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Criticism of the criteria employed to determine entry into the External Affairs Department has been made by Victoria University students.
This criticism has been attracted by the appointment of a political science honours graduate, Mr
Mr. Kelly was responsible for a controversy in Salient's corespondence columns last year when he wrote a letter which is reproduced on this page.
The letter excited considerable comment from students for several issues.
The staff officer at the Department of External Affairs, Mr Lynch, was invited to comment on the letter, and the entrance qualifications required by the department.
Mr Lynch said it was "inconceivable" that a member of the department could make comments such as those contained in the letter.
"The opinions expressed were made in a personal capacity," he said.
Mr Lynch agreed that officers were given an opportunity during the recruitment process to express their views on certain subjects.
He said he did not personally interview Mr Kelly and had no idea whether the letter was taken into consideration when Mr Kelly applied for employment.
"But I would not think whatever views a person may have expressed before entering the department would count against his appointment," he said.
"The essential point is the necessity for every officer to accept the fact that there may be an alternative point of view to a particular problem."
Mr Lynch said the political position of the officers of the department must be "loose".
"Broad policy guidelines are laid down by the New Zealand Government." he said.
"But within these guidelines a free exchange of ideas is permitted."
Mr Lynch said discussion on any subject was not prohibited or inhibited in any way.
He said he would not expect an officer to go outside the department and expound, in public and private, views that were contrary to department policy.
Mr Lynch re-emphasised the necessity for officers to have an open mind.
"The process by which policy recommendations are made is one in which all officers can participate," he said.
"Officers can cast into the wind any recommendation they like."
"Whether they are accepted is another matter."
Mr Lynch said the letter showed "forthrightness".
"It shows a willingness to state a view and defend it," he said.
Asked whether he thought the letter was a fair and logical and rational one, Mr Lynch replied he had written many letters in his time and he wasn't sure whether they were all logical and rational.
He said the subject matter was "very sensitive", and one on which opinions were often "black or white, for or against"
"There is not much of an area of grey," he said.
Dear Sir,—How long must we permit Asian and Indian students to roam around this university ? Certainly, there is considerable apathy on the part of the New Zealand Government as regards this situation, as these students are actually encouraged to come to this country and attend a New Zealand university. With this position one is forced to wonder why governmental apathy should be readily inculcated in the student body which seems quite prepared to tolerate the inclusion of Asian and Indian students into university sports, their sharing of tables with white students both in the library and the cafe, their perpetual chattering in languages that in no way resemble English. I have attended Victoria for three and a half years, and during this time have noticed that there has been little open defiance against these Asian and Indian students whose arrogance has increased accordingly. The time has now come when every serious-minded white student must openly declare his views, hitherto held privately, as to the utter exclusion or even segregation of these above-mentioned alien students.Your sincerely, P. J. Kelly.
The Students' Association Executive has defeated a remit for Easter Council urging students to contribute one per cent, of their personal income to overseas aid programmes.
The motion, moved by
Speaking to the motion, Simon said the subject was one which had some support throughout the university.
He quoted the case of the Biafran Relief Fund which began when S.C.M. members sent $5 to their local M.P.s.
The Government, however, sent $20,000 to the Biafran Relief Fund and returned the $5 to the donors.
"All remits which are sent to Easter Council must be documented," she said.
"Besides, NZUSA can't tell a student what to do with his money.
"We can't make a student give a penny, but if he wants to give a pound that's all right."
It is understood that attempts are being made to bring the matter up at Council under the provision that two-thirds of the constituent presidents agree to it.
MR.
Mr. Marshall was defending allegations of conflict between his speech and the reported comments of the Prime Minister, Mr Holyoake.
"There is no conflict between the statements of any member of Cabinet on the issue of Red China," he said.
• Report P. 12
At 12.31½ p.m. today, the Pooh Club launches an assault upon the sobriety of the University. A picnic lunch at Forum will be left to scour the Bot. Gardens for the North Pole. A petition will be presented to the doorman at Parliament protesting at the removal of subsidies on honey. This will be followed by a gathering at Pigeon Park at 5 p.m. for an anti-Walt Disney demo.
Problems have arisen as to what constitutes a full-time law course
Four law units have been reclassified by the Professorial Board for bursary purposes.
Two subjects, legal ethics and advocacy, and office administration and accounting, are courses involving 12 classes, all of which are held in February.
The classes in conveyancing and draftsmanship and the law of evidence are one hour a week, and in determining an appropriate course load each subject is regarded as being equivalent to half a degree unit.
But all four are "law subjects".
A part-time student, enrolled for these four units plus another law unit is taking "five law subjects" which in terms of the Professorial Board's ruling is a full-time course for bursary purposes.
It was decided that legal ethics and advocacy and office administration should not count as "law subjects"; and conveyancing and draftsmanship and the law of evidence should be considered half units.
These will take effect from this year.
The Minister of Finance, Mr Muldoon, has been criticised by university authorities and students for statements on university finance.
A Salient exclusive publishes on pages 4 and 5 the full text of Mr Muldoon's speech at Congress in January.
An Informal meeting of Executives of the Faculties of Arts and five student representatives was held recently to discuss the language requirement for the B.A. degree.
The meeting included Professor Muir, Dean of the Faculty of Arts; Professor Norrish, Dean of the Faculty of Language and Literature; and other staff members.
The student representatives included Simon Arnold (for Education Officer Andy Chapman), David Harcourt, Caroline McGrath and Barry Saunders.
Salient was not invited
The discussions were informal but notes were taken as a record for information of Headsof Departments.
It is not proposed to give a full report of the proceedings as a further meeting will be held on the 20th March which will be fully covered by Salient.
The major question raised was that of compusion.
Some felt that although the learning of a language was broadening a students understanding, the same could be said of other subjects which were not compulsory.
Some staff members were of the opinion that being limited to one's own language restricts the individual's ability to know the wide variety of thought and expression as found in other cultures beside his own.
Suggested alternatives to language requirements were mathematics, statistics, philosophy, or subjects such as sociology, geography or science.
It was suggested heads of departments might decide on the best compulsory alternatives to go with the main subjects taken in their department.
Preparation in the secondary schools for university standard language units was discussed.
Although universities could not demand what was to be taught at secondary schools, the latter were influenced by what universities demanded.
The situation at Otago and Auckland is that where all those who have gained a certain mark, in a foreign lanuage in the entrance scholarship examination or in the universities bursary examination, or have reached an approved standard in other examinations accepted for this purpose by the Senate gain exemption for the foreign language requirement.
Also in Otago "Those who obtain a pass in statistical methods or in an approved course in mathematics" are exempt.
A recommendation will be made to the Professorial Board after the next meeting which will include all the heads of Departments in the Arts Faculty.
The Italian government has published a sweeping reform Bill to bring Italy's university system out of the middle ages and halt national student agitation.
The Bill calls for:
• Establishment of new universities;
• Re-organisation of existing schools:
• Establishment of a national education policy board;
• Abolition of the system under which professors could hold another job and ignore their leaching duties;
• Granting students a say in university government.
Too few schools, an almost complete absence of residential campuses and a system under which professors need devote little time to the university were among major complaints of students, who have on numerous occasions clashed violently with police.
• West Germany: There are places for 4500 foreigners (students, scientists and German teachers at West German universities in the summer of 1969. Forty 3-4 week courses are being offered by 24 universities and institutions. A brochure, "Vacation and language courses at West German universities, Summer 1969", can be obtained from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). 532 Bad Godesberg, Kennedyallee 50, free of charge, If contains details of dates, costs and subjects of courses, which are mainly held during July, August and September.
• Britain: A new plan for student participation in university matters will be submitted to the university court by student representatives at the University of Edinburgh. It contains proposals for a student scat in the university court; participation of students in the senate; formation of a group to represent students' interests in academic decisions; and student participation in decision making within a faculty.
• Czechoslovakia: A student conference in Brno resolved to suspend all teaching for a week in order to exert political pressure on public opinion and the State.
• Britain: Students barricaded themselves in classrooms at Aberystwyth University College in protest against Prince Charles taking a seven-week course there. A student leader said the take-over was because the university had allowed itself "to be used politically by the English Government".
• Ecuador: The elections for offices in the Ecuador National Union of Students at the University of Quito were notable for the expense involved. The Christian Democrats were suspected of being supported by the U.S. Embassy in Quito, but the communists gained 3034 of the total 5465 votes.
• Sydney Story, P. 11
Salient is a day late, one to be exact. This unfortunate delay has occurred because of the lack of facilities in the Student Union Building, forcing us to work from people's flats, which isn't exactly the most convenient We have now moved into our new office (in the old Activities Room), and our dor is now open (we don't have a Wellcum mat yet, she's too shy). So if you want to see a good Salient, which arrives on time, and you are willing to give body and soul as a reporter, typist, photographer, proof-reader or as a sub-editor, drop in and see us soon. Our cabbages may be green, but we'll work you hard.
The distribution system for Cappicade sales was overhauled at a Publications Board meeting last night.
"It is a positive liability to be Cappicade Distribution Manager," Heughan Rennie said.
A commission system was defined which would enable the distribution manager to make nearly $100 profit.
The Publications Officer, Jim Thomson, is inviting applications until 5 p.m. on Wednesday. March 19.
Editor:
Chief Sub-editor :
Advertising :
Staff :
*
There will be a meeting of all those interested in participating in the production of Salient in the new Salient Editorial Room, which is off the main foyer in the Student Union Building, at 5 p.m. tonight.
All cordially invited.
I Am Glad To have the opportunity of discussing higher education and its place in the New Zealand economy in an atmosphere such as this, and I want to take the opportunity of bringing together some of the many points made during the past year or two since I first raised this question.
After raising the matter briefly when addressing a meeting in Christchurch in early 1967, I deliberately put the following in the 1967 Budget:'
"There is, I believe, general agreement on the essential need for adequate expenditure on education. In recent years expenditure has increased much more rapidly in the university field than in other areas of education. This is no doubt attributable in part to the rise in the university student roll which has now reaehed almost 24,000, double the number of nine years ago. Over the same period, the share of resources devoted by Government to the universities has increased at a much higher rate than the share of resources expended on education generally. The upsurge in spending on university education points to the need for some reappraisal of the allocation of scarce resources of money and personnel to ensure that they are being expended in the manner most beneficial to the New Zealand people.
The presentation of the Budget was immediately followed by a statement from an officer of the New Zealand University Students' Association suggesting that this was flying a kite for a decision to reduce university spending. In fact what I have aimed to do throughout. and I believe successfully, is to stimulate discussion and investigation.
Normal selective newspaper reporting from my own speeches and the speeches of others has given an impression of violent disagreement. but at no time have I attempted to put forward dogmatic views on this subject, on which I am not an expert, and most of the speakers who have discussed the matter in public have understood this.
Some Facts:
• Thirty years ago, the 1937/38 year, total education vote $9.4 million—of this, higher education 2.8%, that is to say $270,000 for all purposes. Adding expenditure on senior technical education would lift it to $300,000, or about 3% of the whole education vote.
• Higher education vote last year—21% of the total, not $300,000. but $36.3 million. Current building programmes:
• Thirty years ago expenditure on education as a percentage of national income— 2.73, $7 per head of population. On the change of government in 1960/61. 3.91 — $36.70 per head.
• The current year. $66.70c per head — over 5% of national income, which of course in not known yet. In absolute figures:
of this, the figures relating to higher education have increased in a greater proportion in every respect.
• The latest Treasury estimate of projections for university spending excluding technical institutes.
This allows for inflation at an annual rate of 2½%. and includes only $7 million for qualitative improvement, a figure which I believe is too low. These qualitative improvements include improvement in the staff/student ratio, improvement in major faculties such as medicine, arising from the development of the new school at Auckland or the adoption of the Christie report at Otago. increased expenditure on equipment such as the installation of computers, or improved bursaries for students.
The interest of the Minister of Finance is his endeavour to reconcile the views of all the sectors of the economy which are competing for resources—the impossible task of assessing qualitatively and qualitatively the merits of increased expenditure on hospitals, social security benefits, secondary industry, land and forest development, education in all its forms, basic and applied research both in and out of the universities, police, law and order, and all the other elements which make up the total economy.
Overiding criterion—the best interests of the whole population, both in the short and in the long term- an impossible task, but nevertheless my reason for being keenly interested in such an important sector of the economy. No room for waste.
The Robhins report on higher education in Britain points out in paragraph 25 that one of the objectives Of being at a university is the practical one of preparing oneself for a career. and pointed out that Confucious said in the analects that it was not easy to find a man who had studied for three years without aiming at pay.
The Report suggests that the ancient universities of Europe were founded to promote the training of the clergy, doctors and lawyers, and that although at times there may nave been many who attended for the pursuit of pure knowledge, they must have been a minority.
A somewhat similar point of view from the aspect of the country at large appeared in the Parry committee report in New Zealand. It said that if New Zealand wants to foster more and more advanced study of its own life and problems, then the universities will have to be equipped to carry out such study, much of it at the more expensive graduate level, Chapter 2 of that report makes a strong case for devoting additional resources to universities for the purposes of New Zealand's economic development.
The two themes emerge from each of these studies:—
The maximum benefit to the individual as a motivating force, and the maximum benefit to the mass of the people—that is the economy.
I have been accused of "bringing an accountant's mind to bear on the matter." It is extremely difficult to measure results even in terms of personal satisfaction, in terms other than which can be correlated by an accountant. If they can't be measured, it is difficult to compare them.
An article in Minerva by Sir
"Constaints imposed by government are few, and some impinge on the essential autonomy of the university, in such things as control over the admission and examination of students, control over curricula, control of appointment and of tenure of academic staff. but opportunities for influence by the Government occur once in every five years when the quinquennial grant is announced, and from time to lime during the quinquennium when capital expenditure grants are decided upon, or when increases in salaries are announced. That it is inevitable that hands of some sort will be laid upon the universities, but it is important that they predominantly be the hands of other Dons, that is the committees of Vice-Chancellors and the University Grants Committee."
Taking some topics in detail: I believe that the rapid increase in the absolute amount, the percentage of national income and the amount per head of population in university spending, will reach a point in the foreseeable future where some Minister of Finance in some government will say "Stop, I cannot finance this". I have pressed for an examination of this by the appropriate authorities so that this head-on collision may be avoided.
I have suggested that if our resources, both in the physical sense and in manpower, brains, are limited, then we should first limit those areas of education which are less important to the economy in its broadest sense
We do not have to cut out anything, but if there is to be a limit on growth it should be first applied in the less vital areas.
The Minister would not cut out any of these subjects, but if expansion had to be limited. some of them and others might be those which it would be appropriate to limit.
Similarly, Professor Henderson, late of the Department of Civil Engineering at Canterbury: "I would suggest that Mr Muldoon release the detailed records on which his figures are based, so that the qualifications of the incoming and outgoing groups may become public knowledge, otherwise Mr Muldoon leaves himself open to the reproach that he is playing his cards so close to his chest that he can't see the cards himself."
These are the groups that are entering and leaving New Zealand.
"I would certainly agree with Mr Muldoon's remark that the new post-graduate scholarships are having a marked effect in keeping bright young men within New Zealand.
"The effect is much more permanent than the two or three years' currency of the scholarships themselves, for this period gives each young man time to acquire a permannt emotional commitment to a New Zealand girl. Once he does so. we can let him leave the country confident that he Will eventually return."
An interesting point.
The source of the figures was of course stated in my address
I spoke at Masey University early last year on the introduction of computers into New Zealand universities, and the expansion of computer applications to the point where every person graduating at present should have some understanding of the assistance that can be obtained from a computer in the field in which he proposes to work, because during his productive lifetime this power will be available to him.
Part of my remarks on that occasion arose from a lengthy discussion which was arranged at my request with
Professor Henderson, however, was critical in these terms: "Not only did we have a computer at Canterbury by 1960, but from that dale we included large sections on numerical analyses and computer techniques in all three stages of our engineering mathematics courses. Now Mr Muldoon's advisers could have found this out by spending 50c on a University of Canterbury calendar." and so on.
Well of course we would have spent the 50c on the calendar had we known which calendar to buy, but we knew about Canterbury's computer anyway.
"Mr Muldoon quoted an eminent American to the effect that New Zealand is unlikely to develop its own electronic industry capable, for instance, of making computers. Speaking not for myself but quoting another Canterbury department. I should tell Mr Muldoon that our electrical engineering department begs to differ from his American adviser, and I would throw in my own opinion to the effect that the advice of the man on the spot may well be worth more attention than that of the remote 'overseas expert' who so impresses the New Zealander. This is particularly true if the man on the spot is saying 'it can be done'. and the overseas expert is assuring you that it can't."
Diebold just happens to be number one in the world. But apart from that the mass production of components in what is now becoming known as the semi-conductor field, is so labour-intensive that American corporations are setting up factories in such countries as Formosa, South Korea and Singapore, solely because they would otherwise be priced out of the American market
"But Mr Muldoon's remarks leave me with the impression that although he is trying to he helpful he is not perhaps getting enough competent advice for him to appreciate what a vigorous influence a good university can have on professional practice and on society's problems generally. May I ask how Mr Muldoon's advisers Dot their facts about the universities? None of them to my knowledge ever pays us a visit, and as I have said, they can't afford the price of a university calendar, so how do they get any sort of feel for what is going on in the universities. I don't know, but they do seem to speak with all the confidence and conviction of the utterly misguided."
All good stuff. Some of you will know that my official advisers are graduates, part-time lecturers in many cases, and in some cases current under-graduates. Some of you will know that I personally made a round of every university in this country a year or two ago, and discussed with Vice-Chancellors and staff their plans for development, not just of buildings and equipment, but of courses
I don't quote Professor Henderson in a critical sense, but simply to illustrate that in the field of public controversy it is important to make some investigation of one's facts, otherwise ammunition is being fired off at the wrong target and there is no real interchange of ideas.
Now the question of failures
Failures are wasteful. What do they cost? I asked Treasury to make an assessment for me. They came up with the round figure of $3000 for a student failing three subjects on a full-time basis, or $1000 per unit.
Quote Mr Auckland Star, March 6. 1968: "Mr Muldoon has said open-door admission resulted in a higher failure rate than overseas where entry was selective, and each failure cost New Zealand $1000, making a total waste of $10 million a year. The figure $10 million seemed a fantastic sum plucked out of the air. or arrived at by an accountant who ignored the real economic situation "
Not plucked out of the air—calculated by a Treasury officer who is a graduate of one of our universities.
I checked the theory, and the only field in which I claim expertise is that of cost accounting, and made up in this manner:
Income foregone by a student during the university year —about $1400
Current university spending per student —about $1040
Current cost of occupying buildings —about $620
Total $3060 rounded to $3000
This assumes a post-tax income over the full year of $2100; current government and private spending on universities of $16 million divided by the number of full-time students, which at that time was 15,500; the cost of buildings, being the capital cost, at 7 percent. being interest at 6 percent and depreciation 1 percent, divided by the number of full-time student equivalents enrolled.
The figures may be rough, but would be as near as is possible by any other method, and obviously a round figure of $10 million is simply a measure of the degree of waste and not a precise calculation.
So how do we do something about it? $10 million is worth doing something about. If we lighten up on entry, we get less failures, but we lose potential graduates. This is certainly, in my view, a matter for the responsible authorities to balance the loss of graduates against the cost of getting the final marginal graduate. The economic waste would I believe vary according to the discipline concerned, and brings back the concept of weighting the various faculties in terms of economic return.
Late last year I had a visit from Dr
In the course of our discusion he made the point that in Britain out of 100,000 students qualified to enter university, only 50,000 are accepted, yet Britain gets as many graduates from that 50,000 as New Zealand proportionately would gel from 100,000. He is very strongly of the opinion that the small student failure rate of 5 percent in Britain and in Exeter 3 percent, is highly desirable, because a graduate has normally graduated without any failures, whereas in New Zealand failure of some units is normal and in his view the student becomes failure-orientated.
I can't place a value on this criticism, but there is obviously some strength in his argument.
The next day I was addressing a group of secondary school headmasters in Wellington, and gave them these comments, although I asked the Press not to print the fact that they had come from Dr Llewellyn. Accordingly they were published, and I was immediately under fire from all kinds of quarters for making this shocking suggestion. The Press, being alert and alive to these situation, contacted Dr Llewellyn and asked him what he thought of my comments. One of the headline that came from that interview was:
"Ally for Minister in open-door varsity criticism: Criticism by the Minister of Finance. Mr Muldoon, of what he calls the loose screening system which allows a conglomerate mass of students to enter university has been echoed by a visiting university head from Britain. Dr Llewellyn said in Christchurch
He gave warning of the new situation in his last Grants Committee report to Parliament in 1966. Well, it was no surprise that he supported the views that I had expressed, having regard to the fact that the views originated with him. Going back to University Grants Committee reports, there are two which are worth quoting at this point:
(1) Extract from University Grants Committee report for 1965:
"In its report for 1964 the Committee set out details of the new quinquennial grants to the universities to meet their recurring costs for the five years ending 31 March 1970. It also recorded a warning that the cost of maintaining the policy of open entry to the universities, declared by Government of both parties, would be considerable over the next few years and whether that policy can be maintained or whether the universities will be compelled to use their powers of restriction of entry depends on whether the New Zealand community is prepared to meet the cost. The main issues remaining now that the quinquennial grants have been approved are those of staffing and buildings, and the problems associated with these are salary scales adequate to enable the universities to compete for staff in the world market and the difficulty of implementing the university building programme in conditions of an overstrained building industry. These two problems are likely to be major concerns of the university system for the years immediately ahead when student enrolments are increasing rapidly."
(2) Extract from the report for 1966:
"Universities have developed in different ways at different times but two broad systems of higher education can be distinguished. There is the broadly based comprehensive system with its large numbers of students typical of North America and there is the small, selective, hierarchial system of the older countries of Western Europe. It is this latter restrictive system which is today being found to be inadequate for modern needs and which in Britain will be radically overhauled if the recommendations of the Robbins Committee are implemented. This Committee based its report on the proposition that there should be a place for all who can satisfy the entrance requirements and who wish to proceed to high education.
Governments of both parties in New Zealand have declared a similar policy—that faculties will be made available in our universities for all young people who pass the University Entrance examination, who wish to go to university, and who are prepared to study hard and successfully while they are there. The implications of this policy for our universities are far reaching indeed. Not only is their traditional right to select whom they shall teach severely restricted, at least in the first year, but the quality of their work—their other traditional rights of determining how and what they shall teach—are largely determined by the staffing and physical facilities made available to them from the only significant remaining source, the Government.
"There is therefore an obligation on the community to see that the demands it makes on the universities are matched by the facilities to meet those demands. The cost of maintaining a policy of open entry to the universities will be considerable, particularly over the next few years. Whether the policy can be maintained or whether the universities will be compelled to use the powers of restriction of entry given to them by Parliament in their acts depends on whether the New Zealand community is prepared to meet the cost. The main costs are those of staffing and buildings."
In Britain, however, economic events of recent years have caused a change in British Government policy for the expansion of universities, which was introduced with such a flourish just a few years ago. Apart from generally cutting down, there has been a recent crash programme, and this is the kind of thing that I fear we might strike in this country at some time in the future. I quote from the Economist, August 17, 1968:
"The universities of Britain are on vacation — the Vice-Chancellors and Professors are orating round the world at conferences; lesser dons, like everyone else, sporting by the sea. If this were term-time the uproar from them would be deafening. An as yet unpublished letter from the University Grants Committee to its clients tells them that they must stop all their plans for new buildings except where contracts have been already signed. This could hit as much as half the £10 million capital spending plan for the current year. Last January when the government announced its schemes for moderating the future growth of its own expenditure, the universities escaped amazingly lightly. A little capital spending was to be deferred in the next couple of years, but no item of current spending was touched and politically-conscious academics assumed that the enforced lag in capital spending would not last long. Things look very different now. Quite suddenly it has become the fashionable thing to deplore what was until very lately the fashionable thing to praise. This sudden shift of public favour away from university expansion combines in its inner recesses the envy of the young and the hatred of intellectuals that are among the chief banes of English political life. It is compounded by uncomprehending funk of the world craze for student militancy, which incidentally has so far caught on only among very few students here. The worst sort of long-term damage that any country can inflict on itself is to prevent its citizens getting the education they need, demand, and are ready for. Re-organising the universities, pressing them to become more useful, more economical in the use of funds, more valuable to their students, is one nest of crabs that all governments have shirked. Cutting them down is quite another affair. The educational record of Mr. Wilson's administration is already disastrous. This is the crew that has crippled the growth of secondary schools and postponed the raising of the school leaving age. One hopes that some politicians will have the guts to protest and loudly, even if students, like coloured immigrants, have become an unpopular minority in the increasingly bizarre world of some politicians' imaginations."
I find very little in that to disagree with. Am I an exception if I am prepared to criticise? I am prepared to advocate if necessary re-organising the universities, to press them to be more useful, more economical in the use of funds, and more valuable to their students. The alternative in my view is what is happening in Britain at present.
In my Massey address I first quoted some statistics of arrivals and departures of graduates, showing that in the
As it happened, I had simply asked for the latest figures, and this is what they showed. Earlier figures showed a similar pattern, although it is fair to say that the next year, 1967/68, when it became available, showed a different picture, with an inflow of people in such fields as Biology and similar sciences, and an outflow of physicists and the like.
It has been said that this outflow in more recent times arises from the disparity in salaries. I believe — although this is not capable of being proved — that it correlates better with the outflow of total population which was occurring at the same time. During he coming year we will test this, as I feel sure that our net outflow will turn into a new inflow again, as is normal. Be that as it may, there is very little in it in terms of numbers, and those who advocate a massive increase in salaries across the board would find that the total cost involved represents a very rich price to pay for the relatively small change in numbers which would fill all the vacant positions. This may nevertheless be the solution.
Before accepting it however, one must assess the difficulties that are raised through comparability of salaries with graduates in the other state services and in private industry, and this in turn raises the question of comparability between professionally qualified people and administrators.
I cannot believe that university salaries is the only field in which New Zealand should compete internationally. The kind of question that I want to have answered is:
Given this disparity in salaries, why have so many overseas people come to New Zealand universities? How is it that we have nearly doubled the number of scientific staff in government departments in a period of only ten year? Do overseas graduates come to New Zealand because they can get better promotion relative to their own quality than they can at home? Does that in turn mean that our universities are staffed by the low quality rejects from other countries, together with those New Zealand graduates who are unable to compete on the international market? I doubt whether the answer is as simple as that.
Strangely enough, the Robbins report on stalling refers to the evidence of what it calls "Persistent emigration of first-class talent overseas, not only of scientists but of arts graduates." The report refers to some of the factors involved, and observes that probably the most important single factor which leads a man of ability to seek a career abroad is the existence of good facilities and enough money for research, the availability of technical and secretarial help, and generous allowances of sabbatical leave at regular periods.
Is this then, what we should do, rather than simply increasing salaries. If this is the British view, and salaries there surely are reasonable, how does the New Zealand position compare in that respect?
I come back continually to the view that is supported by all of the available statistics, and that is that the more effort we put into producing graduates in fields closely associated with the New Zealand economy, the more likely we are to keep them. In terms of economic return, this is in my view our best investment, and none of those who have contributed to this topic have been able to deny this fact.
The real cost of our universities is too high for us to make general educational and vocational sense facilities available to students who will fail all units. The return is in no way commensurate with the cost to the economy. In the vocational sense particularly, I am convinced that many student failures at university would be successful technical institute students in some other fields, and I am quite certain that from every point of view, and particularly the point of view of the student himself, it would be better if he had been directed there in the first place.
I have also discussed the university scholarship scheme which, because a student who aims to succeed should preferably concentrate on the more mechanical subjects where he can get 100% for all correct answers, inevitably leads our top brains into the field of the physical sciences where, if they are to really get to the top, it is essential for them to proceed overseas. I believe that there is a need for a thorough review of senior secondary school courses, and that they should be either much more general or alternatively concentrate much more on the biological sciences, which are much closer to the New Zealand economy. Specialisation in these fields will give students every bit as much satisfaction as they will get from other subjects, and at the same time enable them to stay in New Zealand.
Among the many helpful comments that I have had from one end of the country to the other, one is worth quoting as typical, and I will simply quote the summary without any detail of the supporting arguments:
"While the 1967 National Research Advisory Council report on technical manpower presents figures on graduate production in various disciplines and makes projections of likely graduate production, the factors influencing the choice of subject by students are less well documented. The effect of the university scholarship examination on the choice of subjects and the lack of guidance of students is discussed, especially at university level."
This is the same point that I had made earlier.
Efforts to influence students towards areas of interest vital to New Zealand are outlined with attention directed to determining at what average age level polarisation into science or arts or within science itself occurs in New Zealand students.
"The need for forecasting the country's needs for specialists in given disciplines is mentioned, with a caution that providing students are encouraged to have a wide training, errors in forecasting need not have disastrous effects in the future. The need for prospective employers of graduates to encourage students to take degrees of benefit to the country is stressed, and as an example, short courses offered by a D.S.I.R. division are described. Such efforts help both the country and the prospective employers. The necessity for more effective student guidance is emphasised as a means of reducing the student failure rate, and the influence of the present examination system on the failure rate is examined in relation to a university elsewhere.
"It is shown that the proportion of Stage 3 students proceeding to Honours varies greatly from discipline to discipline, those subjects of greatest current relevance to New Zealand tending to advance a lower proportion of their students than subjects such as physics or mathematics. The University Grants Committee should consider ways of altering this trend by, for example, careful channelling of research funds into subject areas of likely immediate relevance to New Zealand. The universities can make some economies in the cost of graduate training, and in effect obtain an enlarged faculty by making greater use of competent professional skills outside the university for graduate training. This has the useful side effect of encouraging students towards fields of value to New Zealand. A reduction in the number of graduate schools in a subject could also affect economies, and at the same time raise standards."
I believe that attention must be given both to the movement of graduates into and out of teaching positions in the universities from industry and the public service, and also the reduction in numbers of schools. This is more easily reconciled if the concept of the residential university is accepted.
I have quoted the topics raised by this particular person as a example of the kind of thought that has been stimulated. It is no part of my thinking that I should find answers to these questions, but I do expect the University Grants Committee or some other competent authority to do it.
During the ten years from
Over a period of several years I have discussed the problem of competitive entry, whether to the university or to specific disciplines, with the Vice-Chancellor of every one of our universities. In some cases the position has changed hands since I obtained these views, but not one of those that I consulted opposed competitive entry. I cannot think that a Government in this country would act on this matter without a firm recommendation from the universities themselves, preferably expressed through the University Grants Committee, but it seems that the weight of informed opinion favours competitive entry rather than the watering-down of standards through a lack of resources.
The position that we have reached, then, is that there has been a good deal of public and private discussion of these matters, with some movement likely in the immediate future.
The committee on education, training and research of the National Development Conference has produced a confidential draft report which deals with some of these matters. The report is still to go before the final plenary session of the conference, where the demands for resources from the various sectors will be considered, and I hope co-ordinated.
After that it is for the Government to examine the recommendations to see whether they are acceptable. At the same time the committee of the Vice-Chancellors has been meeting, and proposes to hold a conference during March, 1969, at which the following topics will be discussed:
• If the failure rate is too high, how can it be reduced?
• How the average time for graduation can be shortened.
• Whether procedures beyond those already in existence are necessary to regulate the development of specific fields of study in the universities.
• Whether the particular needs of New Zealand, both as to number of type of graduates are being filled, and if not, what steps should be taken to improve the situation.
• The role of the universities in research.
• The relationship of the universities to the technical institutes.
• Teaching standards at the universities.
• Greater efficiencies in the employment of university plant and resources.
• The role of universities in continuing education.
• The university in the community.
• Consideration of the report of the Royal Commission on salary and wage-fixing procedures in the state services.
• Consideration of the future arrangements regarding the representations made on behalf of the universities concerning salary matters.
It is not often that a Minister of Finance can say that he is happy.
At this moment I am reasonably happy that the subjects which I have raised provocatively during the past two years have engaged the attention of responsible people to the extent that they are likely to take steps to see that some at least of these problems are solved.
Prayer, Prose and Poetry with Trevor James
Last week Argot to task because it "did not commit any severe breaches of propriety". This was "unfortunate". In the course of his review, Trevor expressed qualified admiration for only two poems— A Breaking of Stone Tablets by A Song About Her by
Of List's poems. Trevor wrote "Both of Dennis List's poems were superbly evocative and despondently unmeaningful. He would do well to see if he could be both evocative and yet retain some semblance of reality". It's difficult for me to see how a poet can be "evocative" without evoking something—presumably that something is the 'meaning' Trevor is so anxious to find. Do you think it matters whether this poem has any "semblance of reality"
The Camels Are Coming
I won't quote Tom Smuckcr's Hyde Park, Hyde Park here —but I wonder how many readers shared my awe at this sentence: "For example, Hyde Park by one
Argot
Two points made in the opening paragraphs of Trevor's criticism should be noted. He says "I was quite diligent about reading the review copy, marking the margins, underlining good lines, etc". I suppose some members of the English Department would pat Trevor on Note of a Poet—I suspect that this is because he just can't make anything out of it. Can it be dismissed as "gimmicky"?
It seems that Trevor doesn't like contemporary poetry very much—whether it appears in Argot or not. Perhaps his preference is for his own poetry. He wrote the following poem which appeared last week.
Pretty, ordinary, in my opinion—gets a silver star for effort. I'm not crazy about it because it's ultra-trad.— it's so much yesterday's news that I don't think I can be bothered with it. Argot is not intimately concerned with poetry in the Romantic Tradition—simply because most contemporary poetry is not written in this tradition. Of course, if you like the Screaming Romantics and Steaming Obscurantists you may like Trevor's poem— but I wonder if you could honestly say that it 'commits any severe breaches of propriety'? No? Well, that's where we came in. Trevor suggested that it was unfortunate that Argot 'did not commit any severe breaches of propriety'.
With Rosemary's Baby (Paramount) director
Because of the strength and, until now, unique subject matter, the film (as is the superb novel of
The opening scenes are incredible. They have an inconsequential air. as if waiting to shock us with something eerie (the shifting of a cabinet, very low floor shots, lots of shadows, the landlord) and playing on our susceptibility to comprehend the evil and grotesque.
Nothing of the sort, though there are many miniscule side tracks—and Polanski's dialogue seems to be spoken by Rosemary (
It is probably well known by now what the film is about, though I have my doubts if 50 per cent even now know! A young actor consents with a coven of Dakota, New York, witches to let the devil conceive a child with his wife, in return for which they will help his career in films, and so the "Year is One!"
Rosemary and Guy befriend neighbours, garishly weird and wonderfully close to them. Lord Love a Duck) has been nominated for best supporting actress in the April awards. She plays Minnie Castavet, overacting enormously to pant and pout, snarl and sneer, fork cake sideways into her mouth, rouged and dolled to the skin grafts. She is the loudest thing in the movie. Sidney Blackmer is the doting hubby, concerned and wonderfully evocative about Rosemary's condition.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the audience is gradually one step ahead of Rosemary as she begins her long pregnancy, and gradually realise what is happening to her. Sweet Bird Of Youth has an actress broken the bonds of being merely a fine actress, and has become something else undefinably out of reach that touches one so close.
There is Rosemary's elderly friend Hutch (
When Rosemary is in Satanic pain, outside the Time & Life building, everything is terribly pretty in reds and blues, and she says nearly to the camera with great puffy eyes, "Pain begone! I will have no more of thee." It is already an affirmation of acceptance. If her child is Satan, and it lives, she must care for it. It is her child.
I can't disclose the outcomings of this film. It's not right. The whole terrifying thing about it is as
I would rather say things about the film then that give it its unique, auiet timbre, Sometimes scenes turn into ugly inside out things like oils on water, almost into ghostly blackness, inexorable terror in the final scenes and an epilogue I still find incredibly moving. No one else could have made this film in Hollywood: yet it was Polanski of all people who indulged even further with the psychotic-schizo Repulsion, with a direct clinical study in paranoia, which had people screaming, sometimes with laughter. No one screams in Rosemary's Baby, not even during the moments of terror.
Cul de Sac was an overladen neurotic comedy which was hilariously funny, and to a lesser degree The Fearless Vampire Killers. I almost forgot, his first major film was Knife In The Water, still a sharp beautifully made thriller, and of course now his next best film alongside the baby.
Polanski received letters (which he says he loves) accusing him of communism, swearing, nudism, filth and blasphemy.
They're all there of course but hardly recognisable as such. When Guy is watching the Pope on television he says, "Christ, what a crowd!" But then all the other words were in Cul de Sac, and it certainly wasn't a meek lamb either. I don't see how anyone can be offended by anything in it, as Polanski himself said, "I agree it is an upsetting film. But because I am atheistic, I had to make a film which is not atheistic. I don't use the word religious because its too specific, but both protagonist and the antagonist believe in something. I don't believe in the blasphemy criticisms. The ones who do the blasphemy are the heavies of the film. In a passion play you don't accuse the people who whip Jesus, of blasphemy."
You will probably be disappointed with the film, and find it too long. Most of the females who have seen it have been genuinely moved in one way or the other. I have seen it four times now. It is an incredible feeling to find yourself loving it more each time for different reasons, listening to Komeda's luxuriously weird score (he does nearly what Riddle does to Lolita) and watching the colours and movements of a controlled cameraman, The Fox too if you're interested) but above all thinking about a 36-year-old guy, with the Legion of Decency ready to hand out a C rating, filming Rosemary's Baby next to a Bonanza set, practising draws with a holster and directing a love scene by first climbing in with Farrow and shows Cassavetes what to do, then climbs in with Cassavettes and shows Farrow what to do.
Polanski like Rosemary cannot kill the baby, the instincts of motherhood and love of making films are too great.
Sylvia Ashton-Warner
This Is an autobiographical work about Sylvia Ashton-Warner's early experiences up the Wanganui River. It is for the most part written in a diary form and generally covers the period from
To call a book Myself would seem to make the book sound unduly heavy going. So much of
Simone de Beauvoir in her autobiographical trilogy was accused of misrepresenting people or not treating their privacy of person with due respect.
Her relationship with her husband is dealt with clearly and forthrightly and her concurrent relationship with Dr.
While working at "Selah", her retreat, Greenstone where she tries to marry the European and Maori cultures
Miss
Until recently Kafunta (Immediate IMSP 017) is one of the best solo discs I have ever heard She has an extremely unusual voice, a Frenetic mixture of soul, gospel, blues and anything else that's going; it varies From a well modulated crooning in the lower register to a high shriek that is wild enough to make the Crazy World of Arthur Brown sound quite normal!
P.P.'s approach to her material is completely individualistic, Five of the ten tracks are well-known hits, but on this disc they receive unique interpretations. Barry Gibb's "To Love Somebody" loses much of the schmaltzy character of the Bee Gees recording; "Eleanor Rigby", "Yesterday" and "As Tears Go By" have become so hackneyed that it is marvellous to hear fresh, interesting versions, However, as good as these tracks are, the highlight is her own song "Dreamin", a soft, soulful ballad with plenty of tune and a good, strong vocal line.
If this is not enough recommendation, the orchestral arrangements by ex-Shadow Tony Meehan are outstanding with effective use of horns, piano and harpsichord. A very good stereo recording.
It is no fault of Bobbie Gentry's that she sounds rather pallid after Local Gentry (Capitol ST 2964) she sings everything from the Beatles ("Fool on the Hill", "
The recording techniques used are very interesting. Bobbie has a soft, husky voice which is consistent enough to stand close scrutiny and producer
When psychedelic music hit America one of the most obvious aspects was the large number of groups who merely imitated the proponents of the style but still managed to have their lacklustre efforts recorded. The same thing has now happened with the West Coast Rock sound. There are only a few groups putting out interesting music— the Grateful Dead,
HMV (NZ) Ltd have recently issued Quicksilver Messenger Service (Capitol ST 2904). This group mightn't approach the same standard as Big Brother etc. but at least they don't wade through a mass of repetitive cliches. Lead guitarist
The Dave Clark Five put out a marvellous LP a year ago—You've Got What It Takes, 30 minutes of brash, bouncing rock numbers with an excellent recording. They have followed this up with Everybody Knows (Columbia SCXM 5027 Stereo) which is one of the worst records I have ever heard. To my mind the best features of this group have been the big brassy backings and the Mike Smith's earthy vocals. On this disc the backings have become boring, the instrumentation hardly varies from one track to another, every song is dispatched mechanically at the same speed with Clark's stereotyped drumming behind everything, in the good old Tamla Motown style. Poor
In the darkness of the city
there'll be someone waiting for me tonight . . .
. . . at the place where we always meet
I'll say how much I love her then we'll kiss
at the place we always meet.
This sort of crap is strictly for the thirteen year olds.
To make matters worse, the recording (produced by
Bruce Cathie: Harmonic 33. Published by A. H. and
Harmonic 33 is an account of the theory which Captain Cathie, an NAC pilot, has about UFO's, which are popularly known as flying saucers. He views them as extraterrestrial objects, broadly describable as spaceships, which are being navigated by intelligent beings or an intelligence. This theory is based on his observations that the UFO's appear to fly along the lines of a rectilinear grid superimposed on the Earth. He then relates this grid to various "natural" features, such as catastrophic explosions (the co-called meteorite which landed in Siberia in 1908 for example) and some strange anomalies in the gravity field of the Earth which occur in North America.
Particular distances are seen as characteristic "harmonics" of the grid, such as 2640 or 2546 nautical miles. The Harmonic 33 of the title is another of these. With these harmonics Captain Cathie found he could relate many other things to the grid, (or in fact to two grids, since he thinks there is an older damaged grid and a new grid which is now being constructed).
The UFO's travel along the lines of the grid and underground "aeriels" at the junctions of the grid lines pull power from the Earth's magnetic field. Any damage to an aerial causes unfortunate effects when a UFO passes over it and this is the cause of the catastrophic explosions mentioned, and also of such major "volcanic" eruptions as that of Krakatoa.
Another thing which is related to these grids is nuclear explosion. Captain puts forward the idea that nuclear explosions can only occur when the bomb is in the correct relationship with the sun, and he relates the distance from the bomb to the point on Earth directly under the sun to the characteristic harmonic distances of the grid.
This is one of the weakest points of the book, and it weakens the whole argument. The idea that the sun must be in the right place for a nuclear explosion is somewhat improbable, because all nuclear reactions are very little affected even by changes in the outer shells of the same atom, much less by anything as far away as the sun. But also, five countries have more or less independently developed and exploded atomic bombs, so these five countries must have discovered the nature and position of these grids and have successfully kept this information secret, a highly unlikely situation.
Captain Cathie has discovered some interesting relationships but it would be difficult to say definitely that they are more than coincidences. In fact the amount of time and calculations required to obtain these relationships rather makes one wonder how natural they are (though if one is stalling from the "wrong end" an enormous amount of work may be required to obtain a simple pattern, as with Kepler, who spent a lifetime getting three basically simple laws of planetary motion.) He has pointed out some phenomena which are not easily explained within the normal bases of terrestrial physics.
But overall the theory put forward does not impress because the explanation always follows the facts and never leads to new ones. Each new phenomenon can, after much work, be fitted onto the grids, but no new relationships suddenly emerge from unexpected places. Rather than a set of new ideas bursting forth with new explanations for old problems, this theory looks like a tired old idea which must be patched and altered to fit each new bit of data, hardly a good position for a new theory.
The Most important factor about athletics is participation. This is one sport where you can put as much or as little as you wish into it, and still enjoy it.
So if you would like to run, jump or throw, either competitively or socially, you should join the Victoria University Amateur Athletic Club.
The Club meets every Tuesday as 5.30 p.m. on the Boyd-Wilson track (down past the Gym). Here organised groups training, individual coaching and some competitive events are arranged.
The all-weather track at Evans Bay is available to the club on Thursdays after 5.30 p.m.
The club for the first time, this year in an effort to boost membership is holding twilight meetings for freshers. The first meeting held on March 4 proved to be a great success. A second meeting is to be held on this Tuesday, March 11, also at the Boyd-Wilson track.
The 1968/69 track season so far has proved to be a highly successful one with Vic being one of the top Wellington clubs. The performances of individual club members make those of 1967/68 pale by comparison.
One of the top Club athletes has undoubtedly been
Penny's performances progressively improved. At the Wellington provincial champs she won the senior women's 100, 220 and 440 yard titles. In all three wins she broke or equalled Centre records.
Another Club member who has performed well is
Philip convincingly won the senior men's 440 yards title at the centre champs and was placed second in the 100 yards and 220 yards. In both the latter two runs he recorded the same time as the winner,
Four Vic athletes,
Other club athletes to gain places at the centre champs were
Although he did not gain a place,
The following Vic athletes were selected for the Wellington team for the nationals.
Several club records have been broken this season.
Philip Kear's time of 48.5 secs, for the 440 smashed the old record of 49.8 secs, established by
Rod Petley's time for the three miles of l4mins. 5.1 secs. broke the old record of 14 mins. 8 secs set by
The interfaculty track meeting is to be held this Saturday March 15 at the Evans Bay all-weather track starting at 1.30 p.m.
This meeting is a must for all student athletes. Entries should be made on the charts posted on the noticeboard in the Student Union Building, the Gymnasium or with any committee member. From this meeting the team to represent Vic at Easier Tournament in Christ-church will be selected.
Anyone requiring further information about this or any other matter should contact the club captain,
The following is the programme for Saturday March 15.
Track Events:
1.30—440 yds Hurdles champ.
1.35—3 miles champ & open
2.00—Womens 100 yds champs Womens 100 yds open
2.05—Mens 100 yds champs Mens 100 yds open
2.10—Mens 880 yds champs
2.20—1 mile track walk
2.30—220 yds Hurdles champ
2.35—3000m Steeplechase
2.50—Womens 220 yds champs Womens 220 yds open
2.55—Mens 220 yds champs Mens 220 yds open
3.00—Womens 80m Hurdles champs
Womens 80m Hurdles open
3.10—Mens 120 yds Hurdles champs
3.25—1 mile champs I mile open
3.40—Womens 440 yds champs Womens 440 yds open
3.45—Mens 440 yds champs
4.00—Womens 4x110 yds relay
4.05—Mens 4x110 yds relay
Field Events:
1.00—Pole Vault, men
1.30—Long Jump, men
1.30—High Jump, women
1.30—Shot Put, women
2.00—Discus, women
2.00—Shot Put. Men & Junior
2.30—Long Jump, women
2.30—High Jump, men
3.00—Triple Jump, Men
3.00—Hammer men.
The Following sports are holding trials to select teams :
Swimming : At the Thorndon pool on March 17 from 5.30 p.m.
Athletics : Evans Bay all-weather track on March 15 from 1.30 p.m.
Rowing: Contact
Tennis : Contact
.303 Rifles: Contact Roger Girdlestone, 17 Nikau Street, Eastbourne, phone 7123.
Yachting : Contact
Cricket : Contact
The Timetable below is of the range of activities planintended to give you an idea ned for the first term, not to convince you that the Gymnasium is exclusively booked for the whole term.
The following points should be noted.
1. It is possible to join any group or class at almost any time.
2. New activities and new courses will he arranged as soon as there is demand for them.
3. Students and staff of all levels of ability, inability and disability are welcome.
4. The Gym is open from 8 a.m. weekdays.
5. During the day there will nearly always be room for the recreational pursuits— trampolining, table tennis, indoor bowls, badminton. padderminton etc — even when the main gym is being use dfor other activities.
6. The weight training and dance rooms are at your disposal (and mercy). Weight training schedules can be prepared if wanted.
7. The lunch-time games (basketball, indoor soccer etc.) are open to all.
Gymnasium classes commenced last Monday.
This week is the time for you to decide on an activity which appeals to you and then come along to the gymnasium to join one of our many classes
Several new classes are being offered this year—these include gymnastics, archery, yoga, figure trimming for women, ballet for beginners, country dancing.
Classes continuing from 1968 are:—
Fitness Training (men)
Keep Fit (women)
Modern Dance (mixed)
Golf Lessons (mixed)
Badminton Lessons (mixed)
Trampolining (mixed)
Ballroom Dancing (mixed)
* * *
Intermural sport continues in 1969 with the same enthusiastic response as usual from many sports-minded and fun loving students.
The first term competitions in badminton, soccer, basketball and volleyball are off to a lively start this week.
The draw for the rest of the week is as follows:—
Soccer; Wednesday, March 12.
Taita v. Law Staff, 12.00
Tawa v. Law, 12.20
St. Pats v. Scots Col., 12.40
Fiji v. Samoa, 1.00
All Stars v. Treasury, 1.20
L.H. City v. Geography, 1.40
Weir v. Admin, 2.00
Basketball. Thursday, March 13.
Economics v. All Stars, 12.00
Nelson v. Staff. 12.30
Helen Lowry v. Chem., 1.00
Hargtaugh v. Weir, 1.30
Volleyball, Thursday, March 13.
Economics v. Law, 12.00
Weir v. History, 12.00
Q.Marg. v. Helen Lowry, 1.00
(Sydney Correspondent)
Sydney witnessed its biggest, noisiest and most violent demonstration for a long time when about 2,000 anti - conscription protesters — mostly students — marched through the city last week.
Several students were injured when police moved to contain the demonstrators.
The march had its ugliest moments when the crush of protesters pressed into Chifley Square at the foot of the Commonwealth Centre.
A score of police pushed through the crowd and blockaded the narrow western entrance to the steps of the building.
Hefty constables and sergeants, and the occasional policeman of higher rank, packed into a solid upright scrum, shouldering the marchers, many of them girls, back into the street.
More than one police hat hit the pavement, and several identification badges were torn off and trodden underfoot.
Hard-pressed police had little chance to differentiate between the onslaught and the onlookers.
Not only the mostly scruffy male students, and their young female companions were angered by the display of violence.
About six students were arrested and police said most of them would be charged with obstructing pedestrian.
But, one of them,
From the cream of the "Sunday Times" cultural pages we present . . .
Hello Darlings!
I really must get down to syntax (puff putt) and have a real bitch about some of the atrocities we have been able to see lately. Films that you and I, the girls and boys from Porirua, Trentham and Wainui. Teeny boppers, and up-and-reeking mod youths, all of you; films that you see on your tiny tele, and in the movie places.
I feel it is about time some giftidly normal cinefemme let forth abuse at the industry that for over one hundred years has been tormenting our primitive dopey Kiwi minds. Because honey lampits, you and I (les admit it en?) are just bloody cruddy dirty slimy low-down swabbing hop-infested rugby rancid morons, and to this we add our lack of capacity to vohmit prettily, talkalively yap yap like Tiny Skin, and what's more, exist as we do by addressing ourselves in the mirror for Lionel's ache in the prettiest public house we sit still in, to deface.
But bonza bene-droppers, last year I was unfortunate only to see a selection of films. I think were unparalled in their cheeky intensity to corrupt our lovely neighbourhood. Baboons who invest their weekly Satdee noyt with their bit up in the putrid Gods (I cap Him), and snigger and crank up their unoiled ignorances, like the three I noticed during that superbly mounted movie The Fox, with my Inangahua miner torch (beautifully going cheap at landslide prices) and Trawler Trawler flares the other Satdee noyt.
These three snorted, lit fire crackers, ate a loaf of bread, sprayed their hair and I believe the young miss actually began pasting a hole in her nylons with chutty gum.
I make no bones about it. Because this film is seriously trying to destroy the barrier that for thousands of years has made women tremble in their sapphic gumboots. Taboo or not taboo, this is the situation.
I have here camp-piled, a list of atrocities that you will never see, released through the State Censorship board of Australasia and governing territories. These films I was privileged to see with many well known folkies, journalists, Ikebana Scholarship winners and many ladies from the Temple Of the White Elephant Chicken Sexing classes.
The Scret Chops Of Prinz Kuckuck (showing how a sirloin of Tarzan, midrift bared and horse blinkers persuaded a young mormon boy to arrive home from Ludo Leaping and bite his pet frog to death. The censor rejected references to
The Codpiece According To Madame Quott (plasticine potrines, an overmisuse of the grab, Apostles of the Leaking Lorna are seen smoking shredded hardboard and seeking hallucinatory sensations sniffing glider glue, (whilst in the air), an all viol soundtrack was deleted due to misquotations from a limpid Frank Thring soap opera).
My Mum Maurice (overtly Catholic, with a complete and utter repugnantly revolting attitude to breathing in confessionals. Cardinal Cushing was parodied in a wheelbarrow, and the Censor has objected with discretion in making the soulful solilqies of Herminoc Skins come from the mouth of
The Ooze, The Mong And The Gravy ( a superior horror thriller which in its atrocities and violence shows: a noodle being removed from a baby's farex bottle, Mr Plod's truncheon is crushed in the jaws of a yak,
Schplunkt Dte Gombtreppe Garabaldine (or roughly "She pot de belly') (this film destroyed the faith one has in motherhood, the odour sanctity of a warming cupboard, the soothing game of What's my Pill? and
Sordid films, you will agree. Films that neither money nor patience would ever warrant their seeing. Almost as totally ridiculous as calling out names of directors, people who photograph it (would we wish to know who photographed the baby crawling into the kodak yonder) people who blasphemise because they rush and scan their movie magazines, take in all the tripe and bullsh from these foreign bigwigs, platitudes of great intellectuals sloberring at the heels of a Bergman, a Fellini, a Risnay, or a Godad, We shall thank ourselves for seeing what we see and having a jolly good snore off in between. Bah! I say to you cretin movie clots. You don't want to see films, you just want reflections in another eye.
I'm crazy to the end now. I'm home to watch the inner eye, the sancity of my little box. What a night—Country Calendar. The NZBC news (nearly 15 minutes of scintillating college work, and miniscular observations) and if we're lucky some of the new lads, the up and coming directors of our lovely land, with such wonderful household dramas filmed on location on our own home streets and backyards.
These films are the creative nowness. Give me pleasure, I say to the vision, and out pops little black sambo, naked and eating a Peanut Crunchy sandwich, as I snuggle down warm beneath my skin.
• Nest Week: Garlicke Queer. Demongibletates Culinary Capons In The Alfa Lader.
As The Start of the varsity year draws near yet again, we look forward to the orientation week whirl.
Not least among these, as always, will be the canvassing by various organisations to gain new members. The ardent fresher, anxious to belong, or to appear as if he belonged, joins indiscriminatingly. Or perhaps with some ideas of how to climb higher on the social ladder.
Sir, I do not excuse myself. In 1968 I, not even a fresher but a second-year student, joined in happy anticipation of glory the august ranks of the Salient reporting staff. I joined—I typed— I did not report. I came to the Salient office early, I left it late. And as I typed I watched the writhing convolutions of the Salient hierachy as some wormed higher and others were tramped. Owie Baby wandered in and out, halo slightly askew. Bill on top of the filing cabinet housing copy and NZSPA beamed benignly from behind notched canines.
What hope had I of getting to the top?
I left one day and did not return, (Nec ab ullo mortale unquam vidatur !)
My dear, my very dear Sir. When will Salient learn not to intimidate? When will her noble portals open to the great unwashed? When, in other words, will she grow up?
I Must apologise to you for writing this letter to you suddenly. First of all, let me Introduce our circle. "Hiiragi", to you. Our circle consists of students of Doshisha University, which is located in Kyoto, one of the most beautiful cities in Japan, and our subject and aim is International correspondence.
Our circle has about 20 members. from 18 to 22. A long-cherished desire of our members is to establish correspondence between our circle and groups at foreign universities or various social parties.
For this reason I'm writing this letter. We are reedy to respond to remarks about various things, for example, political problems, economic problems, customs, fashion, social problems, and so on, So we need your help. Would you please introduce such groups to us or help us to look for them. We believe that correspondence promotes international understanding.
Hiroshi Hayashida,
International Correspondence
Circle, "Hiranga".
1245 Anaguchi Higashitomatsu, cho Amagasekishi Hyogoken, Japan.
Salient claims ". . . almost 6000 people at Vic . . . could use a swimming pool." No doubt. And the same 6000 could also "use" a lot of other things that are not envisaged at the moment.
However, your argument is that student "need" rather than "could make use of" this particular facility, and it is this claim that I wish to question.
A swimming pool is no more necessary to a university than squash courts, indoor skating rinks, or any other of the much-vaunted but patronised-by-the-few sporting facilities.
If Victoria was a completely residential university, as many are overseas, where students are required to live on university grounds in residential halls, then the claim for a pool might be a just one. But this is not so, and with available finance for universities and education in general so obviously scarce and begrudged, there are many projects more worthy and less selfish than this one, in spite of the fact "we are not too parochial".
J. M. Dey
• Salient didn't claim anything. The article, which through an oversight was not attributed, was concocted by interested persons, including the sports editor.—Ed.
Under the heading "We're taking all the fun out of getting lost at sea", an advertisement by the makers of receivers for the Omega navigational equipment says sea captains spend a lot of their time trying to figure out where they are, Especially when it's been cloudy for days—no sun to shoot at noon, no stars at dusk.
Even the most experienced captains sometimes feel the thrill of being lost.
The spoilsport US Navy is about to take most of the excitement out of navigation with a system called Omega.
There will soon be eight Omega stations spaced around the globe that will cover the earth with low-frequency radio waves. Ships will have receivers on the bridge that will compare the signals from three or four stations and tell the captain where he is, within a mile or two. Simple as that.
Omega won't just belong to the Navy. It will be used by everybody, everywhere. Passengers liners, tankers, fishing boats, yachts . . .
Before long there'll be Omega street signs all over the earth. That may sound like the end of romantic adventure, but to a navigator it's simply the end.
That's why it's called Omega.
The International Student Conference, of which NZUSA is a foundation member, is on the verge of dissolution, said the President of NZUSA, Mr.
There was considerable loss of confidence in the I.S.C. three years ago when it was revealed that a large proportion of its running expenses had been paid by the C.I.A. and C.I.A.-front organisations," Mr Rosier said.
"The National Student Union of the U.S.A. withdrew as requested but full confidence was never restored."
Mr Rosier said the withdrawal of other national unions, particularly the Northern Union of Students of England, Wales and Northern Ireland rendered the I.S.C. in a weak position poltically and financially.
"Should it be impossible to maintain the I.S.C. as a viable concern. NZUSA will have to seek other organisations if it wishes to maintain effective international contact," he said.
"The only hope would appear to lie in closer contact with our near neighbours in the Asian region, and plans are already afoot for the organisation of an Asian Regional Student Conference in which it is hoped NZUSA will participate."
Persons interested in participating in a volunteer programme to help exceptional children are invited to call at the gymnasium for further information.
Children who have deficiencies in hearing, sight, and intelligence are included in the programme.
Your help is sincerely requested.
The "Seven Seas Bar"
Best In New Zealand
• Nearest to University.
• Modern, comfortable surroundings.
• Cool, bright, fresh beer on tap always.
• Food available from our "Food Bar", 11.45 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.
• Mixed drinking—all facilities.
Entrees, Cold Buffet,
Vegetables, Hot Pies
Members Wellington Stock Exchange
National Mutual Centre
Featherston Street Tel. 70-169
" America Hurrah"
By
Directed and Designed by lan Mune
•
All Reservations
559-639
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Opticians
118 Willis St. - Tel. 45-841
New Hairdressing Salon
•
47 Farish Street and 23 Manners Street
For All Student Styles
The Sports Depot
(Witcombe & Caldwell)
Long-standing connection with University sport. Every one of Vic's 24 sports catered for.
•
Corner Manners and Farish Streets
Guess what Executive member wrote the Exec. news for Salient last week.
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Current issue of Communist paper "Peoples' Voice" asks why it's hard for Auckland students to get accommodation while whole floors of Auckland's Hotel Intercontinental are unoccupied. It may be a biased source, but there's an interesting idea there.
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Some people seem to have thought Anglo-Catholic literary editor Salient was autobiographical. It was called "Literary Lazarus".
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No, all Labour Club members were not intimidated by their President's shareholding in the "Dominion". The anti-Hirschfield picketers outside Wellington Publishing Company included Mr D. J. Butler a Labour Club committee member.
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Usual greeting for Salient's lead story fast week: "How's your 'Cock' ".
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And then there was the little fresherette who hadn't read "The Prophet Unmasked" in the last Salient but thought it was all about the Stud. Ass. loan to Cricket Club.
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Quote: 1 wouldn't be so worried about the defects in New Zealand's welfare policy if they hadn't abandoned full employment policies"-Dr Sutch, speaking at Vic last week. In other words, as long as the Government adopt my economic policies. I don't give a damn about anything else.
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We wouldn't mind so much if Fritz were just watering his potatoes. What is really worrying is the water he uses. Fluoridated water is bad enough, but the worst way to dilute almost pure starch is to add fluoride to it. This column is drawing the attention of the Anti-Fluoridation Society and the Natural Food League to the problem. If neither of them act, the next step is the Compost League.
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Recommended as a new campaign for the "Sunday Times": modernisation of the Plunket system.
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" South Africa is the only country in the world where, if a man ran a fast 100 metres, the authorities would check on the colour of his grandmother's skin," said Mr. Dennis Brutus, a South African coloured sportsman and poet, who is on a lecture tour of New Zealand.
Approximately one half hour before he spoke, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union had announced that the All Blacks would be playing in Rhodesia, as well as in South Africa.
The NZRFU had earlier refused to meet Mr. Brutus.
He referred to the "specious arguments" by New Zealand rugby administrators that the All Blacks would be an example to South Africa. After 50 years of rugby between the two countries, the improvement in South African attitudes had been absolutely nil, he said.
The position had, in fact, deteriorated. "What has ever made South Africa change her policies?" asked Mr. Brutus. Force was the only method of influencing the South African government.
The Olympic Games, and rugby were examples of this. South Africa had reacted under pressure, but then only to produce "a couple of Uncle Toms" for inclusion in representative teams.
In connection with this, United Nations resolutions weighed less with the African states than practical expressions of concern or unconcern by New Zealand-such as sending, or not sending, a rugby team.
Mr. Brutus expressed his "grave concern" at the reported comments of Sir
New Zealanders visiting South Africa give apartheid respectability, Mr. Brutus said.
The All Blacks would be a very significant part of this process. "They (the South Africans) want to trample you in the mud," Mr. Brutus said, and by this association they would benefit.
"This is why the ConsulGeneral is here. It will strengthen them in their position of apartheid."
Mr. Brutus said that he was doubtful as to the reality behind the assurances of welcome for Maori supporters of the touring All Black team. "The shade of Maoriness you might have in you might matter when you apply for a visa."
Asked about the South African "mini-Olympics" that are reported to be taking place later this year in South Africa, Mr. Brutus said that the Shell Oil Co. had donated N.Z.$290,000 to support this all-white games.
"Nothing like it will have been seen since Hitler's race festival," he said. Australia, France and the U.S.A. will not be taking part, but the New Zealand authorities would be passing the South African invitations on to individual athletes.
To make matters worse, Mr. Brutus said, the games will take part in a stadium into which blacks are not allowed.
"I can't really give you a course on social welfare. The fact that there's no course on welfare here says a lot about the university."
Dr.
He also criticised the decision to lay foundations for an extension to Easterfield building when before the extensions were begun it was too close to the Hunter building.
"I didn't expect to come to the university and find this, Dr Stuch said.
It was neither true that New Zealand led the world in welfare legislation nor that all New Zealand's problems could be traced back to the welfare state. Dr Sutch said.
The New Zealand hospital service was originally "an extension of the British poor law system", and while the 1930 Social Security legislation had changed this to a limited extent the reintroduction of 'supplementary assistance' payments in old age and child benefits was a return to the old poor law principles.
Dr Sutch criticised the present education system for "producing rebels and delinquents" as a result of the unhealthy teacher-pupil ratio and the fact that many pupils knew they had no chance of passing School Certificate.
Priority in New Zealand was not given to welfare and education legislation—the road lobby determined priorities.
Dr Sutch also argued that there were too few women in holy orders and that economists (other than himself were "nineteenth centry figures who still teach at universities".
Contributions (fiction, poetry, short drama etc.) are invited for Arts Festival Literary Yearbook, which this year is being edited from Dunedin. Manuscripts, preferably type-written, should be sent, no later than June 5, to: The Editors, Arts Festival Literary Yearbook, 58 Royal Terrace, Dune-din.
A stamped, self-addressed envelope should be enclosed for the possible return of manuscripts.
"Radical attitudes are not the monopoly of the left," the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Marshall, said at Victoria recently.
"Radical students who can offer constructive and not destructive criticism can find a place in the National Party."
Mr. Marshall defined a radical as someone intent on uprooting established ways and values and thus changing society.
"All students should be probing, testing, examining the establishment."
"They will find some changes are needed, but they will also find much which is good and must be preserved."
Mr. Marshall said conservatism towards established values meant that all is good and must be preserved.
"I try to maintain an attitude of liberalism," he said.
"This is an attitude of progressive conservatism."
Mr Marshall accused the Labour Party of "resting on their laurels."
"The Labour Party did establish the Welfare State and New Zealand liked it.
"At that stage they were a genuine progressively radical party, he said.
"They are now the guardians of their own creation."