Thurbage "Brilliant"

Sir,—May I congratulate Thurbage on his quite brilliant demolition of what was a deplorable piece of journalism. When such butchery of prose appears in what is claimed a major newspaper it becomes increasingly clear that some sort of academic training is needed in New Zealand Journalism.

However, the article was unsigned and one wonders whether Thurbage is being a little presumptive when he attributes the trash to G. R. David. Though the article left me completely confused, I did not think it was true Davidese.

L. S. Knight.

[We understand, from an informal source, that the editorial was not in jact written by G. R. David. Your perception would seem to exceed Thurbage's in this respect, Mr. Knight.—Ed.]

Is It A Fantail?

Sir,—Within recent weeks a striking painting has been hung in the library depicting a bird (Sparrow? Fantail?) flying above a church hall with rather hard architectural lines. Since this painting has aroused interest, and in some cases puzzlement, the viewers being unable to understand the intention of the artist, I would like to contribute one fact that is not generally known and may help in the interpretation.

On the door of the edifice is inscribed "The Word of God will be preached in this hall at 3pm, in the Will of the Lord."

It happens that tills is extremely close to the wording on an Exclusive Brethren Hall in Witako Street, Lower Hutt. Further, the style of architecture bears some resemblance to that in the painting. The hard, . rigid lines of the hall in the painting are, I feel, carefully designed to contrast with the smooth flowing lines of the bird and the countryside.

Correction

Sir,—I draw to your attention that your report upon the association's AGM inadvertently left out what was perhaps the meeting's most important conclusion.

The decision to emasculate the students' association executive's disciplinary powers because the executive was thought to be both too immature and incompetent to use any powers Justly, must lead to doubts about the general ability of executives.

The decision was not made lightly, nor was it intended to abolish disciplinary powers within the university. Many of the speakers who supported the emasculation, were previous executive members and all emphasised that disciplinary powers still lay with the University Professorial Board and the Union Management Committee where, they argued, the powers would not be misused.

Brian Easton.

[Thank you, Mr. Easton, for pointing to this omission. But it is questionable whether the motions which sought to cut down executive's disciplinary powers in fact do so —the probable situation is that the old system continues. Certainly, though, the conclusions you draw would seem reasonable.— Ed.]

Christ's Reality

Sir,—It seems to me that one of the lectures of Montefiore, perhaps better named Montefurore, deserves comment. He stated that it did not matter whether or not the Ascension, the Virgin Conception, the Second Coming of Christ and the Resurrection were historical facts or not, the important thing was their meaning for us. It seems to me that this derives from a basic unstated principle that the historical event is less important than its meaning for us today. If we apply this principle to the life of Christ it seems to me that His existence as a historical person is irrelevant, the main thing is the meaning of His life for us. However Montefiore stated quite definitely that Christ was unique—a unique expressing of God. If he really does hold the principle that the meaning is the important thing then we must accuse him of inconsistency. If he does not really hold this we must accuse him of arbitrariness. I suggest that it is important whether or not Christ was a genuine unique historical figure, and hence also important whether or not the other events occurred.

Hon. LL.D Protest

Sir,—Whatever its merits, last Tuesday's protest demonstrates a very important weakness in our student body. The public holds all students responsible, despite the fact that the protesting group was very small and had no official backing. Considering the importance of the issue, the students' association should have made its position clear to news media when the controversy first began to reduce possible incrimination at a later stage. Failing this, prompter and fuller action as soon as the issue became public may have alleviated our troubles somewhat.

Let the association learn its lesson and prepare in advance on public relations issues as vital as this.

R. G. Hoddinott

M. Silver

G. W. Swift

[This letter was omitted from the last issue for reasons of space.—Ed.]