June 3, 1966

Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of VUWSA.

Student travel in trouble

Where does NZUSA go from here?

With its 1965 accounts still not sorted out completely, with its budget slashed by £2000, and without a Travel Director, it is high time this question was answered.

Alister Taylor, controversial former president, dragged the organisation up from the dilapidation of Courtenay Place to the newer heights of Boulcott Street.

But he left behind him hundreds of pounds of unbudgeted expenditure, dozens of alienated businessmen, and an organisational chaos which is still not resolved.

For Taylor, a man of ideas and of precipitant action, fell out more and more with his executive until he came to be carrying a work load which can only be called fantastic.

By this February he was his own treasurer, his own education officer, his own press officer, and he was running a large part of the travel organisation.

On top of this, he tried to be president of an organisation which has heavy international obligations, and these forced overseas travel onto him.

Taylor left behind him many projects in embryo form. He founded a national student newspaper, introduced a life insurance scheme, hired a full-time travel officer, moved towards a full-time education officer.

At present, travel is in the limelight. The resignation of the Travel Officer, Mr. Prim Harris, has given treasurers the opportunity to downgrade the position. It was an opportunity they seized.

It is not surprising that they did. In one year, travel schemes were supposed to yield profits sufficient to pay:

• £1500 a year for Mr. Harris,

• £1200 approx. for his secretary, office rent, etc.,

• £750 to repay a capital advance,

• £320 to pay part-time travel officers,

• £350 to pay the cost of advertising the post, and after all this, there was to be some money left over to help pay for the full-time president.

Yet last year, NZUSA's travel scheme showed a loss of £38 instead of an expected £700 profit. As this paper has revealed, work camp schemes were disorganised and often of little value and many students have expressed dissatisfaction.

NZUSA has grown. But it needs to be returned to the sound organisational system on which this growth was possible.

The curtailment of travel services and of other NZUSA activities may seem regrettable.

But the plain fact is that the organisation's present chaos must first be remedied. Only when this is done can NZUSA expect permission from constituents for further growth.—H.B.R.