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Fireworks expected of Mr Don Hampton's motion of no confidence in the present students' executive no more than fizzled at the special meeting of the Students' Association.
Instead, the motion, which met a majority defeat, quickly resolved itself into an even-tempered and well-ordered debate in which a packed body of students in the Little Theatre heard Mr Hampton and the president of the association. Mr David Wilson, as the chief protagonists.
Association members remained unenlightened after some of Mr Hampton's charges, but most of the issues were adequately answered by Mr Wilson.
Classifying his main grounds for dissatisfaction wth the present executive (published in the last special supplement of Salient) Mr Hampton, in a 45-minute hearing punctuated only sporadically by good-humoured interjections, maintained that the executive had not attempted to make student life at Victoria what it should be.
The executive started with a secretary resigning at the fourth meeting because of a duplicating machine issue, although he had been told it was because the secretary "wanted to get units."
"And in the last three meetings there have been flowing criticisms by members of each other. If they lack confidence in themselves how can we have confidence in them," he asked.
"I believe there is personal animosity between the president and his vice-president. They do not see eye to eye in many things. The vice-president is usually expected to back up his president.
"I also believe there is a complete lack of team spirit in the executive and find it goes over into the mismanagement angle."
Referring to what he described as "tyrannous chairing" by the president, Mr Hampton said he had attended a recent meeting of the executive and heard the president order his group to keep quiet 13 times. There was insincerity at the meetings, with a cold-blooded feeling on one side and facetiousness on the other. There had been 15 cases of lateness at five meetings.
The university, he felt, should have been represented with a float in the recent Wellington Festival but it was not because of the executive's failure in checking its delegated authority.
He thought the visiting Australian debating team last year was not well treated. It should have been the executive's responsibility to make sure the team was fully conversant with the Victoria rules.
He claimed there was little liaison with the various student clubs and little knowledge of the names of the club officers.
Alleging irregularities in the selling of last year's "Cappicade" books, he believed several of the sellers had got "grog money" that way, and he understood no records had been kept.
At last year's students' association A.G.M. the president had said that the cafeteria question would be investigated within one month, but that had not been done. An investigating committee had just been formed.
"The present caterer," I feel, "sadly lacks a reasonable way of distributing meals. There is always a queue. I checked tonight and there was a queue of 20 people for some time.
"
I feel that the executive has to do what the students want and try to get it by hook or by crook. I don't think the present executive can do anything of this nature. Individually they are quite pleasant people, but collectively they have failed to function in the way they should."
Mr J. Laurenson, one of the first speakers from the hall, thought if the motion had done nothing else it had raised student enthusiasm, which was something no executive had managed to do for 10 years.
"But this is the only good point in what I consider to be a thoroughly ill-conceived motion." If the allegations put forward through Salient held any truth they were of a serious nature. Mr Hampton was casting a doubt on the integrity of people of high standing in New Zealand.
At this point Mr Hampton apologised for an allegation he had made of corruption (published in the Salient supplement).
"
I think it was probably a case of my impulsive nature," he added, provoking a round of laughter.
Mr P. V. O'Brien, former executive secretary, said it had been stated that he resigned to obtain his units—he did not tell that to anyone.
"I may have disagreed with some of the policies of some of the members but provided the executive has done its job as a body I can see no reason for throwing it out. The executive was elected to do a job and in my opinion it has done it," he said.
Mr D. Brooker felt that Mr Hampton had brought forth a number of amazing revelations. The executive had no organised opposition, the only way they could be challenged was by a motion of no confidence. And every member of the association was entitled to present a view.
"If half the allegations are true I would suggest that something must be done about it rapidly. It may be said that only small sums of money are involved. Someone may see only isolated incidents. But if they are admitted they would require looking into."
Mr A. Mitchell, an executive committee member and organiser of "Extravaganza," pointed out that the float for the Wellington Festival was constructed by a timber company and was not evolved until the night before the procession. He maintained the executive had put in a lot of hard work in the matter of student councils and student flats.
Mr J. Gamby said practically no one attended executive meetings except himself. Mr Hampton attended only once and on that attendance he based his allegation of bickering. Bad mistakes had been made, but he believed the association would not be acting responsibly if they accepted the motion.
Vacating the chair in favour of the vice-president, Mr J. Hercus, while replying to charges levelled against the executive, Mr Wilson assumed the role of mouthpiece for the majority of his committee.
"I have been accused of tyrannical chairmanship," he said, "but I hold the view that a person has a right to be heard whether other members of the executive like it or not. I think it is in our interest to have the other person's point of view.
"Mr O'Brien has spoken in favour of the executive as it stands. We did cross swords. But bear this in mind. It was 11 o'clock at night and we started the meeting at 7.30 p.m. It was a clash of temperaments and that I think was the essential point.
"
As far as animosity against my vice-president is concerned when I was vice-president I disagreed violently with my president."
Referring to damage to the gymnasium he said it was caused by a misunderstanding over the future of the building. He had confirmed the cancellation of the Skyline reservation with the managing director. The matter was undecided—but on the part of Skyline.
He pointed out it was obligatory for clubs to notify the executive of the names of their own officers. Their accountant had prepared a guide for club treasurers and he did not feel enough attention had been paid to it.
The cafeteria had always been a bone of contention and he could recall an occasion when the contractors stepped out and left them with bills of £300 or £400. Students had also attempted to run it and incurred similar bills.
"
The cafeteria is admittedly in a poor state of repair. I don't envy anyone working in the kitchen and I don't envy Miss Rosie. I have spoken to her on a number of occasions to get things cleared up, but it is difficult for her. She is there to make a living."
He agreed the executive might have gone back to the electors after being elected by the votes of only 600 students. Yet only 27 per cent, of the London University electorate voted.
He was glad Mr Hampton had withdrawn his allegation of corruption. He regarded it as an unfortunate choice of words.
"No executive can be perfect. We are not professional politicians and administrators. We are here to get our units and we have done what we considered to be in the best interests of the whole student body.
Student flats were going ahead. It was a fact that the executive had set up a select committee and recognised certain deficiencies in their constitution. They knew of better ways of doing things, hence the report. Was that lack of progression?
"I think I can make a point in favour of the status quo. There is a lot started and there is a lot reaching culmination within the next three months.
"I don't think an executive of inexperienced people can come in March of any academic year and run affairs which have already been started.
"Six months trial have gone and I am confident this executive has the ability to carry out its plans within the last six months.
"
Some of the points made are good ones. But I don't think they justify a vote of no-confidence in the executive."
Summing up his case, Mr Hampton said he used the word corruption and he had apologised for it.
"I also said our student body s not properly alive, because of the part-timers who are not much interested in student affairs. It is only a glorified night school. It is not a university."
He claimed the editor of Salient had misquoted him and that he had not termed the executive "rotten."
Looking round the hall he asked:
"Why have these people come along tonight? Is it to hear gossip or because they think "Lots of clubs try like mad but I don't think that as a student body we contribute anything to the city or to the country that we should be doing. I don't think we are interested enough in what is going on. "I don't really care whether this vote passes or not but I do care about the student life."
Salient does not accept Mr Hampton's version of being misquoted. The reference to "rotten" in the context of the supplement article was printed direct from signed notes given to the Editor by Mr Hampton and unfortunately returned to him after the article had been written.
Elsewhere in this issue we have printed Miss Jenks's Caf report. We don't completely agree with her findings, but are pleased the subject is being debated at last and the executive have found it necessary to have a proper investigation.
It seems that in prodding the collective conscience Salient gave the impression that we were attacking Miss Rosie and her staff. We thought it was clear in the article that this was far from our mind.
If it wasn't let us make it clear now.
This is not a retraction of Salient's stand that there is room for improvement in the cafeteria set-up, simply a clarification that our argument was and is with the executive and not Miss Rosie, whom we realise has got to run her business as she sees fit.
Executive must however, he continually watchful on behalf of the students.
We believe further that Miss Rosie is administering the CAP with the best of intentions; we are disappointed however, that she did not see fit to state her own views in these columns as she originally agreed to do.
Whatever the merit of Mr Hampton's argument in his no-confidence motion he must have succeeded conspicuously in pricking the conscience of the student body.
For it could hardly have been brought home more dramatically just what and how much the executive committee is capable of achieving on the students behalf.
But in this the essence of achievement can be measured only in terms of student support.
If the executive is to function at its highest level and avoid becoming an autonomous body it deserves to have every student take an intelligent interest in its affairs. If it errs then any member of the students' association is accorded the right to say so.
But by the same token the executive, whose responsibility to 3,000 students is an onerous one, rightly requires active backing from every quarter of the student body.
Assuming the widespread enthusiasm shown by attendance at last week's meeting to be genuine it would appear that interest by Victoria students in their own affairs is in its ascendancy.
We are not, however, sufficiently optimistic to really believe this. What has happened is that the executive for the past two weeks or so has at last the appearance of a team. Only a constant watch will keep it so.
Sir,—I congratulate the writer of "Brickbats and Roses" for his succinct resume of executive progress during the past six months. It is both unfortunate and charming that he saw fit to use the "great hob-nailed boots" of naked sarcasm where gentle irony would have sufficed. It is possible the charm of youth combined with the erudition of an angry young man rendered his article a disservice.
No discount was allowed for the age and worldly wisdom of the executive members. Even with age and great experience many is the executive that chooses to behave in a similar manner. I believe it was Mark Twain who observed that: "God first made an idiot for practice, and then he created the school board."
Other comments have been made along the same lines with specific reference to committees. The defects of a democratic system of administration can only be remedied by extensive training in the field of practice. I write this, not dogmatically, but merely from a background of continued observation and participation.
The paragraph on "Fresher-Coddling" reflects the "He-Man" approach to an industrial problem, usually termed, induction. The hand-out programme for Orientation Week,
Positive injunction of "Go Thump a Tub", well performed the function of an eye-catching headline, but surely this form of syntax does not become a member of the Arts Faculty, even after making due allowance for semantics and journalistic licence.
However, the crux of the article is contained in this section. The reference to lethargy is both timely and apt. Not only has lethargy been displayed by the election of past students' government, but also in matters of accommodation, facilities, and the costs of living, fees, books, taxation, etc.
Regard the student body organised as a dynamic task force 2500 strong, fully using the powers of knowledge, public opinion, negotiation, debate, and mass communications.
Visualise the picture painted: A team of philosophers, psychologists, backed by economists, historians, political scientists, lawyers, accountants and administrators, descending to wait upon Government (three-quarters-of-a-mile away) for assistance or a "loan secured by posterity" to build: flats, more lecture halls, develop a befitting campus, sports grounds and the rest of the facilities that should be part of the University; the science team (post-grads can be prevailed) ready and waiting with working drawings, survey maps, geological surveys, traffic movement schedules, etc., for immediate implementation after the negotiation team had successfully performed the requisite democratic antics.
Let students Think along the lines of immediate utilisation of their studies for their own immediate benefit.
* * * *
Sir,—I am wondering whether Salient would give support to the following project for the emancipation of motor-cyclists at V.U.W. Proposed:
That motor cars with engines running be not permitted within the University grounds.That motor cars parked within the grounds be left open at all times so that contractors, dustmen, and others of standing may remove them at pleasure.That open incinerators be placed in suitable windward positions so that such vehicles may benefit from the protective dust-covers resulting.That University staff be re-required to park their vehicles in such a manner as to prevent entrance or exit from the grounds at peak periods.
Such proposals, if implemented, will surely promote greater concord and understanding between all concerned.
P.S.—
I raised the matter of parking facilities for motor cycles with the Stud. Ass. last year. I believe the House Committee was to investigate but nothing has been done. I have also heard that the Vice-Chancellor has no legal jurisdiction over driveways within the University grounds as the driveways belong to the City Corporation and therefore come under the control of the Transport Department, i.e. all present parking restrictions are a matter of "convenience" and are really invalid. I have not been able to check on this rumour.
Maybe a push for better parking facilities will result in sensible planning for parking areas with the new buildings being built.
* * * *
Sir,—How many students would support any move to grace the new science block with a few suitable chairs placed on each floor. Furniture in keeping with the building is essential.
There have been several inquiries from overseas students concerning pen friends. Letters from these students may be seen at the executive office, and any students requiring pen friends can obtain letters from the office secretary.
Below are some of the so-called "blurbs" written by candidates supporter's to influence you in your choice. While a guide, we are sure you have sufficient intelligence to go deeper into candidates' backgrounds than the superficialities which have been written, and then Vote.
While not the main elections of the year, in their own way the elections to be decided this week have an importance of their own, particularly in light of the recent special meeting.
Actually Salient feels a sympathy towards the two candidates who have seen fit not to submit "blurbs," for some of those received were even more atrocious than the sub-edited versions that appear below.
Dear reader, thank them, for you have been spared.
Mr David Davy was elected as association secretary, as his nomination was unopposed.
John is 20 years of age and a member of the Law Faculty. Educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School, this is his fourth year as a student at university, and his record shows he has a great knowledge of university student life.
In
His academic career at university is also excellent. He has only six units to complete in his law degree, and last year he won the Robert McCallum Scholarship awarded annually for the best all-round performance in the final examinations in four law units.
He was a member of Weir House for two years, has boarded privately as a student, and is now living in a flat and has a good knowledge of student boarding problems.
To improve the interests of the students' social life at University is one of his main ideals. He also believes a general all-round improvement in executive and general administration at university in the interests of the students can be attained.
Don is particularly well suited for an executive position at this university, having spent four years here as a Law student since coming from King's College in
While at Victoria, Don has participated to the full in student activities, notably in the Rugby Club (in both the senior and junior 1st XV's) and in rowing and athletics.
It is Don's intention to use this experience, aided by a freshness and impartiality of outlook, to reawaken general interest in student affairs, to improve the liaison with all university clubs and activities, and to work in harmony with the other members of the executive. Finally, he hopes that his considerable executive experience gained from activities in different bodies outside Vic. will enable him to work for the betterment of the student body as a whole.
A part-time commerce student, John has shown a keen interest and taken an active part in student life.
He was a member of
A past member of Weir House, probably the most notorious university hostel in New Zealand, he has taken a keen interest in the activities of the university, playing rugby and cricket for varsity teams.
Capping, the biggest and most important function of the university year, is another of his interests, along with many other parts of university life. His outside interests include taking an active part in the Junior National Party and the Wellington Accountants' Students Society.
He completed his LL.B. last year. For one year he was a science student and then changed to law. He has been at Victoria for five years (full-time last year) and was formerly at Wellington College.
At present he is studying for a LL.M. If elected he will favour an executive functioning as a unit; constitutional changes to ensure a more go-ahead executive committee; moves which will reduce student apathy; action by the executive to improve student accommodation, to improve facilities, to improve liaison between groups, improvements in town-gown relationships in all matters for student benefit, whether or not executive has previously concerned itself with those matters.
Promises: He will work for the good of students, stand up for what he believes is in the best interests of the majority, will not bicker.
Qualifications: Has been a full-time and part-time student and knows the problems of both. Has lived in a hostel, boarded and is at present flatting.
While David believes that social activities have a proper place in student activity, he feels that there is need for exec to have more serious aims. Among the matters which he considers proper for action by exec are: finance for purchase, leasing or building accommodation, establishing alumni support, appointment of student counsellor, advocating changes in or new courses, investigating failure rates, etc.
This is George's first year at V.U.W., but he is by no means a stranger to student life.
At Otago University he took a full and active part in student life as a student counsellor in
He was also on the council at Training College in
George is 25 years old and is completing his B.A. this year.
Brian has been at Victoria since
His record is: V.U.W.S.A. representative on the executive, N.Z.U.S.A. from Salient, etc.
Satya Nandan was co-opted to the executive last year. Since his co-option he has been appointed chairman of the International Affairs Committee, a member of the House Committee, and has been nominated as a chaperon to the Indonesian Delegation to tour New Zealand later this year. Most responsible appointments, they indicate the confidence exec, has in Satya.
Apart from his Exec, responsibilities, Satya, a leading committee member of the International Club, was the leader of the Victoria delegation to the N.Z. International Clubs Conference last winter, and is at present the International Clubs representative on the World University Service Committee.
A full-time law student, Satya has also found time to help backstage with Extrav., and is this year the Extrav. programme controller.
Having proven ability, and being, a representative of the many overseas students at this university, Satya is a person whom the student executive needs.
Peter is a fourth-year part-time student and is experienced in student administration, as is shown by the following record:
His policy consists of two main points:
Support of a complete re-organisation of the executive as outlined by the select committee, of which he was a member.
Willingness to listen to complaints or suggestions from any student, and, if they are reasonable, to take action on them.
Peter stands on this policy, coupled with his record and a capacity for hard work.
I feel motivated to attach "blurbs" of this nature. Those that read them may be falsely impressed, bored or vindictive. I trust my friends.— D. L. Hampton.
The following is the final list of candidates for the Special Executive Elections, to be held on
For three positions on the Men's Committee: J. K. Bayliss (R. J. M. Shaw, C. D. Lind-Mitchell, J. Ross), Satya N. Nandan (Cherry E. Pointon, J. Hercus, A. J. S. Reid), Peter V. O'Brien (J. Hercus, B. E. Shaw, A. T. Mitchell), D. L. Hampton (D. B. Hailey, R. W. Gill, C. S. Weir), John A. Tannahil (L. W. Stubbs, J. Cochran, J. J. Watts), George Tofield (A. W. Everard, P. R. Warren, E. C. Kefford), D. L. Brooker (J. A. Laurenson, W. Winiata, W. D. Dent), Robert D. Welch (C. J. Fernehough, D. S. G. Deacon, J. F. Tomsett), Brian C. Shaw (J. Hercus, Bernice Jenks, Cherry E. Pointon), B. T. Brooks (D. J. Davy, A. T. Mitchell, J. Hercus), Robert W. Kerr (J. Kennedy, J. McG. Trotter, J. C. Salmon), John Kennedy (J. C. Salmon, H. MacOnie, J. McG. Trotter).
The city of Langchow lies deep in the heart of China, almost one thousand miles west-south-west of Peking. It is an old oasis city, lying on the Silk Road, the caravan route which ran between the mountains and the deserts of central Asia and which for long was a major trade artery between East and West.
The yellow mud houses of the old town lie partly on a bluff above the Hwang Ho; around the town, along the valley floor, are irrigated plots of vegetables and peppers and the orchards and melon patches which gave Lanchow its reputation—"the city of fruits and melons."
Within the last nine years this medieval city has been plunged abruptly into the mechanised world of the twentieth century. Tall multi-storied blocks of factories and offices and flats rise above the roofs of the old town; factory chimneys stand up starkly against a background of sunscorched pink and ochre hills; in the heart of the city mule carts and Czech Skoda buses packed with workers raise swirling clouds of yellow dust from the still unsurfaced streets.
Everywhere, crowds of labourers put in essential services, swarm over the new construction sites, work to the sound of Central Asian folk music from loud-speakers slung from the telegraph poles, great variety of peoples; apple-cheeked folk of Kansu and tall mahogany-skinned caravan drivers from Sinkiang, Huis and Tibetans, Chinese from Peking and a sprinkling of unobtrusive Russian technicians.
Beyond, to the west, the Lan-Sin railroad is being pushed forward, to provide a new link between China and the U.S.S.R., and at Karamai large scale exploitation of the vast oil resources of China's northwest is gathering momentum.
Lanchow doubled its population between
Its development epitomises the recent industrial development of China as a whole—the almost feverish speed, the wide range of industries, the utilisation of formerly neglected or unsuspected resources, the swing of industry to the interior. And the splendid new buildings of the Academy of Sciences or of the Northwestern University serve to emphasise that this development is creating an unprecedented demand for technologists and that industrial advance is being matched by equally rapid and impressive advances in the fields of higher education and research.
Lanchow's former lack of industry was typical of interior China as a whole. As late as
The lack of development was not due to lack of resources. China has a wide range of metallic minerals, including some of the biggest iron ore deposits in the world. She possesses immensely rich coal
The basins of Chinese Central Asia contain important oil deposits; even before the development of the Karamai field her proved reserves of oil were larger than those of Iran. Her great rivers have a hydroelectric potential of more than 300 million kilowatts, larger than that of the U.S.A. Her agriculture provides a wide range of raw materials, including cotton, of which she is the world's largest producer. She has vast labour resources and her peasant masses, released from the shackling fetters of low productivity, could provide an equally vast market.
This is the second of a series of articles by Professor K. M. Buchanan (professor of geography) on his recent visit to China and North Vietnam.
The Chinese People's Government has placed a heavy emphasis on industrialisation. The First Five Year Plan set aside £11,000 million for economic and cultural development; of this, approximately one-third was devoted to industry. The accent was on heavy industry, which has absorbed nine-tenths of the expenditure, and here the U.S.S.R. has played a major role by assisting in the construction of 156 key industrial plants.
The new pattern of industry is a planned pattern, determined by several considerations: the siting of new projects near raw material or fuel sources to cut down transport; the need to achieve a better balance of industry and agriculture in each region; the need to raise the economic level of minority regions to end the former wide inequalities between these regions and the rest of China; and the strategic need to avoid the exposed and vulnerable coastal areas.
This means that, while existing centres such as Shanghai and the North-east are being modernised and strengthened, the main impact of industrialisation has been in the interior. Two-thirds of the major industrial projects during the First Five Years were constructed in the interior and here the rate of industrial expansion has been twice as rapid as in the coastal margins.
The rise of the heavy industrial region centreing on Lanchow is a striking manifestation of this new industrial surge, so, too, is the emergence of the new iron and steel centre of Paotow in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Few, if any, of the cities of the interior have escaped the impact of industrialisation; the great areas of new factory development around old cities such as Sian or Chengtu, seen from the air, are dramatic reminders of the massiveness of the achievement.
The initial emphasis has been on heavy industry and producer goods such as machine tools and in these fields China is becoming increasingly self-sufficient. At the same time, there is an increasing range of products and this was very clearly shown by the Exhibition of Light Industry at Canton and the National Exhibition of Industry and Communications at Peking.
The former featured a wide range of specialised goods, from pharmaceuticals to electrical and optical equipment, as well as high grade textiles and knitwear. The finish and quality of these left nothing to be desired. The Peking Exhibition featured the newest and most striking achievements of modern industry in China—electric locomotives, hydraulic presses, steam turbine generators, precision lathes, cars and tractors.
The exhibitions confirmed the impression I had formed while visiting the rapidly expanding cities of the interior and south—that a new and major industrial power was entering the world market. And later, in Hong Kong and Singapore, cheap and high quality Chinese-made consumer goods, such as cashmere sweaters and optical goods, were much in evidence, first signs of what may be a major trade drive in South and South-east Asia.
It is not easy to appreciate the pace of China's industrialisation. It took Britain 35 years to expand steel production from 5.1 to 10 million tons; China achieved this in one year. It took 75 years to push coal production from 120 to 200 million tons; last year China more than doubled coal production, achieving an annual output of 270 million tons.
The value of industrial production in
The transformation of the countryside, the beginnings of agricultural modernisation, have created an insatiable demand for industrial products. The expansion of irrigation, for example, will demand vast quantities of irrigation machinery; mechanisation of farming, even in its initial stages, will call for half a million tractors and 20 million tractor-drawn implements.
If the machine-building industry is to meet the needs of a swiftly-evolving agriculture rapid expansion is essential. Several scientists with whom I discussed this topic were of the opinion that, rapid though this expansion had been. It had still not succeeded in keeping pace with the communes demand for more and more mechanical equipment.
The many-fronted advance of industry is one of the distinctive features of China's industrial revolution. Existing plants are being used to capacity and extended; new large and medium-scale factories are being established; the productive capacity of peasant or "native-style" industry is used to the full. The traveller sees examples of this multiple advance in every comer of the country; the industry which best illustrates it is the iron and steel industry.
Steel is the key to progress in both the agricultural and industrial fields and the drive for more steel has become a major theme in everyday life.
The core of China's iron and steel production capacity is represented by the great iron and steel complexes of Anshan, in the North-east, and Wuhan in Central China. These have been extended and modernised so that today some of the units, such as the Number 1 giant automatic blast furnace at Wuhan, rank among the largest and most up to date in the world.
These centres have been supplemented by the construction of a new major iron and steel base at Paotow (annual steel capacity 3 million tons) and by smaller plants in different parts of the country; four of these have an annual steel capacity of over 600,000 tons.
Perhaps the most striking and distinctive unit, however, is the small-scale native-style furnace. I must have seen hundreds of these all over China—in a park in Canton, in the playground of a Peking school, rising in batches amid the fields of rice or vegetables on many of the communes visited. It was claimed last autumn that some 700,000 had been built. They vary in size and design but are built by the local people — peasants or townsfolk — from local raw materials and use the coal and iron ore deposits which are widely distributed throughout China.
On some communes they are worked by more or less specialised production teams. Elsewhere, and in the cities, they are worked by part-time workers — peasants, office workers, or professional workers who arrive in droves to put in an evening shift at the furnaces; at one Peking university neither staff nor students of the geography department could be found—they were putting in a day's field work building a group of furnaces out in the countryside.
The furnace has become a focus of local enthusiasm; in the work of construction and firing the old barriers between the classes are broken down and a new unity forged. By the autumn of
Even in the brief few weeks I spent in China, I saw the many shapes in which industry has come to the country. I saw the giant textile mill at Peking, whose secretary was a girl from Shanghai who had experienced the old exploitation, and where the creche and the kindergarten were full of plump brightly-clad children and attractive, so-efficient nurses. I saw the co-operative silk mills at Chengtu — modem, locally-built machinery side by side with bamboo looms—turning out exquisitely-patterned woven silk. The secretary here was a tiny girl in her twenties, proud of the factory's expanding output and new housing.
I wandered around a Yi commune near Kunming and saw the wide range of small industries which had come to this sun-washed countryside of Yunnan—the brickmaking and iron smelting (the forced draught on the largest furnace passing along pipes made of American oil drums) and the manufacture of simple agricultural machinery. Here the industrial sector was organised by a young man of possibly 30 who had copied the designs for the furnaces in the city an hour's journey away, and who had now had a score of furnaces in production.
I visited the North-western University at Lanchow which runs some 60 factories where the students get practical experience and new production techniques can be developed. The barriers between scholar and worker are being deliberately broken down. Everywhere I found an intense pride in China's young and growing industries, and a people working with an energy and dedication unseen elsewhere.
Of course, I could not see
What I did see clearly was that we can understand the almost feverish energy and the dedication with which the Chinese are throwing themselves into this gigantic task of economic development only if we keep in our mind a picture old China—not the China of exquisite jade carvings and golden-roofed pagodas and elegant scholarship—but the China of poverty and exploitation.
It was a country where the peasants ate grass and roots, where children with bellies swollen with hunger died by the wayside; a country where the gap between ruler and ruled was so great that 6,000 million dollars of American aid could not ensure the survival of a hated regime.
We rarely concern ourselves with the "mathematics of suffering" in pre-Liberation China—"the sum of millions hungered, of countless beings scratching the earth's surface for a pittance, of children prematurely dead, of men and women prematurely aged and minds acquiescent and fettered by superstition."Peter Townsend, "China Phoenix."
Yet, as was driven home to me by long hours of discussion and by the personal histories of many to whom I spoke, until we do this we have no understanding of the processes of change in China.
The motive force behind China's progress is simple; as one worker put it:
"When I was 10 I was working 14 hours on the night shift in a Shanghai cotton mill—and I am determined that my son and my grandchildren will never have to go through that."
If you were told that the film "The Goddess" was about the rise to stardom of a small-town American girl and that having become the star of her generation she is lonely and unhappy, you would rightly say that you had seen it all before.
But "The Goddess", despite its similarity to earlier films, is a much better one. It does not have Kazen's electric direction in "Face in the Crowd", nor the sophistication of "Sunset Boulevard." But it does have a really wonderful actress in Kim Stanley, who plays the star Rita Shawn. It is a vital performance, full of variety and tremendous power. The director (John Cromwell) has luckily given the screen to her, not distracting the audience with clever direction, and she takes hold of the audience and the film almost faultlessly for nearly 104 minutes.
The other "star" of the picture is Paddy Chayefsky, who wrote the script. The film is divided into three main parts, or if you prefer it, acts, as in a play; "Portrait of a girl," "Portrait of a young woman" and "Portrait of a goddess." Each of these acts has a climax, yet there is no main climax in the film.
The first act shows how Emily, later to become the star Rita, is rejected by her flighty fun-loving mother. Emily has no friends, she has a bad reputation among the boys of the town, and she dreams of success. Success meaning a star in Hollywood, where everything you touch must surely turn into gold.
Here is Cheyefsky's main point—the American dream of success, and the glamour and the wealth that goes with It. Chayefsky shows that it is all a fake.
Fame and money are what Rita is after, in compensation for the love that she cannot find with other people.
In the second act Rita, having got rid of one husband, marries another (a famous sports star) and still finds that love and security have passed her by. She throws the word love around as if it were something she could pick off a tree, but it is all too obvious that she and her husband have no idea of its meaning. She has a nervous breakdown, divorces her husband, turns to drugs and for a time religion. She finds no solace, and ends up a hopeless failure as a person.
There is no happy ending, nor a sentimental one. As her faithful secretary says "I'll take her back to California, and she'll go on making movies because that's all she knows to do, and whatever happens after that happens."
Chayefsky has got away from his New York characters we saw in "Marty" and "The Bachelor Party."
He is still obsessed with the current and overdone theme of modern American plays and films; that of the necessity of loving and being loved, and of the emotional conflict between parent and child.
This theme has been done to death by much better writers as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge. But he is a much less theatrical writer than these three and he has no dramatic deaths, suicides, or rapes.
He is less flamboyant, yet he has a few
It seems to me to be an easy way of giving the audience the details of the character, without bothering to bring it out in the flow of the drama. One can get away with it on the stage or television (from which Chayefsky has developed), but in a film it is far too static.
There are numerous scenes which are beautifully written, particularly the scenes in the hotel with the second husband, and it is in these scenes that Chayefsky is at his best. The dialogue is taut and not repetitive (another of his mannerisms) and the two characters are more clearly realised than in any other part of the film. Rita desperately looking for love and slowly getting bored with her husband are a triumph for both the author and Kim Stanley. But despite her performance the film belongs to Chayefsky.
It is a writer's film and on the whole it is a compelling and interesting one. How many films do you see because so-and-so wrote it, and not because X directed or be-Y is starring in it? Chayefsky is an author to watch.
At the last meeting of Exec Miss Bernice Jenks presented a report on the cafeteria. The full report is printed below.
After talking to Miss Rosie and Miss Fraser, I have come to the following conclusions:—
Those students who are complaining about the present prices of meals must realise the following points:—
business and as such is entitled to make a living out of it.
Cafeteria prices for a 3-course meal compare favourably with town prices for similar meals. In Lambton Quay prices are 4/6 and 5/-. I have been unable to determine whether this includes 1 or 2 vegetables.
The difference between Caf. and town meals appears to be in quantity, not quality.
The question of the actual position of the Cafeteria in the University is relevant at this stage—should the Caf. be a service for the students and provide meals cheaper than those at other cafeterias? This would be possible only by subsidisation by the Students' Association.
There are many reasons why the Caf. should be a service to students, but apart from complete subsidisation by Students' Association at present it is doubtful if any other arrangement could be made under the present contract without any alteration to this system. We must keep in mind the fact that the Caf. in the Student Union Building will soon be operating, and that we hope to have it open for students living in this area in the weekends also.
Seven-day opening will mean further staff and price problems, and will be possible only if students make constant and regular use of the Caf. in the weekends. This again will depend on whether or not students find that it is cheaper to eat at the Caf. than to cook for themselves or eat in town.
Increased operating costs in running the Caf. are to be discussed with the Caf. accountant and a further report shall be given at the next meeting of the executive.
A different system for operating the new Cafeteria is, I believe, necessary before the Cafe in the Student Union Building opens, and some information on the management of Cafeteria in the other universities will be helpful.
Finally, I would suggest Miss Rosie be asked to be present at executive meetings when the Cafeteria is discussed. Miss Rosie has been managing the Cafeteria since
The select committee set up late in 1958 to study student administration at Victoria has brought down an excellent report involving the most sweeping and the most sensible changes in living (since 1950 maybe) memory.
The report from the Committee is written by John Hercus and Peter O'Brien. The other members were Brian Shaw, John Marchant and Bernie Galvin, the last two former presidents of the association.
Briefly, the report suggests streamlining the sub-committee system and passing all minor decisions to the reduced number of sub-committees to be retained. Exec would act as a policy-making and co-ordinating body, getting free of a mass of detailed work.
For Exec the select committee offers the portfolio system in work at the other three universities. There would be five officers (as at present), together with eight committee members elected to specific portfolios, each to be chairman of an association sub-committee responsible for the detailed administration of the portfolio.
Three positions are not particularly exacting—indeed, the report states: "On some matters the two House Committees will combine, but the select committee thought it desirable to have a separate committee to deal with matters directly affecting the fair sex."
It is probable that the select committee was merely anticipating the obvious criticism that it will be harder for women to get on to Exec if this system is approved.
The fact remains, however, that the administration of the Student Union Building as a whole is unlikely to be carried out by the holders of these two portfolios. More probably their job will boil down to keeping the floors of the Common Rooms clean and the props in the Gym and Theatre intact. Nor will the P.R.O. have very much to do unless Exec comes up with some very ambitious ideas about better relations with Wellington's citizens.
We would suggest, therefore, that the internal duties set out under R.R.O. — accommodation, health, employment and general, whatever that means, should be included as the common duties of the Men's and Women's House members.
The position designated P.R.O. could well be retitled Publications, with Public Relations included under that heading. The actual production of the Capping Book would come under the Publications Committee, and the distribution under Capping. They are quite separate functions, anyway. Any co-ordination needed would be carried out by the Cappicade Committee.
Under this system Exec, members will at last be elected to specific duties, which may be easily discovered and understood. Even perhaps undertaken. Exec, will become a combination of experts (portfolio holders) and administrators (officers). The qualifications quoted in the election blurbs will become more relevant, All this, and more you may read in the report available at Exec, office—in fact you should have. If you have not you will have difficulty following the following criticism.
The acid reference to Margaret Williams was not written by me, nor had I intended there to be any reference whatsoever. The staff of Salient will oblige me by refraining from uninformed comment.
Animals From Holland.—Evening Post. (Headline over story on newcomers from the Netherlands).
The visiting teams will be billeted by loved supporters.—Evening Post.
A whole 45ft. long has been washed up on the beach at Whangaimoana, near Pirinoa.—Dominion,
Holds Gloomy View On Moa's Future.—Dominion Headline.
The Queen has a slight chill, according to the Daily Sketch. The newspaper said it had kept the Queen indoors at Sandringham for the past two days.—Dominion,
The following is taken from The Iowa Journal:—
Mr Hiram G. Norcross became the bridegroom of Miss Emily Lewis in a pretty ceremony today. As the groom appeared he was the cynosure of all eyes. He was charmingly clad in a going-away three-piece suit. A pretty story was current among the guests to the effect that the coat was the same one worn by his father and grandfather on their wedding days.
The severe s simplicity of the groom's pants was relieved by the right leg being artistically caught up by a hose suspender, revealing a glimpse of a brown hole-proof sock, above the genuine leather shoe. Blue braces gracefully curved over each shoulder and were attached to the pants fore and aft, while a loosely knotted blue tie rode under his left ear, above a starched collar with a delicate saw edging. The presence of the bride was also observed by many.
From somewhere in the upper levels at Canterbury University the suggestion has come to the University Grants Committee that students repeating subjects should pay Treble Fees! Apart from the thievish iniquity of the idea, the man who dreamed that up will have some very scrappily made degrees resting on his soul.
Mr D. Wilson, the president, informed the executive at a meeting on March 5 that the proposal about members of executive visiting secondary schools was submitted to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. J. Williams, who will pass the information on to the Council at its next meeting.
After Miss Jenks had presented her report on the cafeteria a lengthy discussion took place. Mr Wilson asked if the price of the evening meal had been increased and assured Mr Hercus that the management of the cafeteria was able to increase the price.
In Mr Wilson's opinion the cafeteria is functioning quite well in comparison with previous years. There is an amazing amount of souveniring of crockery for student flats and, although Miss Jenks was not certain the fact ought to be publicised. Mr Mitchell's motion that it be mentioned in Salient was carried.
According to Miss Jenks the only way to bring cafeteria prices down is for the executive to give a subsidy to the.caf . Miss Thompson suggested the Education Department should subsidise the cafeteria in the same way as they do the school milk scheme, to which Mr Mitchell replied we were after all growing children
Acting on Miss Beck's suggestion, Mr Hercus moved that an ad hoc committee be appointed to inquire into the organisation of the present cafeteria and also the one for the new building.
He outlined the work of the committee and mentioned the following points for consideration: Prices, variety of food, staff and labour, materials, service and hours, subsidies, equipment.
Messrs. C.
Mr Mitchell reported arrangements for Extravaganza were proceeding smoothly. It has been decided that the tour after the Wellington season will be to Hastings this year. The question of a grant to the Extravaganza finance controller was deferred until the end of the month.
The report of the select committee on the organisation of Executive was discussed. Mr Mitchell said qualified and experienced people were needed for exec, and suggested anyone standing for a position on exec, should have had one year on a house committee for experience.
It was pointed out that every university has its own special problems and that the select committee considered that it had worked out the best system for V.U.W.
A discussion on the new Student Union building followed. At this stage it was not clear who will appoint the warden, but dissatisfaction was expressed by several members at the possibility of losing direct control of the building.
It was decided Exec. would wait until further knowledge was available before making a definite opinion known.
Miss Beck's motion that the Vice-Chancellor be invited to an Executive meeting to discuss the warden of the Student Union buiiding was carried.
around this time of the year the three or four or thereabouts editors of Cappicade find themselves in the cactus.
this is not because they spend the whole vacation deciding what they will put into Cappicade and after they decide find it isn't written yet.
so you can do much for the editors by going up to them and telling them stories and rimes and cartoons and ideas and helping them with layout and money; almost you could write Cappicade.
the editors are called mike corballis, david halley, dennis lander and john gamby, anyone who has been at Victoria since
meet them or
leave your stories, rimes, etc, on the board marked notis board in the common common room clearly marked Cappicade (or mike corballis, david etc.).
a clew: we are writing a magazine called YOJ, new Zealand's most backward magazine.
Also present at the Exec meeting was Mr D. Hampton. Accompanying him was a .22 rifle; both were silent throughout the meeting.
At various times, sociologists appraise certain institutions and customs in our society—our drinking habits, our passion for horse-racing, even our habits in public libraries—but there is one very widespread custom in New Zealand society of which a critical examination is long overdue— The Ubiquitous Vote of Thanks.
At first sight it may seem a very praiseworthy thing that at the conclusion of an address the chairman should call upon a member of the audience to express the general appreciation. And occasionally a speaker is able to perform this function gracefully, wittily and without taking too much time.
But how rare this is! Perhaps nine times out of ten we have to listen to something like this:
"Ladies and gentlemen: It has been a real privilege and pleasure to listen to the very able speech of Mr X... (glowing praise for a minute or so). There was one point which Mr X made which particularly interested me . . . (whereupon the speaker proceeds to commit the unpardonable sin—according to the etiquette books—of making a little speech of his own for three or four minutes). But, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that you have enjoyed this address as much as I have and I ask you to express your appreciation in the customary manner."
And so, after many have listened with mingled boredom and embarrassment to this familiar rite, for the second time in five minutes (although this time with a certain note of artificiality) everyone claps their hands.
A Continental friend tells me that, to the best of his knowledge, this custom does not exist in Europe. He also says that it seems to him to be completely contrary to the British character to praise a speaker to his face in the fulsome manner which is usual.
But, whether or not this custom is known elsewhere, there is no need for us to adhere to it.
I think that the following procedure has a great deal to recommend it. After the audience has expressed the measure of its appreciation by the degree of applause at the end of the address, let the chairman say in a voice loud enough for all present to hear:
"Thank you very much, Mr X," and then (where appropriate) open the discussion.
Every week-day at least two thousand students cross the road to Victoria from the cable-car and the northern part of Kelburn Parade.
In doing so they take a calculated risk because there is no pedestrian crossing.
Unfortunately Sec. 96 of the Road Traffic Laws of New Zealand may prevent a crossing from being placed in a really handy position near the entrance to the university.
The alternative to having a pedestrian crossing by the main entrance to the university is to have more road signs at suitable places on Kelburn Parade and Salamanca Road. At present there is one sign near the top of Salamanca Road to warn motorists—the word Slow is painted on the road.
.Salienttook a count last week of the numbers of students who crossed this road to get to evening lectures. Between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. more than 400 people came up to university by this route
A letter should be written to the Traffic Superintendent asking for an officer to observe the corner, and the manner in which students cross the road, and for recommendations to be made to the City Council, on the best solution to the problem.
Vienna, the well-known capital of Austria, will be the site of the Seventh World Youth Festival this year from July 26 to August 4, to which all youths are invited.
Although these festivals have been held in Europe previously, they do not attempt to put across any political line and are becoming broader in their approach to all kinds of youth organisations.
The preparatory committee of the festival which met in Stockholm last year consisted of many varied youth movements, including the Y.M.C.A. International. Zionist Youth of Israel, French Youth Hostel Association and many others unknown in this part of the world.
At the festival there will be a large cultural and sporting programme, as well as meetings of various professions, religions and of students. Unesco participated in the last festival and its project, devoted to the mutual appreciation of the cultural values of East and West, will form part of the programme of the festival.
The Chancellor of Austria, in a broadcast last year, mentioned his Government's unanimous agreement to hold the festival in Vienna and the vice-chancellor, in an interview, said: "The young generation has inherited a certain mistrust from their fathers, which has been expressed in the relations between peoples at the time of stormy events of the past years. The more youth of different countries meets under peaceful circumstances the more quickly will distrust disappear. It was precisely for this reason that the Austrian Government agreed to grant permission to hold the VII World Youth Festival in Vienna."
Thirty-one New Zealanders attended the previous festival in Moscow, two years ago, and all agreed it was worthwhile. More details of this year's festival regarding fares, visas and accommodation can be obtained from C.P.O. Box 2133, Auckland.