John Child

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 1947 Session of Otago, Child delivered a presidential address in a rather original variation of the vein of flippancy which has become a tradition for the occasion. Most of this speech consisted of cynical allusions to the personal vanity of the less mature students, and his remaining comments, concerning religion generally, were but the reflexion of a not uncommon agnostic outlook. Perhaps the only serious allusion he made was to the compulsory chapel instituted by the Presbyterian authority at the student hostels of Arana and Carrington. In the 1947 Freshmen's Handbook a prefatory note written by Child in similar vein appeared.

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.

Rejoinder

I am vain enough to believe that the reference in the 1946 "Spike" editorial to "an article by one of our graduates expressing the idea that for him and his fellows New Zealand held no future" related to a piece of literary baroque written by me and published in the "Listener." And I am also astute enough to appreciate the honour bestowed upon me by the Debating Society, which seems to have impliedly rebuked me only a few weeks after it had rebuked the Soviet Union.

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.

Pug and Gun

The following verse is suggested by VUC's success in the Boxing Section of the 1947 Easter Tournament:

On the Nose
(Air: "On the Ball")
On the nose, on the nose,
A poke is no joke, I suppose.
Giving is greatly more blest than receiving,

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.