.
The Students' Executive was nowhere elected as it is here. In some cases, e.g., Toronto University the election of officers was indirect except for the President. Each faculty had a committee and the heads of these committees were automatically on the student council or executive. In almost every case a member or members of the teaching staff were on the executive. And in no case was there a student representative on the College Council as there is at Victoria College. Electioneering is carried out with a great deal of campaigning and posters, but even so rarely half the students vote.
In all universities visited except California there is a Women's Association which seems to have a purely social function. The President of these associations is generally the only woman automatically elected to the students' executive.
The work of the executives at the large universities entails a great deal of organising. A fulltime business manager is employed to control sport and one or more secretaries is fulltime.
The University of British Columbia has a beautiful students' building but in most varsities visited the buildings were small and inadequate. Many of the Universities in Canada were trying to raise money to build new student buildings.
Ex-Servicemen comprise over half the student body in the majority of universities. At the University of B.C. over 125 large army huts for lecture rooms and laboratories have been built to house the extra number of students. In addition there were two large camps built on the campus for living quarters.
Returned Servicemen receive $65 a month and are able to attend university free for the same length of time as they were in the services. In one or two 'varsities the students' association gave a large number of loans to ex-servicemen.
Student publications range from the usual daily newspaper to booklets on etiquette and telephone directories of all students. The daily newspaper was free to all students. At the University of California at Berkeley there was a large building given over entirely to publications. There was one large office containing about 30 tables and typewriters and a number of small offices for editors. These students turned out a daily newspaper with a circulation between 30 and 40 thousand.
A small proportion of students at each university belong to Sororities and Fraternities. At the University of Washington about one eighth of the women students belonged to a Sorority. Sorority members are picked during Rush Weeks. The Rushing consists of a series of parties. If thirty new members are required about a hundred girls are invited to the first party and in succeeding parties less and less are invited. The elimination is carried out by the present members of the Sorority on the grounds of social acceptability.
The general opinion of non-sorority members is that sororities encourage snobbishness and cliques within the university. Sorority members maintain that they do more good than harm by providing ready made friends and social life for girls who come from out of town. The candidates however must be acceptable both socially and financially as the cost of remaining in a Sorority is very high.
In many universities a boy will give his Fraternity pin to the girl instead of an engagement ring.
Every University visited had a Compulsory Medical Scheme. This was generally financed by a small fee and organised by the university authorities. These schemes have been running successfully for years and are taken for granted by all students.
One thing which will come as a distinct shock to VUC is that in all the universities visited there is a law that no Political Societies are allowed on the Campus. In a few, religious societies are also banned.
The Canadian and American universities are also suffering the shortages of staff, equipment and buildings that we are only on a scale undreamt of here.
On the Negro question the student, because of his lack of political interest, knowledge and awareness takes, to our mind, an apathetic attitude. He realises that there is a problem but doesn't know of any solution.
There are societies for the Furtherance of Social Relations with Negroes but as most of the 'varsities visited were in the North there were very few Negro Students. Some of the universities allow Negroes to enter while some do not.
There is at present a very hostile anti-Russian campaign going on in the American press. This is conducted with such fervour that the papers appear to "see Red all the time." This is in most cases the only World News appearing. The campaign is so blatant that to N.Z. eyes it verges on the ridiculous.
Most of the papers are owned by big monopolies and very few by people within the town in which they appear.
This anti-Russian campaign is very strong but the news of first importance—the front page news—consists of crimes with the emphasis on murder and sex.
The ISS is an independent, non-political, non-religious organisation providing direct help wherever there are students in need.
The Origin of ISS.—After World War I to rehabilitate student life. European Student Relief was created. It distributed material and intellectual relief, gave medical aid, and by a vigorous programmer of self-help and mutual aid, encouraged all efforts on the part of the students to help themselves.
In
The Period Between the Wars.—The relief programmer developed along three lines: International Relief, Education and Research.
During World War II and After.—Various organisations joined with ISS to form the World Student Relief Committee.
Relief.—Student victims of the war are receiving, through World Student Relief, Food, Medical Supplies, Books, Study Materials, and Scholarships. Its efforts are now mainly directed towards Eastern Europe and the Far East. 1,500,000 dollars were spent in
Research and Information.—To make students aware of their rights and their responsibilities. To make available to them material for comparison with universities abroad.
Current Enquiries.—European Universities during the war. University Reform. The conditions of students after the war.
Help in the Work-days, when students of VUC offer their services to the public on one or two Saturdays.
Watch Notice Boards for Dates.
There's a ton of types, the Bloke says, who let old superstitions, popular fallacies, and archaic proverbs order their existence.
Too right!
There's Jones who never went indoors with his brolly open till eventually, in the folding-up act, he ran into the landlady on that concealed bend in the path. Poor old Soul lost an eye and the Jones family their lodgings. Now they're at Miramar—sic-transit gloria!
Then, says the Bloke, there's that puerile one about glass houses, and throwing things. Was a guard once in the glass house back of Maadi—the phenomenal throwing there! Stripes were thrown in, food thrown back, choice abuse thrown all ways and fit-throwing in high places was quite a regular feature—one night the Sergeant threw eleven heads and was thrown out! See it all goes to show.
As for rolling stones—I've rolled from Rongotai to 'Rimini, from Remuera to Ras el Balbek and what I've gathered! It it isn't moss it can certainly be
And finally says the Bloke, by now quite carried away, or about to be, all those types who stand befuddled betwixt looking before leaping, hesitating and losing, or taking Ferdinand by the horns (being a Taurus Strength)—you'll always find their way out in the rain.
Talking of hay: surely you've got enough to support Salient. Rally up Digs. For the meantime—take it easy.
The Students' Association might decree and have its decree upheld by the University authorities that only single persons might attend, thus debarring the studious married man with one or two children.
Or a decree from the dictatorial clique might insist that all students be red-haired, cross-eyed, members of the Holy Roller sect, or wearers of whiskers. No limits can be placed on possibilities.
* * *
Evening Post.—
Many women students travelled in the party, but they were protected by sleeping bags from the severity of the cold during the night. Most of them had bags of their own.
"The year . . . fraught with difficulties so obvious . . . burden of taxation . . . never in our history . . . . shortage of female labour . . . strikes . . . pest infestation . . . unseasonable influences . . . stoppages . . . gas and electricity restrictions . . . never been worse . . . inability to export to the NEI . . . fruit canning . . . must not be sacrificed . . . for . . . wool, wheat, meat, and daily produce . . . Profit ... Record of £52,239 compared with £29,325 for Dividend 8 per cent . . . and Victory Bonus . . . 2 per cent."—Chairman's address to Brooke's Lemos Ltd. (From "Farrago.")
A ridge among the olive groves in sun-baked Cordoba. Outside the village of Lopera on the road to Andujar, a line of men crawl laboriously up the slope and as they crawl, tiny puffs of dust spurt up before and behind—the fascist machine-gunners have the range alright. From time to time a fountain of dust shoots up, the men scatter for a moment, then reform and continue, hugging the slope even closer.
It is
The tiny group we have just watched crawling up that ridge was the first English Company of the International Brigade receiving its baptism of fire. Facing them is a regular unit of Mussolini's Army recently landed in Spain. The men of the International Brigade have little or no uniform. The weapons they carry come from almost every country in Europe—some have no weapons.
Among those toiling men—it was the third time in 24 hours that they had attacked only to be pinned down by a more numerous and better equipped enemy—was a young student, earnest-looking with a lolloping gait which shifted the awkward French helmet from side to side of his black curly hair as he ran, crouched and ran again.
John Cornford had only the day before celebrated his 21st birthday. The last time I saw him was in the early dawn when we were each trying to get our men into position and getting ammunition humped in readiness for the attack. In the course of the same action I was myself wounded and only when I arrived at the base hospital did I discover that John had been killed. With him too was killed Ralph Fox our Brigade Commissar.
At a time when so much is heard about "moral and intellectual values," when "The Challenge of Our Time" is being analysed and discussed by so many with sharp axes to grind, the example of intellectuals like Fox and Cornford deserves to be recalled now on the tenth anniversary of their death in action against fascism.
"It is hard for the intellectual today." wrote Ralph Fox in his book Lenin—A Biography, "to accept that literature can be a matter of party, of battle . . . that he should fight, tooth and nail for his heritage occurs to him rarely. Yet the names which humanity has hitherto revered beyond all others are the names of men who have fought tooth and nail, of men whose work breathed the spirit of party."
Cornford too was one of those whose work breathed the spirit of party. Recalling the last discussion class which Cornford attended at Cambridge, Professor Ernest Barker wrote: "His belief in Communism was no youthful effervescence; it was a still water which ran deep. He spoke slowly and deliberately and there was sound knowledge as well as conviction behind what he had to say. He was one of those who are willing to stake heart's blood upon their convictions."
As a student John Cornford's career at Trinity College, Cambridge, was one of exceptional brilliance. He took first-class honours in Pt. I of the Historial Tripos and a starred First in Pt. II. On graduating he was awarded the Earl of Derby Research Scholarship. He had already begun his research work when the Franco rebellion began. He resigned his scholarship to join the Spanish People's Army as a volunteer.
"The Socialist movement in the Universities, not only in Cambridge but throughout the whole of England, owes more to him than to any other individual." wrote the Cambridge Review after his death. Those of us who were in the student movement and the University Labour Federation at the time know how true this was. It was his passionate devotion to the cause of the working people and to their unity in the fight against fascism that took him to Spain.
Ten years have passed since Cornford died on that green hill in Cordoba, ten years in which everything for which he fought and gave his life had to be fought for again and at the cost of the lives of millions of young men and women because of the purblindness of some and the criminal folly of others.
Let us look at that green hill in Cordoba . . . ten years after.
"Not far from the ancient Moorish Mosque of Cordoba in the maze of poor, mean little streets that I have visited, men, women and children are dying of hunger or from diseases resulting from malnutrition. All the usual revolting signs of famine are there—children with hideously swollen stomachs, fragile limbs and wizened emaciated faces, women like human scarecrows with enormous eyes who are unable to move as their joints are swollen, and men so pitifully thin and feeble that to walk a few steps makes them breathless."
Thus a recent report by a Daily Telegraph correspondent in Spain. The food situation in Franco Spain is among the world's worse, the country-being at the mercy of the black marketers who run the fascist Falangist Party for their own benefit. The official daily ration of a Spanish worker is 5 ozs. of bread. 1 oz. of chocolate and three-fifths of an ounce of oil. From time to time there may be potatoes and dried beans. This would make a total of 642 calories a day. As the essential minimum for a worker is 2,750 calories a day, Franco is slowly but surely killing thousands of the Spanish people.
The only way that something more than this starvation diet can be obtained is by recourse to the black market. And while this is no doubt a phenomenon in most European countries since the war, there has been no increase in wages to off-set the astronomical prices on the black market. It is estimated that real wages are only 25 per cent, of the
The effect of Franco rule can be seen in the tuberculosis figures which have increased by 700 per cent. since
"Round Cordoba," writes the Daily Telegraph man, "for 80 or 100 square miles there is nothing but hundreds of millions of olive trees. Yet olive oil, mainstay of Spanish life after bread, is unobtainable except at black market prices—usually about 27/-a pint. In a land of plenty the ordinary Spanish people are on the verge of starvation. In some areas, in Andalusia for instance, starvation point has already been reached and many are dying the slow death of malnutrition."
Finally comes this last reflection on what Franco has done to Spain—"From Madrid to Cordoba, a distance of about 300 miles, I saw only one tractor. Most of the ploughing is done by mule teams or oxen."
And the seething discontent of the people at this state of affairs, is kepi down by a brutal reign of police terror, the full meaning of which only emerges from time to time when the heroic stand of a Cristino Garcia, a Santiago Alvarez, a Sebastian Zapirain or a Maria Teresa Toral brings to the notice of the outside world the real horror of the regime which Mr. Bevin "detests."
From your green hill in Cordoba you. John Cornford, can see what you lougl it to prevent. You can see those lovable Spanish children that you so often dangled on your knee while they laughed in childish glee at the strange Spanish you spoke, you can see them pining away listlessly, while the lithe and proud Spanish lads bite on the iron as the hated Civil Guard struts by.
There was a thing in
Today you must be hearing a new word—"detestation." You detested fascism, John, and you showed it by your actions. Official detestation and diplomatic tub-thumping at Franco may sound very well and serve as a convenient soporific for uneasy "Socialist" consciences. But with goods and machinery worth millions and marked "British Made" coming in with the blessing of Sir Stafford Cripps, Franco can assess the "detestation" at its true worth.
And from Chris Mayhew, now Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and contemporary of John Cornford in the student Labour movement, we expect more than official detestation. We expect that the Government should now adopt the policy of the World Federation of Trade Unions and our own TUC by breaking off all trade and diplomatic relations with the only remaining fascist dictator.
The working combination of writer and man of action is even yet sufficiently rare to be of note. But when the man who fulfils these functions excels in both spheres, then we would be fools to ignore the lesson implicit in his life and work. Such a man was Jean-Richard Bloch, who died in Paris on March 15, a man whose integrity was the pride and honour of the French people, just as it was the expression and the dignity of his life.
After a successful scholastic career, Bloch became a secondary school teacher, then lecturer in History at the French Institute in Florence. His literary work began in
After the
Bloch's culture was universal, recognising no difference of creed or race, strengthened and deepened continually by his experience, fulfilling the highest aims of 19th century humanism and concerned progressively more throughout the years with the future and the well-being of mankind.
In Ce Soir, of which he was director till its suspension in
He left France secretly in Toulon around the scuttling of the French fleet. The play is one of the best records of the underground struggle of the French people against the Nazis. During the occupation his daughter and son-in-law gave their lives for the liberation of France, and his mother never returned from the concentration camp to which she was deported.
Returning to France in Ce Soir on its re-appearance, and was elected a member of the National Writers' Committee, who sent him, together with Tristan Tzara, as delegate to the first Yugoslav Writers' Congress in
In
The message and meaning of Bloch's work and life cannot be told in as short an article as this. His books must be read and studied personally. His best novel, ". . . Et Compagnie," which is as great as those of Balzac, is available in the University Library. The historical analysis and the human feeling of this study of a Jewish family in Alsace form a striking introduction to the rest of his work. The most artistically perfect of his novels, La Nuit Kurde, is available in the French Class Library. It is to be hoped that the University Library will order more of his works.
Age and suffering did not impair Bloch's tremendous energy. His literary and political activity continued unabated throughout his life, and death alone was able to silence and still him. There can perhaps be no better statement of the aim of his life than his own words in La Suit Kurde:
The last enchantments which bound me have faded. I am ready for the bitter task which is ours. Our youth is dead. There remains that of the world, which is only beginning. To it I will carry the sad and eloquent harvest of my summer.
Steve Mason, Research Scientist at Oxford, was the British Student Labour Federation Representative on the British Youth Delegation to Jugoslavia last summer. The following is abridged from his article in "Student Forward," which is one of the many overseas student papers with which "Salient" conducts an exchange service.
"The Iron Curtain emerges as a Goebbels-inspired myth, and the Red Menace in the Balkans is just the struggle for freedom of a group of small nations—the result of centuries of oppression by Austria-Hungary and Turkey—finally brought to a climax by the Nazis. The latter aroused Croatian Fascists to fight the Serbs. At the same time the Chetniks used Nazi arms to maintain a much hated dynasty by liquidation of partisans."
During this period of Nazi-fostered petty nationalisms, the resistance movement became nation-wide. Tito and his followers, became the natural leaders of the movement because their ideas were identical with those of the people, whereas Mihailovich could offer only the old Serb-dominated autocracy. Under Tito all the various Jugoslav nationalities became united to a Federated Peoples' Republic of Jugoslavia.
Jugoslavs are today tremendously proud of their country—the result being a general activity to reorganise and rebuild it. Peasants are building schools in every village and illiteracy is disappearing rapidly among young and old alike. Peasants have also set up co-operatives for the cheap purchase of seeds and disposal of their surpluses in bulk.
Every village has its democratically elected committee, running its own affairs, and every racial community has own elected parliament. Large estates have been redistributed among the peasants and industries have been nationalised. Industries are managed by elected boards, which are responsible for output and maintenance. The Nazis destroyed 80-90% of the factories but as a result of reconstruction and
Most active of all is the youth. The youth movement had its origin during the first stages of the Nazi tyranny. Started to work for liberation, it now helps with the rebuilding. Libraries have been set up in villages and there is a general campaign to foster national culture. They have organised working brigades, which build roads and bridges and drain marshes.
An outstanding piece of work on their part was the building of 100 kilometers of railway from Brcko to Banovici. This line connects Brcko to the main Belgrade-Zagreb railway. It was planned during the Austro-Hungarian domination and again by the old Jugoslav government. It would have cost the Tito government more than the country could afford, but the Central Committee of the National Youth Organisation offered to build it in six months at a much lower cost by voluntary labour. The government gave them a grant to build accommodation, and work was begun in
Up to date figures are: Total number of volunteers, 25,000; of these, 1,100 of the 1,800 illiterates learnt to read and write in the first six weeks. Classes in history, geography, art, literature and world affairs were organised by students and professors of Zagreb University during the summer vacation. A weekly paper, "Youth Railway," is produced to bring the brigades into close touch.
Every worker appreciates the importance of his job and of its value to himself and his whole community. The job is a federal one and division into language groups does not exist. The old racial minorities have disappeared completely.
At the end of the railway in Banovici, 22 blocks of flats with schools and playgrounds have been started.
As the news of the Youth Railway spread throughout the world, brigades of students from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Denmark, Rumania, Bulgaria and other countries came to assist in the work.
Many of the delegates from all over the world who are going to the World Youth Festival in Prague this year will go, after the Festival, to assist in reconstruction work in Jugoslavia. Several are going from Australia and possibly some from New Zealand.
In the near future, the Socialist Club at VUC will be showing a film of reconstruction in Jugoslavia, to open a campaign for clothes for the Jugoslavs.
This article will ignore the problem of religious instruction in schools. Of more immediate interest to students is the conflict between the fundamental bases of religious faith and of University education. It is this conflict or incompatibility which inspires the periodic indictment of Universities as nurseries of atheism and seducers of youth from the alleged eternal truths taught by early Christian Fathers or by Hebrew prophets and evangelists. It is also a vital problem to all students who profess a religious faith yet aim to become scholars.
The root of this conflict lies in the clash between what Churches call the gift of faith and what Professor Haldane called the duty of doubt; for where the former implies unquestioning acceptance of certain "fundamental doctrines," the latter defends a questioning, critical mind towards all ideas, opinions, doctrines which lack factual proof. Robert Browning's Pippa sang, in the joy of her annual holiday, "God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world." An example of faith. University teaching should so train a student's mind that he would be impelled to ask—"Is there a God? Is there a heaven? Is all right with the world?", and probably other consequential questions. That is the duty of doubt.
Most Churches no longer demand the extensive credence of past ages nor consider heresy so black a sin; but they still list certain doctrines as absolute truths, divinely revealed, and to be unquestioningly accepted. Francis Bacon found this a serious hurdle in his researches, but side-stepped the issue by dividing human knowledge into watertight compartments, labelled human and divine; the latter ho surrendered to theologians as their close preserve, and saving himself a world of trouble. In our University open conflict is avoided by prohibiting the teaching of theology and a tactful avoidance by most teachers of controversial questions which border on theology. But a division of knowledge into sacred and profane is very artificial, and tight-rope walking is not conducive to thoroughness. To name only a few subjects, history, physics, biology, literature and philosophy cannot be caged like canaries and kept insulated from church doctrines; opinions in these fields inevitably clash with the "truths" taught by Churches. Hence the repeated charges of heresy or atheism. Still more so if a lecturer stresses that no opinion must be accepted as infallible truth, whether voiced by Einstein or St. Matthew, by Plato or St. Paul. The University eaters for adults not children—even though some enrol at the tender age of sixteeen—and offers the final stage of formal education. Does it fulfil its function of true scholarship if, even only by silence, it fosters the assumption that scientists or historians may err, but not the writings labelled sacred by a church?
Every student should weigh carefully the opinion expressed by Locke in his Essay of Human Understanding—"He that takes away reason to make room for revelation puts out the light of both and doth much the same as if he would persuade a man to put out both his eyes, the better to receive the light of an invisible star by a telescope." And remember how greatly Churches differ as to what has been revealed and what is religious truth. Therefore the only possible basis of a University's teaching must be that every doctrine—whether the Virgin Birth or the Theory of Relativity—is born of human experience and liable to error. The true scholar will view all opinion not completely proved as merely a working hypothesis, not an eternal verity. This does not mean that "reason" or scientific methods are the only avenues to knowledge; the world has been enriched by intuitive visions of many sensitive minds. These too can extend our horizon of understanding, though they cannot be accepted as proved fact. But to accept any such vision as a certitude because dubbed sacred in past ages is to shut our minds against new visions or further advances in thought.
Theology is only one of many fields of human thought, and discoveries in any field may profoundly modify the theories current in others. As Professor Whitehead said in Science and the Modern World, "The great point to be kept in mind is that normally an advance in science will show that statements of various religious beliefs require some sort of modification . . . to the great advantage of religion." But nothing can modify an "absolute truth" nor influence closed minds.
Whitehead's statement of course is a philosophical platitude. Ours is a practical problem. Why do Haldane and other scholars believe that men are suffering from too much rather than too little faith, and churchmen frown upon agnosticism and plead for more faith? Many of the latter rightly fear that agnosticism will breed apathy and indifference, a pessimistic conviction that, since knowledge is uncertain and truth elusive, no effort is worth while, no moral code has any value. We must admit that doubt too often is a kind of incomplete magician, raising spectres it is powerless to recall. Doubt is readily inspired; less readily the constructive thinking needed to solve our problems. The average man grows up in a cosy groove of comforting illusions. To strip them off, as Bacon said in his Essay of Truth, may plunge him into a chaos of despair. Therefore widespread agnosticism might produce catastrophe before the general level of intelligence can be raised. But this does not apply to University studies. The intellectual leaders of the future must learn to strip off all illusions, face all facts, however disagreeable, in the pursuit of knowledge.
Also worthy of consideration is Cardinal Newman's plea in his Grammar of Assent—"Life is not long enough for a religion of inferences; we shall never have done beginning if we determine to begin with truth. Life is for action; to act you must assume, and that assumption is faith." This has the merit of conceding that faith is only assumption, not certitude. But the very concession reveals the fallacy. Action cannot be suspended until no shadow of doubt remains, and history teems with glorious enterprises inspired by passionate faith. But also with catastrophic tragedies—religious wars and the long dark night of religious persecution. Above all, the fruits of Nazi faith. That inspired a passionate devotion and a dynamic energy unsurpassed in history. The harvest needs no comment. But action is not precluded by agnosticism; it begins on inferences which lack certitude and modifies those inferences as experience is gained. The student must provisionally accept a host of theories which he cannot personally test. But is progress possible unless he keeps an open mind, ready to reject assumptions if further researches reveal error or incompleteness? Newman's plea holds good only on the understanding that faith is assumption and liable to error.
What then of Haldane's plea for more doubt, more agnosticism? Is that more beneficial to the student? Do men suffer from too much faith, rather than too little? Yes, even University students. Or rather, perhaps not too much faith, but from a desire for certitude, a rest from doubt. What most of my students want is an opinion, not a mass of evidence to be disentangled. Not because they have faith in my omniscience; they are not so naive as that. But they seek knowledge rather than wisdom and rightly argue that the judgments of experienced scholars are likely to be more sound than any formed by independent personal study. They may demand evidence to support those judgments, but even shallow and fallacious evidence can convince, if we hear no opposing evidence. In spite of decay in religious faith, most men, seeking solutions to their problems, still crave certitude, not an unbiassed presentation of all facets of the problem. And because men want short cuts and certitude, the popular leaders of mankind are usually men of strong convictions. Millions accepted the Nazi slogan, "The Fuhrer is always right," millions more the doctrine of Papal infallibility, because faith still dominates reason. More doubt is still the creed of only a small minority.
Dogmatism is not exclusive to prelates and dictators; scientists, philosophers, historians, literary critics are sometimes just as prone to dogmatise and to damn opponents' theories. In every field of thought men sometimes twist and turn like hunted hares to evade the greyhounds of disturbing evidence.
Eagerness for certitude and the tendency to dogmatise are only two of many reasons why more doubt must be the slogan of a University. Add to these the littleness of Man's knowledge compared with the vastness of the yet unexplored, and the melancholy fact that time and time again unanimous opinions of the ablest men have been shattered by new evidence. In theology as In all other fields. Consider, too, the maelstrom of propaganda in this modern age. Mark Twain one said to Rudyard Kipling—"Young man, when you are about to write anything, first make sure of the facts; then you can distort them as you please."
Only by assiduous practice of the first part of this advice can we guard ourselves against the exponents of the second. For all these and other reasons let the student be a doubting Thomas not a worshipping disciple. Let him assume no infallible authority; neither Pope nor Professor, neither Bible nor Bulletin. Let him, in short, take the Royal Society's motto, "Nullius in Verba," which Haldane paraphrased, "Take nobody's word for it." Action, as Newman said, may be retarded by acting too rigidly on the motto. But look before you leap is a better guiding principle than leap before you look.
Even if my arguments are not free from personal bias, the conflict is real enough between the bases of religion and of University education. As it is between those of religion and science. This latter is discussed at length in Bertrand Russell's Religion and Science and more briefly in Whitehead's Science and the Modern World. Whitehead, one of the deepest thinkers of our time, said there—"It is no exaggeration to say that the future course of history depends on the decision of this generation as to the relations between them." Diatribes will not solve the problem; nor censorship, nor repression. The function of Universities is one that must breed agnosticism and heretical opinion; must undermine what is usually meant by faith. And both education and religion are frustrated if students have to juggle with two opposing attitudes to opinion—unquestioning acceptance and critical analysis. It is possible, often quite easy, to hold contrary opinions, applying each in different spheres of activity. Perhaps few of us are entirely free from this confusion. But can it be defended as a deliberate method of study?
The following letter has been received by the Secretariat of the International Union of Students from the Pax Romana organisation. We publish it here as evidence against the contention that IUS is a communist-dominated organisation.
Dear Friends,
We received your October,1946 ,circular which officially announces the foundation of the IUS. We want to express our satisfaction at the founding of this organisation which, no doubt, will be of great help to Universities in all lands. Wehope that our two organisations will like-wise remain in close co-operation, so that all the work conducted in the academical sphere should as much as possible be co-ordinated. Wishing you all the best in the further development of your organisation, we remain, with friendly greetings.Pax Romana,Bernard Ducret, m.p.,Secretary.
The Annual General Meeting was held in the Biology room on April 1 and there was a good attendance of nearly 60. The following officers were elected for
After the election the meeting was addressed by Mr. Dawbin. He spoke on the Auckland Islands and his account was so interesting that the audience listened breathlessly.
First he explained how he came to go to these little known Islands. During the war the Government became worried lest the enemy seize the Auckland Islands and use them as a base for raiders to attack N.Z. shipping. So it was decided to send a few men to occupy the Islands in order to send word in case of enemy approach. The chance of studying the fauna and flora at the same time was not overlooked, and Mr. Dawbin was chosen because of his scientific qualifications. His duties included a study of the botany and zoology of the islands.
Before discussing this Mr. Dawbin gave a short description of the Islands. They are 350 miles south of New Zealand and are almost directly on the old sailing trade route. There have been at least 10 major wrecks on the Auckland Islands and there have been about 100 sailors lost from wrecks on the Islands. At one time New Zealand was sending regular ships to rescue any castaways from the wrecks. The Auckland Islands are 34 miles long and 22 miles wide with two large and several smaller islands. They are volcanic and there is no soil—just peat with very poor drainage. Usual weather is drizzle with high winds.
These conditions produce a distinct flora and 80% of the alpine plants growing in the Auckland Islands are found nowhere else. On the Eastern side there is some rata forest containing veidlewood and a few caprosmas. Higher up is a tussock layer with a few poas. On the tops of the mountains, which reach 2,200 ft., there is a good alpine garden and it is remarkable that nearly all the flowers are brilliantly coloured. Trampers will know that New Zealand alpine plants are almost uniformly white. The genera include Celmesias, Pleusa-phyllums, Gentians and Banltinella, which are even found at sea level on the very exposed west coast.
Early botanists, noticing the close relationship between some Auckland Island plants and those of South America, suggested that there had once been a land bridge through a then warmer antarctic continent, connecting the two areas. Later work on animals of the island, especially those between tide levels, show much closer relations with northern groups. Mr. Dawbin suggested that many of the plants could be accounted for by carriage of seeds by birds blown out of their course, especially seeds which could be entangled in the tufts of down left on young sea birds, which are blown round the whole southern ocean.
Mr. Dawbin mentioned seeing two welcome swallows which had been blown from Australia, and banded dotterells from New Zealand. He also mentioned thrushes, blackbirds, swarrows, goldfinches and linnets (none of these were introduced by man). Also found were tomtits, this, bellbirds, sparrowhawks and yellow and red fronted parrakeets.
The most obvious specimens in the zoological line, continued Mr. Dawbin, were the blowflies. These were extremely numerous and blew the men's clothing and such things as sacks, etc., if they were left around at all.
Sandflies were also numerous near the coast. Flightless insects are characteristic of isolated islands were common. These were wasps with only vestigial wings, flightless daddy long legs and some species of flightless moths.
Distinct species of landhoppers and slaters were found and also a peculiar animal resembling both a slug and a snail. This animal (G. Ranforya) has a soft body with a mound on the back. It is peculiar to the Auckland Islands.
Mr. Dawbin then described the sea birds he studied and projected some photographs on to the screen. Many of these birds are very large. The royal albatross, for example, is a handsome white bird with a wing span of 10 feet. Feeding the chicks is interesting to watch. The birds cross beaks and the parent bird regurgitates its food and the food flows into the beak of the chick.
The skuas and nellies are useful scavengers. If any dead seals are left on the beach these birds will soon clean up the carcases. On one occasion Mr. Dawbin disturbed a number of Nellie's round a carcase. They had gorged themselves so much that they couldn't fly so they regurgitated the food until they were light enough to take off again.
The description of sea lions was interesting. These animals as distinct from the sea elephants can use their hind flippers for walking and thus can move quite fast. Each sea lion has a harem of from eight to fifteen, and there is much fighting over the females. The biggest and strongest sea lion has the biggest harem. Along the edge of the breeding ground which is a sandy beach the bachelors roam awaiting a chance to cut out their more fortunate fellows.
The sea elephant is distinguished by the possession of a large proboscis on the top and front of its head which inflates with air. A big sea lion may measure up to twenty feet in length, and may weigh several tons.
Many more interesting points were made such as descriptions of penguins and their nesting habits. Then a film was shown which gave a realistic idea of the life on the Islands.
Supper concluded this very pleasant evening.
The Annual General Meeting of the newly formed Political Science Society was held on April 1, at 8 p.m. in Room A. 1. Forty-five members were present with Mr. A. Howarth in the chair. The main business of the meeting was as follows:
Adoption of the Constitution.Election of Officers.Suggestions for activities during the year.
Several points of interest were raised during a discussion on the Aims of the Society.
These aims promise that—as well as improving the staff-student understanding within the Department and trying to widen the scope of the Department, particularly with regard to New Zealand conditions—the Society intends to be a forum of political investigation and discussion. The results of this investigation, together with other articles of interest to students of politics, will be published by the Society at regular intervals.
A motion proposed by Mr. G. Warner, that the Society should, at the earliest possible moment, elect a Departmental Committee consisting of one member for each stage in the Political Science Department, was unanimously passed.
The following officers were elected for the year.—Patrons: Rt. Hon. Fraser, Mr. K. J. Scott, Prof. L. Lipson, Mr. A. Free; Chairman: Mr. A. Howarth; Vice-Chairman: Mr. G. Warner: Sec.-Treas., Mr. G. O. Melling; Committee: Miss A. R. Craven, Messrs. A. McHardy and J. Witten-Hannah.
Suggestions for this year's activities included:
The Society urges that all students interested in the study of politics to come along to the meetings which will, from time to time, be advertised on the notice boards, and to bring along their questions to be answered by the authoritative speakers which the society hopes to get and lead discussions.
Twenty-three students arrived at the chemistry lecture room at 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, to hear Mr. B. E. Swedlund, M.Sc., give his idea of "Scientific Method." "Science," said Mr. Swedlund in solemn tones, "is blamed for all sorts of things from the falling birthrate to the flying bomb."
Maintaining that the popular idea of science had gone wrong, Mr. Swedlund commenced by defining science as "a method of finding cause and effect relations by controlled experiments." The aim of science is to discover truth, and it can be contrasted with other methods such as the religious and philosophical. In seeking truth certain fundamental assumptions incapable of verification are made. These constitute faith. The faith of science is that cause and effect relations exist. These provide the materials of science. Positive science establishes uniformities while normative science determines ideals. Social sciences embrace both these aspects, while physical sciences are usually positive. Positive science is concerned with what is, and not with values. Facts of themselves are of no importance and to be of value they must be translated into action, which is the function of technology. Science must also concern itself with normative aspects such as philosophy and politics. We must have a philosophy to direct, a science to find out and a technology to use.
Cause and effect relations are observed by controlled experiments, that is, by fixing all the conditions which determine the system and varying them one at a time. The steps in the experimental method were first stated by Francis Bacon. Experiment is the fundamental material of science. Theories concerning results are important, for without generalizations and theories we could not accumulate knowledge, but they are not final. Since theories rest on experiment there is no absolute proof of theory, since it may always be subsequently disproved by experiment.
Following the address a vigorous discussion ensued, which mainly centered around the differences between science and technology. Covering such diverse subjects as legless tables, the quantum theory and the various systems of algebra, the discussion continued during supper.
The Glee Club has once more resumed activities, its first meeting being held on Friday, April 11. Mr. Frederick Page has kindly consented to be our conductor, and with a greatly increased membership things promise well for the future. Club officers for
Club activities will include a meeting every Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. in C6, with the possibility of a concert later in the year. Although we have a large membership we would still welcome new members, especially freshers.
Well over 60 potential runners were present at the Annual General Meeting of the club. Officers were elected as follows:
Patron: Mr. G. F. Dixon; Chairman: Mr. G. Sherwood; Club Captain: Mr. M. Poole; Vice-Captain: Mr. J. C. Hawke; Secretary: Mr. A. V. Cole; Delegates to the Centre: D. Hefford and J. Eccles; Publicity Officer: T. Blundell.
The season opened officially on the 12th April, when this club was represented by 54 runners out of a total of more than 200. This was a record. VUC was the Captain of the day, and as such started the runners on the three mile journey. Entertainment for the spectators was provided in the last lap by VUC challenging the other competitors to a three-legged race.
Runs scheduled for the next few weeks are as follows:
The club enters in all races in Wellington, and in a number of invitation races.
Rumour is a lying jade but the fickle lady hath it that during one of the convivial gatherings which abounded during the recent visit of the local Ngati Whangais to Auckland, one of the tribe's most accomplished protagonists, inspired, no doubt, by the daring example of the tribe's Otago Liaison Officer, who after his induction ceremony showed the best method to swallow a cigarette, retired to bed with a cigarette (no, not the same one) still between his lips. His sleeping partner, waking at 5 o'clock rather distressed to find the room full of smoke, removed a pair of smouldering pyjamas from the bed, rolled over and went back to sleep. However, the jade would have it known that our hero was able to appear the next morning not obviously marred by the experience, but wearing a small mark under his right ear.
With the first term half over, SCM members can look back with pleasure on several functions which have started off the year. First, came the Students' Opening Service at St. John's Presbyterian Church, preceded by a well-attended tea in the Womens' Common Room. In the evening Rev. M. Sullivan (Chaplain to SCM at VUC) gave the address at the student service and spoke of the necessity for Freshers to integrate their Christian faith with the new knowledge which they would gain during their University careers.
He warned them of two things—firstly, that within a year they might become hard-boiled sceptics but this would not mean that eternal things had been shaken; more probably it would mean that they had lost a woefully inadequate faith. Secondly, he pointed out, if we believe Christ to be the light of the world, then we must accept truth by whomsoever it is discovered and whatever the consequences. "We believe," he concluded, "that Christ can interpret this complex world for us. Can you therefore make this faith your own?"
Freshers' Welcome Picnic held at Ohariu Valley was in true SCM tradition—folk dancing and games, singing round a camp fire, cocoa and saveloys, and finally Close of Day as the fire slowly died.
Echoing the query of many who glance at the notice boards or hear of SCM activities, our next function was a talk by Peter McKenzie: "What is the SCM?" Saturday evening discussions are always notable for their air of informality, and on this occasion we sat round the fire while Peter outlined the many aspects of life and work in the World Student Christian Federation and the SCM.
On Sunday, March 30th, the Commissioning Service of Rev. Martin Sullivan was held at St. Peter's Anglican Church. In his address the Bishop of Wellington spoke of his own experience as chaplain to a University College in England and of the inspiration and understanding he had gained through his work there. As Dominion President of the NZSCM, Rev. J. M. Bates also spoke, outlining the functions of the Movement and of a University Chaplain.
Just before Easter, an evening of Easter music, drama and poetry was given, at which students read the passion play from Dorothy Sayer's "The Man Born to be King;" Mrs. Sullivan played and sang Easter music, and Mr. Sullivan read extracts from Caryll Houslander's "The Flowering Tree."
Study circles, an important part of the SCM programme, are now well under way, and if you have not already joined Rev. Sullivan's groups finding out "What is Christianity," held on Tuesday and Thursday, or Rev. Nairn's circle studying St. John's Gospel held on Tuesday at 2 p.m., be there next week.
Finally, if you want any general information on SCM activities, or would like to chat to the Rev. Sullivan, don't hesitate to drop in to the Chaplain's hut near the Chemistry Block.
I have with greatest interest been reading in "Salient" about the conditions at the New Zealand University. It was especially interesting because I immediately found that your problems to a great extent were just like our own problems. Perhaps it will comfort you a bit to hear about the difficulties at the University of Oslo. First of all we have too, too few university teachers. The great number of students does in no way correspond to the small number of teachers and professors, for the number of students has increased enormously after the re-opening of the University after the Occupation.
Secondly we have no room for all these students. The University buildings were too small before the war. Today the situation is utterly hopeless. We lack everything, teachers, remedies, reading rooms, laboratories, auditories, houses where the students can live and have their meetings a.s.o. To a great extent, this is the consequence of the small grants the university is receiving. And the few teachers are badly paid, they have little or no time left for research, and are missing modern remedies for their instruction.
So far I believe the conditions are rather alike in Norway and New Zealand.
But this is but one side of our problem. Besides we totally lack a university centre with a characteristic student's life. The old university buildings in Oslo, erected a hundred years ago, were once lying outside the town, but unfortunately the authorities did not secure a single site for expansion. The consequence of this has been that the University now lies in the centre of the town in one of our most travelled quarters. There the students of medicine, law, history and language have their resort. But the students of French and German must take their instructions in an old school eight minutes away. If a student will lend a book at the University Library he must go fifteen minutes away along one of the main streets in a western direction. The zoological, botanic and geologic collections belonging to the University lie in museums to the northeastern parts of the town, three quarters of an hour from the centre buildings. The students of mathematics and natural science have their own new buildings outside the town, three quarters of an hour to the northwest of the centre! In addition to this we lack a great house of assembly so the students get very little contact with each other.
Today nearly every student wishes that the whole University must be removed to the north-west of the town, where there are still plenty of sites for new buildings. It is, of course, a question of grants. But the greatest repugnance does not come from the granting authorities, but from many of our own professors! They will not leave the old narrow buildings, only erect some new in the neighbourhood, in our most travelled centre, and thus increase the confusion and schism. Surely you will understand that ideal conditions are far away from the University of Oslo today.
Our main claims are:
Besides this material and economic problems, we are working for a total change of the studies as the present arrangement is far from good.
As a whole I can say that the conditions at the University of Oslo for the time present are completely unsatisfactory. But both from the part of the students and many of the professors everything is done to create a University corresponding to the demands of our days, and the students of the University of Oslo send their fellow-students at Victoria College, Wellington, their greetings and best wishes for a happy result of their struggle for a modern university of the highest standard.
Grethe Authén,
Member of the Students' Committee at the Historical-Philosophical Faculty of the University of Oslo, Norway.
That AUC would win was hardly a foregone conclusion. That it did was as much a tribute to the Auckland competitors as it was for the CUC men to bring their college in a close second. Neither were Victoria's efforts to be overlooked. Not only did VUC return without adhering to the infamous wooden spoon, but we held trophies for Boxing, Shooting, Women's Athletics and Tennis.
But all this might be of lesser importance. The willingness of competitors to subject themselves to the doubtful consequences of a 27 hour truck ride indicated that consideration of points was only secondary to the social value of Tournament. It would be an effort to live faster than the plan of action that AUC had planned—still, many tried. To date nobody is reported overdue—it appears that all competitors returned safely.
On Sunday, 9 p.m., NZUSA learnt that following rail restrictions seats were not available from Wellington to Auckland on the train. Arrangements were immediately made with VUC to have Tournament,
Mathematically the problem was a simple one—256 students into ten trucks goes 25.6. But even 25.6 average students make a goodly crush in a light truck, and by the time Wanganui was reached they were all jumping for joy. Waitara was the next town of adjournment, but at 1.30 a.m. in the blackout it presented few attractions—a few however. From here events become more confused. Some were fortunate enough to sleep; for some, short periods of semi-coma were possible. Suffice it to say that Te Kuiti was reached considerably after the light of dawn. Here the more alert scrounged meals from surprised hotels—the majority survived till 12.30 p.m. when Hamilton, fair city of the Waikato, hove into view.
At 3.30 p.m., drowsily aware of the tumultuous welcome being accorded them, two hundred students stumbled through the portals of Auckland University College.
The first spectacular event was the Rowing, held at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Mechanics Bay. The course was two miles—the seas were choppy. Spectators crowded some 400 yards of the foreshore, and many dozens of cars followed the race from the foreshore.
From the start it appeared that Canterbury would win. VUC was soon left a length behind the others. Within five hundred yards of the finish Auckland began to pull up on Canterbury and a very spectacular win was afforded by the Canterbury team who managed to hold their own by half a length.
It was unfortunate that Victoria should come last when the team has put in so much hard practice this season. The crew thought the sea unduly rough at the start.
That afternoon athletic sports were held at Eden Park. Competition was rife in everything and VUC failed to succeed in anything.
Needless to say an announcement over the speaker that VUC had pulled off the shooting was greeted with wild cheers. Victoria gained some 60 points on Rapid and fell slightly behind on other shoots. O'Sullivan scored 9 on Snap, V. Henderson and Catley (MAC) 43 and 44 on the Rapid, and Howarth topped Application. That VUC picked a good team was illustrated by the narrow margin of 13 points between top and bottom shooters.
Sailors clothing is required urgently for Extrav. Hats, blue trousers, and white square-necked shirts should be left for me, with the owner's name, in the rack in the women's common room, as soon as possible. They will be returned when the show is over.
With thanks.—Gwenda Martin.
The Boxing Tournament, held in the Town Hall that night, was undoubtedly VUC's outstanding performance of the Tournament. VUC fighters won in every fight in the finals for which they were entered, and their style was in every way superior to that of the other colleges. In addition, Mervyn Wishart won the shield for the most scientific boxer.
On Monday morning the Diving competition was held in the Newmarket Baths.
During Monday afternoon the athletic bouts were completed at Eden Park. VUC was saved here from utter defeat when Pohlen came in first in the mile walk. VUC women also made good—Julie Flett winning the Javelin, Mary Shouler winning the 100 yards, and coming 3rd in the 75 yards. In the Women's Relay we also won leaving us clear for the Women's Athletic Shield.
That evening in the Tepid Baths the swimming events took place. Our competitors were on the whole nowhere near the standard set by AUC and CUC. Dowse and Piper did well in coming 1st and 2nd in the 220 yards Breaststroke and Dowse came 2nd in the 100 yards Breaststroke.
In the Water Polo game held immediately afterwards, South beat North. A slight innovation was provided when two ducks (presumably from the gardens) were hurled into the water from the balcony.
The Tennis and Basketball results alone remained. In the former we wiped the courts, Goodwin defeating Becroft, and O'Connor and Rainbow both winning their finals. Basketball presented another failure.
On Saturday and Monday nights, dances were held in the College Hall and on Tuesday night Tournament Ball took place in the Town Hall. None of these were particularly riotous, nothing to compare with the barbeque at Motuihi Island on Sunday. Swimming for the brave, saveloys for the lucky, and singing and light refreshment for the multitude were the chief items on the programme.
Little is worth reporting, save to say that two indomitable souls declined to walk the plank from the wharf to the boat on the return journey—they much preferred the ocean way. They also declined to remove their clothes, but were subsequently rescued with the aid of a boat hook.
Taken in all it was a hell of a time—it will never be the same until Extrav.
At a lively Annual General Meeting on the Tuesday before Easter the seven or so stalwarts present decided it would be hardly democratic to elect themselves into office. Midst the tangled growth of Western Park on Saturday 12th, however, about thirty panting would-be soccer players arrived unanimously at the following result:
Club Captain: E. J. Simmonds. Vice-Captain: B. Sutton-Smith. Secretary: J. Y. Walls. Treasurer: M. Spiers.
It was obvious from our first practice that fitness has as yet a certain scarcity value. Fortunately, however, we managed to raise more than wind. In the newcomer, C. Spiers, and the old, but not quite hoary, Simmonds and Walls we have at last the nucleus of a sound forward line for our senior team. We have been weak in this aspect of our play since the club's initiation in
Our thirds, with a strong core of Indian players, should be up to last year's standards. The matter of another and second grade team is at the moment in the air. If some of our last year's players, still in their summer hibernation, would hasten along to Te Aro, we might do something about it.
The Property Manager still requires the help of 12-15 men for building, painting and sign writing of stage props. This is not a glamorous job but it is the most essential of the whole show. We appeal to students to offer their services. Only those who have regularly attended rehearsals will be permitted backstage during the more entertaining stages of Extrav.
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