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The students have stated loud and clear precisely where they stand on the dismissal of the office manager, Mrs Goodall.
But before the 'Goodall Affair' is closed forever, we must assess exactly what was achieved, and what is still to be achieved.
The Special General Meeting last Wednesday rejected the Executive's reasons for dismissing Mrs Goodall, after a long time spent finding our precisely what those reasons were. The main complaint seemed to be the manner in which the dismissal took place, and the need for the protection of the office from the whims of student executives.
However, because of several constitutional wrangles the meeting was thwarted from putting full impetus behind a move to guarantee the position of the office staff. Instead it became embroiled in whether or not several individuals should be roasted for what they had done.
Thanks for this must go to our constitutional experts, (many of them prominent comrades from the Student Teachers' Association) who are so ready to talk of democracy, but so ready to put red tape in the way of real student demands.
Robert Lithgow eventually moved that a bill of rights be set up for office staff, and that an investigation be made of office conditions including the office manager's position
Salient believes that this motion should not be buried away in a dark comer amongst the arguments and counter-arguments that have followed the SGM.
Many of the executive members who voted for the original dismissal motion have continued to focus their attention on a justification for their actions rather than forgetting the hassles and taking a long hard look at the position of the office workers.
While Salient believes that there was definitely a right and a wrong in the dismissal decision, that particular part of the play is finished. It cannot be reversed.
The students at the SGM voted for the future. So, let's get on with it.
The Victoria University of Wellington
Public Lecture
"English Across Frontiers"
by
Professor Randolph Quirk
Quain Professor of English in University College, London.
on
Wednesday,
In Lecture Theatre 1, Lecture Theatres Block.
Professor Quirk, a world authority in English Language studies, is touring New Zealand as a Commonwealth Prestige Fellow. His publications include such standard works as 'An Old English Grammar' ( 1955), The Use of English' (1962), and 'The English Language and Images of Matter' (1972). He is chief author of 'A Grammar of Contemporary English' (1972), the most comprehensive synchronic description of English grammar ever written. Professor Quirk was awarded the C.B.E. in the New Year Honours List.
No one has come out of the controversy regarding the office manager with any credit. It is a bad and unfortunate affair which has had one benefit - that students are willing to hold the Executive accountable for the decisions that it makes.
For those critics of the Association political processes the meeting on Wednesday was an indication that students are the ones who control the Association. The importance of this principle cannot be over emphasised. At all times it is Association members who are both theoretically and in practice the masters of the Association, and hopefully Wednesday's meeting is an indication that more people are willing to become involved in the running of the Association and shaping its direction
It is to be hoped that we will have more such meetings and interest when issues such as the proposed All Black tour of South Africa and the Middle East conflict come up for discussion The next important item that is coming up is the Annual general Meeting of the Association scheduled for March 31. Apart from the usual discussion of reports and finance there are likely to be motions concerning South Africa. It is as important that students discuss these issues as it is to discuss the behaviour of the Executive.
The role of Salient as a means of examining the Association and the Executive has also been highlighted in this recent affair. Once again cirtics of the relationship between the Executive and Salient has a duty to scrutinise the dealings and decisions that are being made by the Executive.
I am pleased that these trends have shown themselves this early in the year and welcome them since they can lead to a healthier and more lively Association.
......................
Just a few other titbits that have surfaced over the past week
It seems that Mr Les Gandar is still farting around with the Standard Tertiary Bursary. Early this week there will be a long overdue meeting with NZUSA about the proposed regulations and any possible changes to them. However, this meeting should have been held much earlier in the year. The situation at the moment is that the regulations have not been formalised or even finished with yet. The universities have also not been informed as to what is going on especially in regards to the implementation of the old A & B bursary allowances it seems that the first bursary payment which was due to be paid at the beginning of April is likely to be a couple of weeks late. Once again students have suffered because of governmental in-competance and intransigence. No doubt further details will come to light so be read to read the continuing saga of Gandar's
Finally the Education course which I commented on last week with the under — hand class restriction has been amicably resolved. The outcome has been that the university has been forced to run another course with the added cost of employment of a part time tutor. Most students in the course now seem to be reasonably happy and they can remain so knowing that it was only because they were willing to take the initiative and challenge the academics and administration people. There is a further instance of students taking on the powers that are in this issue over a Geography course. How many more similar problems are there lying around waiting to be solved. If you have problems in your courses then don't sit on them, tackle them - you have nothing to lose but your lecturers
Hear Bob Scott speak. Lounge, Wednesday, 17th, 5p.m. Bring some food.
The story 'Fighting Against Inflation', on page 2 of last weeks Salient was reprinted from the Clerical Workers' Union newspaper Paperclip.
We need more people to be Youthliners, and will soon be running a selection process (early April).
If you're interested in joining or finding out more, there will be a couple of Youthliners in
RB104
from 1-2pm on Wednesday, 17th March, or ring Youthline 721-888
Once again my friends, because we know you love this bit of the newspaper so much, we bring you, never before seen (and in a different hand), 1976's third
Having watched Monty Python last week in trooped the Salient staff one after another doing very bad take-offs of the skits that they had seen. Each person got progressively worse. For instance Ryall, masquerading as the editor, ran in, fell over the light table nearly decapitating Gary Henderson in the process. Having regained his composure he grabbed a ruler from Rachel Scott and Judith Ting and pointed it at Anthony Ward, Lynn Peck, Lionel Klee and Leonie Morris - 'Hand over all your lupins' cries Ryall. Don't be silly John', was the collective reply. 'We haven't got any lupins only stories for this issue of Salient written by Lindy Cassidy, Mike Stevens and Kevin Swann.' Now Ryall has always been confused by anything more complex than lupins and unfortunately he couldn't cope with this new idea. In rushed Rose Desmond, Mike Stevens, and David Murray in peasant costumes and dragged the screaming lupin addict from the room. Pope Eric found a relevant text from the good book but was told to stuff it by John Henderson who claimed that James Robb and Gerard Couper were the only true messiahs. Don Carson shifted his bunch of lupins to an inside pocket, only to have them stolen 5 minutes later by Rod Prosser who said that he could do Monty Python imitations as well as anyone else and then fell through the floor under a 16 ton weight. Meanwhile back at the lupin patch Chris Wilson, Ann Elborn, Derek Fikkers, and Alison Bartlett were pouring over the latest batch of rat recipes brought up for publications by Susan Arndt. 'Totally unacceptable', was the verdict until Warwyck Dewe came in and told them of a new way to advertise them. Pat Bartle said that she would refuse to typeset them unless Lindsay Wright, sometime student politician and now a member of the feared Victoria University Highway Robbers Association, handed over all his valuables to Gyles Beckford. It was left to Petra van den Munckhof dressed up as a door to door lupin salesperson and erstwhile lumberjack to tidy up all the loose ends and send them off to Wanganui Newspapers for printing, who sent them back for Gerard van Bohemen to distribute.
An exceptional opportunity to work part-time and earn extra income selling advertising space in nationally known publications.
For details: Telephone Mr Newrick, 728-231 (day) or 792-412 (night)
The National Government has swung in behind the breweries in their attempts to deny the Terawhiti Trust power to set up retail liquor outlets in the Karori/Kelburn area.
After struggling for three years to establish a bottle store in Karori, the Terawhiti Trust has been finally hampered within an inch of success by the Prime Minister. Mr Muldoon, refusing to approve the borrowing of finance.
The Terawhiti Trust is responsible for the Wellington West area which includes Karori, Wilton, Northland, Kelburn Highbury, Aro Valley, Kingston, Vogeltown, Red Rocks. Makara, and parts of Brooklyn. It covers one of the largest trust areas in New Zealand.
The struggles started at the
Next, the area could not legally be declared wet until 90 days after the final figures were known. During this time public meetings were called in Northland and Brooklyn to form a Wellington West Licensing Trust Committee.
But the decision on what form the liquor outlets would take and where they would be located, lay with the Licensing Control Commission. It sat in
Six months later it sat again and because of strong advocacy from the breweries it authorised the building of two hotels as well as the three taverns that were proposed The breweries argued that there was a need for hotels because of the acute accomodation shortage in the area, whereas all the Trust wanted to do was to supply the immediate needs in the form of locally acceptable bottle stores and taverns.
But the people would still have to vot on who would operate these outlets, and this meant another long wait. In fact it was nine months before a suitable returning officer could be found, with the vote finally taking place on
The electorate at this stage firmly voted for Trust control. But, once again, as soon as the result was declared there was a call form the Western Park Tavern for a magisterial recount. They produced the required 50 people, who were prepared to testify to voting irregularities. But when the roll was checked by the Trust's solicitors, it was discovdered that seven of them did not live in the district.
The appeal was quashed but the delays carried on. It was three months before the Justice Department could set a date for the election of trustees. The original trust activists formed themselves into a group called Trust Action and put up six candidates, all of which were elected.
They had campaigned on the platform of building nothing but taverns and so after the final returns came through (
Following this they quickly found premises in Karori on which to set up a bottle store, held a public meeting to discuss its siting, and called for objections.
There were four objections from the Karori Wine Shop, the Kelburn Wine Shop, the Wellington branch of the Hotel Association, and a group of Baptists. There was a notable absence of any individual objections by Karori residents.
Once the hearing was held and the objections overruled, it was simply a matter of raising the $23,000 needed to get the business on the road. Normally a loan could be raised with the authority of the Treasury, but on this occasion it seems that Muldoon had given the Treasury a prior warning about approving any Trust loans.
So when the note came back from the Treasury, it contained a personal statement from Muldoon commenting that in view of pending legislation he 'did not consider it appropriate to approve the Terawhiti Trust borrowing money to establish it proposed liquor outlet in Karori.'
The National Party has a long history of thwarting the establishment of trusts, even if the people of an area have decided that they want one. It is apparent that they regard it as the first spasm of 'creeping socialism', and the antithesis of their totem 'private enterprise'. In fact former National Party leader Sid Holland suggested that the ballot paper should be worded, not simply 'for' or 'against' Trust Control as provided in the Act, but for 'private enterprise control' or for 'trust control'.
In the case of the Terawhiti Trust, the people in the area voted three times on the trust issue, and each time wholeheartedly supported the establishment of trust liquor outlets in their area. So, why did Muldoon ove against it? If you were watching the papers at the end of February, you might also ask why Minister of Works Bill Young, was trying to deny the trusts a position in the Huntly area.
If you look behind many of these actions you will see the sinister forms of the breweries lurking somewhere in the shadows. The breweries spend about $1000 a year on public realtions and most of this goes towards lobbying among the media and the parliamentarians. In fact, Jim Thompson, chairman of the Liquor Industry Council, is working full-time trying to win favours for the breweries amongst the ranks of the politicians.
Even under the Labour Government this was fairly evident. The Royal commission on the Sale of Liquor, which presented its report last year, failed to investigate the finances and internal workings of the breweries, which is crucial to understand the full liquor story. The brief they had been given did not include this, and so their final report was virtually meaningless (much to the delight of the politicians and the beer barons).
It seems that in the Terawhiti Trust case that breweries' pressure is again evident. Liquor industry sources tell us that Thompson has been pushing Muldoon and other Cabinet members to bring in legislation that would stop trusts from being able to operate retail liquor outlets, such as a suburban bottle store.
But what can we expect from the future? I believe their will be a general toughening up on the trusts, even though the majority of people may want one in a particular area. Nothing realistic can be done about the breweries, as regulations and Royal Commissions have a habit of being circumvented because through political influence.
As for the Terawhiti Trust, unless they receive a $23,000 gift from some rich benefactor, things look pretty grim. They may be given a few token gifts, such as a conditional right to set up a tavern or two but control, once again, will pass from the local level body to central government and into the hands of the breweries.
About 300 students gathered in the Union Hall last Wednesday for the most controversial meeting since the abortion motions last year. These students, representing about 5% of the Students Association, came to hear arguments, and to vote, on the motion 'That this Association has no confidence in the Executive.' The motion arose from the Exec's mysterious dismissal of Mrs Rosemary Goodall, the Studass Office Manager, last month.
The first speaker was the mover, Robert Lithgow, who began by stressing that he was not merely 'out for blood', but thought it our duty to reprimand our executive for what he felt was a misuse of our power. His first objection was that nobody outside the Exec know the reason behind Mrs Goodall's dismissal, and he wasn't satisfied by the 'if you know what I know you'd agree' attitude.
He commended Mrs Goodall's conduct from his experiences of working with her as returning officer last year and quoted a piece from this year's Handbook, which spoke of her in glowing terms, especially her knowledge on 'all aspects of the Students' Association.' Obviously something had changed!
He also read extracts from Salient in which Gyles Beckford had said that the office was running 'particularly smoothly', and everybody seemed happy, while Steve Underwood said that the uneasy situation there was serious.
His second objection was that Mrs Goodall was given no opportunity to reply to whatever it was she was accused of (nobody really know what it was, at that stage), and no time to try and improve whatever was wrong. This was a smack in the face of common justice.
Robert then questioned the economic reasons given for her dismissal, - namely the claim that she wasn't doing an office manager's job, so that her wage was out of proportion with the work she was doing. He said that the practice of kicking out an employee, downgrading the job, and then hiring someone else at a lower rate was an extremely capitalist way of getting the same work done for less money - a trick that would 'do Bob Jones proud.'
His last point concerned the future protection of Association employees. What guarantee would they have that they wouldn't be sacked in the same abrupt manner? Are our employees to have no job security at all? This action seemed to go against the ideals of the Association - so he suggested a committee of three people be set up to establish a bill of rights for employees.
He finished by saying that his motion of no confidence involved all the Exec, not just those who voted for Mrs Goodall's dismissal. The whole point of the motion, he said, was to give each member of the Exec, to come clean and explain her or his views and actions.
After a bit of enthusiastic applause (i.e. any applause that you can hear), the seconder of the motion, Mark Sainsbury, got up and reinforced most of what Robert had said, stressing that he didn't know Mrs Goodall or the situation surrounding her dismissal. But that was the whole point. He was entitled to know, and, as an ordinary member of the Association, should have been informed. He sat down in silence, everyone having worn themselves out on the first burst of applause.
Then the Exec, members who voted for the dismissal began their defence with all the professionalism of a debating team.
The first speaker was Woman Vice-President, Rae Mazengarb, who told us that it had been a far from easy situation, and if there had been a viable alternative they would have taken it. No personal feelings were involved. She went on to consider the role of the office staff - to help the Exec. Without this help, Exec is hindered and can't function properly.
Rae said that Mrs Goodall's attitude was not helpful, especially some of her comments about members of the Exec, Mike Curtis in particular, who, Mrs Goodall claimed, had not helped her and was under Steve Underwood's influence anyway. She apparently instilled fear of Steve in the office workers by telling them to 'Look busy' when he was around - thereby turning him into some sort of ogre.
Rae also said that the Exec had a responsibility to the office staff, and shouldn't have to worry about internal conflict, much of which was being caused by Mrs Goodall. Rae said she had received complaints from the staff over Mrs Goodall's gossip about Exec and staff members, and one staff member actually resigned because of it. The whole matter came to a head when she hired a full-time telephonist (telephonists aren't usually full time) on a wage higher than that of the other office workers. Rae said that when Mrs Goodall's dismissal was announced, she found that another girl working in the office had been intending to resign the next day, because of Mrs Goodall.
Finally, she repeated that the decision had been a difficult one, taking two hours of discussion to reach, and was finally made reluctantly.
Hard on the heels of Rae Mazengarb came Steve Underwood, Man Vice-President. He moved the original motion that Mrs Goodall be dismissed and had two more reasons ready to back up his actions. The first was the employment of the telephonist. Mrs Goodall was exceeding her office in doing this, he said, and did not have the approval of the Executive.
He thought that the $90 per week wage was excessive considering that the typist received $85 and another employee, older than the telephonist and with a more 'wide-ranging' job, received $88. Mrs Goodall had taken the whole matter into her own hands then presented the 'package-deal' to Exec, with an added financial commitment of $2500 per year.
Steve's second reason was an extension of the financial objection. In
In his opinion Mrs Goodall's work did not justify the slice of it that she received, and as an example he told us how she had taken over a year to settle the accounts for a pantomime and a revue, finally finishing only a week before auditing. He said that 'reorganization' of the office was started with Mrs Goodall's dismissal, and that Exec was acting in the best interests of the Association.
Following him came Anthony Ward, who was the seconder of the original motion. For about the first minute he fairly roasted the meeting, saying how appalled he was at the reception given to Rae Mazengarb, and how we should trust our Exec. After calling us 'bloody stupid', he gave what struck me as being one of the most well-presented arguments I've heard (at least it did the first time through!).
He said that the Exec is not a great ego trip for its members but is there to run the Association smoothly for us, and needs our trust. He agreed that Mrs Goodall should have had the chance to defend herself on principle, but principles often come into conflict, and one has to be chosen above another, even though the other is important.
The Exec considered themselves in this position. On one hand the students of this Association have the right to an effective, functioning body, not split by internal divisions. On the other hand we have strong responsibilities to all our employees. Both of these principles were being threatened, and finally one was chosen above the other.
One alternative to getting rid of Mrs Goodall was to give her a month to improve her work and conduct. Tony gave a couple of examples of this from his own experience. Both times, he said, it failed dismally, with work going at half-pace during the month. He felt this justified not trying it since the month-long period would have been mid-February to mid-March, which was an important period in the Association's year.
Another alternative would be to have a full scale inquiry, which, he felt, would have created more tensions than already existed. 'People working in the office would know they were working with people who considered them liars.' Anthony had spoken to Mrs Goodall about the matter and said the interview had not been easy for either of them.
The Exec was in a position where they had to decide who they believed and who they didn't. So they decided. Tony then paraphrased his speech a couple of times and sat down.
The next to speak was John Henderson (he voted against Mrs Goodall's dismissal), who rubbished all previous arguments on the ground of some sort of vague political theory, revealing that he basically doesn't understand what's going on. He said he thought that voting against Mrs Goodall, and saying the things he was saying now, might be cutting his own throat, but principles were more important. Very gallant, but not very healthy.
Anne Dwyer, the Cultural Affairs Officer, then explained why she abstained from voting. She had no first-hand experience of the office situation - it was all hearsay (just as it was for all 200 students in the Hall at the time, preparing to vote). She had spent very little time in the office and did not know of the unease, and felt that he had no right to vote for or against a vital motion involving two extremes when her vote would be based upon second hand information. Making a stand on hearsay was against her principles.
Following her came Peter Aagaard, the Association's secretary. He was absent from the Exec meeting when the decision to sack Mrs Goodall was made, and could only tell us of what he knew of her. He got along well with her, he said, working with her on housing accounts when he was accomodation officer. He felt that the personality of the office manager was more important than office efficiency. He wasn't aware of any tensions within the office, but said that one person cannot be expected to get along with everybody.
In his view, even though she was exceeding her office in hiring the telephonist, sacking her was pushing principles aside on grounds of expediency. Peter said that a vote of no confidence in the Exec would be a retrograde step. It was pointless putting one incident under the microscope and ignoring other parts of the Exec's working, such as the Bookshop, Trust Account, and general financial managing. Exec must go on!
Scott Wilson, Accomodation Officer, spoke next. He also was absent from the meeting, and was not in the office very often last year. Even so, his knowledge of Mrs Goodall's work, comprising mainly of seeing the financial accounts scribbled in pencil in a school exercise book, led him to support the Exec. If a vote of no confidence was passed, he said, he would resign.
Next Gyles Beckford, esteemed President, after nearly being booted out of the Chair, told how he had dissented strongly to the motion. He said it was a complete denial of justice, because although a few office workers were involved, the finger had been pointed at just one.
He said he didn't think Tony Ward's objections to holding an inquiry were insurmountable, and that the Exec had been too quick to forget principle resulting in an unjust decision. Gyles said that in her three years as office manager Mrs Goodall had worked 'efficiently, diligently, and loyally.'
He said he was unaware of any character assassination she was supposed to be doing, which, if it was occurring, should have been brought to the President's (i.e. his) notice immediately. Even though he was a good friend of Mrs Goodall's he would still have sharply divided friendship from business.
Now came a crunch. Gyles said it was actually he who suggested hiring a telephonist, even the particular woman. She has apparently worked for the Association before, was a good worker, and was unemployed. So the President did know of it how come Exec didn't? The arrangement was firm for the first term only. Gyles finished by saying that although we live in a capitalist system, we need not adopt its worst aspects. He disagreed with the motion at the time, still did, but would stand responsible with the Exec.
After that, Mike Curtis, Treasurer, said that Gyles had not said that he had given Mrs Goodall permission to hire the telephonist because Mike had specifically asked him. (How can we expect office staff to be open and honest with Exec when Exec members are not honest with each other?). Mike said that the office manager always discussed hiring staff with the Treasurer. In this case she didn't, and when Mike disagreed she told the new telephonist, 'Don't worry about Mike, he's just under Steve's influence.
After Mike finished, questions came from the floor. The few that were asked only resulted in parts of various speeches being repeated.
No-one appeared to want to know much more until it was revealed that there was a file about containing all the gory details of the situation. Many people wanted to have it read out, while others thought that we were not re-trying Mrs Goodall, we were trying the Exec, not because they dismissed her, but because of the way they did it. Finally the meeting voted 78-75 against reading the file.
A certain Mr Mallard tried to alter the motion of no confidence to one of no confidence in the members who voted for Mrs Goodall's dismissal, but the amendment was lost.
About this time, a great constitutional wrangle arose. Untangling it all, this is what finally happened:
The motion of no confidence was put and, after a division, lost. Robert Lithgow had urged us to vote against it, so he could propose another motion which said:
This was voted on, and passed 104-1 2.
So now it's over. Our principles and ideals are back on their feet again, even if their legs are shaky, and we can get back to the business of the year with everyone relatively happy.
Students in Geography 303 took action last week to prevent further confusion of the course's high workload.
At the first lecture of Geography 303 (Latin American geography) students were told that to qualify for terms they would have to complete two seminars, one long essay, three short essays (number of words not stipulated), and have a personal interview with the lecturer.
The long essay would account for 15% of the final mark and total internal assessment would be 30% of the final mark (the other 70% would come from a 3hour examination at the end of the year).
This seemed a peculiar method of assesment and a very heavy workload. With the long essay representing 15% of the final mark and the other five pieces of work must be worth 3% each! Six pieces of work and a final exam is far more than that required by comparable courses in other stage 3, six credit geography courses.
One student questioned the workload - only to be met with the lecturer's comment that as the student wasn't aware of the exact requirements, he couldn't question it (true, the information given was very vague). Another student asked whether student opinion would be considered - the lecturer admitted student opinion was irrelevant.
After the lecture several dissatisfied students decided to call a student meeting. Two students then volunteered to ask the lecturer to devote the next lecture to discussing the workload as this would be the last chance of changing the course requirements. (workloads and means of assessment can't be changed after the second week of term).
The students found to be satisfactory those comments he made that were actually relevant to the workload. When the students pointed out that Georgraphy 301 had a much lighter workload he claimed this was because Geography 301 also included a field trip. This is not relevant because a field trip is compulsory to all students majoring in Geography and as such is just as much part of the Geograpjy 303 course.
Three short essays, he claimed, wouldn't take very long, as he overlooked the fact that it is the research that takes time not writing essays out! Furthermore he told the two students that he had only intended them to do one siminar (he clearly said two at the first lecture). This sort of confusion wouldn't arise if students were given a handout with terms requirements, deadlines, and assessment method clearly outlined.
When asked about the nature of the interview, he said it would be marked, would not count for internal assessment, but would be used for university testimonials for those who required them (why then is it compulsory?).
This sort of attitude to students is unsatisfactory. Students have to know exact workload requirements so they can consider their total workload. The heavy workload has prompted several students to consider pulling out of the course, others haven't this coice. As there are only two 6-credit human geography courses offered at stage three level, they are forced to take Geography 303 to complete their degree.
After much confusion, irrelevant questions from anxious students, it was established at Friday's lecture that the workload would be: either a seminar of 12 minutes, or a 1000-word essay, a personal interview, and a 1500-word essay For the First Half of the Course and probably two or three essays for the second half of the course (this couldn't be confirmed because the lecturer responsible is ill).
This was the third time the lecturer had changed his mind! Students don't know whether this was because he hasn't decided himself, or he was not aware that he had changed his mind.
However, other sections of the department are also getting into gear. There is to be a meeting of student representatives and other staff members today in order to look at workload problems in this particular course and other geography courses.
The students in Geography 303 still have nothing in writing, but they have taken steps that could be used an example to students in other courses. If you feel that your course is overworked, or you do not like the method of assessment in your course, Act Now While you can!
The Executive seemed unperturbed by the no-confidence motion hanging over their heads as they carved their way through another Monday night's work.
Sports Officer Peter Thrush looked as though he would be the latest person up for the chop when he wasn't present for the opening of the meeting (He hadn't attended any executive meetings so far this year.) However, after apologising for his late arrival, and upon giving a very eloquent speech on how he had battled through wind, hail and snow to get to the other meetings, he was let off with a warning.
Remnants of the Goodall Affair were still present to add a slight touch of unease to the meeting. President Gyles Beckford said there had been five applicants for the office manager's position, four of which had been interviewed by himself and Peter Aagaard (Association secretary).
Treasurer Mike Curtis, who was the third person on the appointments committee, complained that he hadn't been notified of the times and places of any of these interviews.
Steve Underwood backed him up: 'To leave out the treasurer is a bit piss poor!'.
Peter Aagaard: 'Yes, it was a slight oversight.'
Steve Underwood: 'A slight oversight.. ...for fucks sake!'.
Gyles leapt in with his usual peacemaking charm and diverted everyone to a discussion on security for the rock concerts. The 'Waves' concert (attended by a capacity audience) was discussed after Peter Aagaard suggested there was a need for five security guards, rather than four, to make sure that the union building could be sealed off once the Union Hall was full. Peter is drafting future policy for rock concerts and asked anyone who had any ideas to come and see him.
Still smiling approvingly at the success of his diversion, Gyles presented applications for exemption from Students' Association fees. 'I have here 2½ typed letters, a cheque for $15 and newspaper clipping of the last executive meeting.'
Students' Association policy says that the executive can only exempt students from paying studass fees in cases of severe financial hardship. Therefore a request from Professor Young of the Industrial Relations Centre asking for exemptions for his students (who only attend the university for six weeks of the year) was not accepted.
The other 1½ requests were dealt with - one was exempted and the other was not. Anthony Ward suggested that there be an investigation into the whole exemption question. He thought it should be discussed at the Annual General Meeting after reports on the situation at other universities had been considered.
Executive members are always eager to tell everyone about all the work they have been doing, so when Gyles gave the signal, they tore into it. Scott Wilson was the fastest off the mark, reporting that he was streamlining the paying of rentals on each of the Association fiats. He is currently doing a tour of each flat, informing the tenants of the new system.
Cultural Affairs Officer Anne Dwyer, said that the Split Enz and Sonny Terry/ Brownie McGhee tours had exceeded their budgetted earnings, which will give Student Arts Council a boost for future promotions.
Ever efficient SRC Co-ordinator, Anthony Ward, has been finishing the SRC policy report and will present it to SRC on Wednesday. Gyles Beckford, on the other hand, is negotiating with the Wellington Student Teachers' Association on a proposal to allow students enrolled in two tertiary institutions only to pay one students' association fee.
Not to be outdone Anthony Ward donned his Films Controller hat and reported that attendances at union films so are had been steady, reaching a peak of 250 at 'Let It Be' (the highest attendance last year being just over 100). Apparently the showing of late-night horror films is being investigated.
Anne Dwyer made another
Finally, vice-president Steve
Gyles suggested that more ordinary, common, grass-roots students should be elected to the board of the Victoria Book Shop. Despite opposition from Mike Curtis, who thought the board was running quite efficiently as it was, it was agreed that this should be done.
The meeting then petered out to a rather dismal close, as thoughts of Monty Python urged the executive to rush over considerations of car parks, cash registers and executive photographs, and dash off into the darkness.
On April 7 several thousand workers from the Wellington Area will meet in Wellington to discuss their quality of life - or lack of it.
The point we wish to make is that workers in New Zealand have not only Failed to keep their earnings up with inflation, they have suffered a Fall in their standard of living.
Since taking office the National Government has instituted or announced price increases which will cost most families at least $5.00 per week more to retain their current standard of living. These increases include Electricity (up 40%), Rail Fares (up 64%), Postal Charges, Milk. Bread and Petrol.
To offset the rise in the cost of living the Government on January 28 gave all workers a 9 cents per hour ($3.60 per week) rise.
The unions will meet next month to discuss the Shortfall in rise and the associated drop in their standard of living that will follow..
There are many myths about wage rises - 'they cause inflation', and 'In times like this they will lead to unemployment'. You've probably heard these and many more.
However, wage restraints have been in force since
But - has inflation stopped, - or the rate of inflation even slowed down?
Have the unemployment figures dropped considerably?
Of course not. But the myths still persist, creating an amount of dislike for unions which are actively attempting to prevent further cuts to the living standards of their members. The sources of these myths are many, but the point we wish to make is - wage rises are Not the cause of our inflation; wage rises are so far Behind the cost of living that many people are in fact financially worse off now than in the past.
The following graphs illustrate that not all sectors of the work force are having restrictions placed on their incomes - in fact some sections are receiving Larger increases now than they have before.
Over the next months there could be some adverse publicity given to the Union movement regarding their activities in the area of wage negotiation.
Many of New Zealand's Archie Bunkers who work as Newspaper Editors and Parliamentarians will undoubtedly be active in trying to expound a few more myths and fears to thwart the present objectives of the Union Movement.
However, the fact remains that workers in New Zealand have suffered a drop in their living standards, a drop which many families find unbearable.
We ask you to remember over the next few months that workers in New Zealand are not asking for a Bigger share of the cake, they are trying to stop their share from getting Smaller.
Cries of 'we were cheated' all but echoed around the Union Hall last week when the Maori Land forum took place. Most New Zealanders have always suspected things were not quite 'Lily-white' about the time when the Europeans made their language felt in Aoetaroa. But since it happened such a long time ago it's best forgotten. After all, have we heard any complaints from Sid Going or any of the other Maori All Black rugby players? of course not! And they're the only Maoris we take any notice of! Fine rugby players! Fine boys! Maori too!, Oh, isn't it so simple when you don't think about it
With due respect to the average New Zealanders knowledge of our colonial history, the question of Maori land is complex and important, perhaps even more so than the Maori himself realises.
Mr Mihaka stated that if the Maori Land Marchers firmly believe in the principle behind their protest then they will accept the consequences of their actions. That is if they get arrested they will not recognise the charge and will plead not guilty
Mr Mihaka said that many people did not know their reasons for being in Parliament grounds, and so when they were arrested immediately asked for counsel. This, said Mr Mihaka, was stupid, for if they truly believed in the principle for which they were marching, (that is, to get back what is rightfully theres) there would be no need to want legal counsel. To protest and then to be arrested for a belief in a principie and then to say to a lawyer, protect me is wrong.
Roger Steele (who was arrested in Parliament grounds) disagreed with Mr Mihaka that to accept counsel was stupid. He recognises the charges because of the seventy of the issues, but questions Mr Muldoon's actions as he believes Mr Muldoon had no authority to override the Speaker of the House and order the marchers off Parliament grounds.
Mr Steele aks the question: 'who was in control of Parliament at the time the charge of unlawful trespass was made?' Mr Steele firmly believes that because of this charge a lawyer is necessary.
Titewhai Harawira made a plea for solidarity (presumably amongst both Maoris and Europeans) to fight for the retention of an existing Maori land. She suggested to the audience that the Government stop immigration until the Maori have been 'looked after'.
It does seem certain that the Maori people will be looked after, but perhaps in a different way from that which the Matakite movement would envisage as just. The arrests made at Parliament grounds may well be a definite indication of how the protest movement will be dealt with (leaving the legal issue of unlawful trespass aside).
Tite whai Harawire attacked the news media, blaming them for the situation publicised in the newspapers, that of existing disension amongst the Maori people over the whole question of Maori protest in relation to land rights.
This statement was supported from the floor by a student who suggested that the news media would present to the public their (the news medias) particular view of reality, which would be adopted as real and factually true by the public.
It is certain that there is disension amongst Maoris concerning the protest movement, but this mainly relates to methods and the extent to which these methods are used, rather than complete disagreement with the aims of the protest movement. This point bears stressing since the news media has to some extent highlighted the disensions to discredit the protesters (though of course such a claim could not be proven conclusively).
A comment from the floor suggested that Dun Mihaka was being laughed at 'downtown', and that the only place where he would be listened to was in the Union Hall. But to my regret, even in our hallowed institution there exist people who will laugh at Mr Mihaka. If he had lived in the nineteenth century the Europeans then would probably have thought him 'quaint'. How fare have we come since then?
A young Maori speaker told the audience that they would forget the Maori protest forum once they had returned to the library further up the hill. This obvious anger at the treatment of his fellow Maori people ended with him expressing some kind of threat - aimed at everybody yet at nobody in particular - a sort of if you continue to ignore us, you watch out what happens'.
It is probable that once he said that he effectively destroyed any credability or rapport which he had with the audience. In my mind, those few minutes were a minor tragedy for protest movement in general, in particular the Matakite movement.
Don Borrie a minister associated with the Student Christian Movement, said that the Maori protest movement was not dividing the country (as anonymous shouts from the floor maintained), but was fighting for justice. Simple enough?
He saw the need for leadership (governmental) to be based on people, not power or money.
The 'justice' which Mr Borrie spoke of is not a black and white situation. It is complex - grey You have only to read an article in the weekly magazine 'Listener' (
To give any substance to this 'ideal' justice requires on the part of the Matakite movement a sound accurate knowledge of the situation as regards Maroi land - past, present and future
The Hilda Phillips article clarifies (assuming she is speaking from a sound, knowledge base) certain misunderstandings concerning Maori' land. She examines the terms 'Maori' and European land' explains the land tenure system which operates in New Zealand today and its effect on land owned by Maoris. She questions the belief that the 2½ million acres remaining Maori land is the only land in Maori ownership. I strongly recommend this article to anyone who wishes to gain a clearer understanding of the issues involved.
Don Borrie's reference to leadership is unhelpful Since when can leadership be separate from power; how else can leadership be effective except with power to operate. Certainly abuse of power and the exercise of it arbitrarily are bad. However, the meaning of his statement (if I have uncovered it) was not conveyed clearly to those listening. The ideas and their impact were lost in the absence of offective expression
This forum revealed degrees of misunderstanding and insensitivity by both the Matakite people and those who disagree or question the aims grounds and/or methods of the protesters Overall, there was an inability or unwillingness to discuss the issues at hand, ideas were thrown across the Union Hall without any coherent dialogue being established.
Sensitivity - if there is respect shown for the people you are speaking to then you will be aware of your audience; and you will have some basis for deciding what to say, and how to say it The alternative which was displayed at the forum is for the speaker to deliver a broadside of thoughts jumbled in expression.
The protest group can't disregard the precious necessity to present their case in [ such a way as to (i) make sense and be accurate in its content and (ii) respect the opinions of the audience at the same time.
Ranginui Walker, writing in the Listener (14 6 75) said that the hidden cost suffered by the European majority who were victors in the conflict with the Maoris over the land was a legacy of Maori resentment which, although covert, would become increasingly overt as the young people were better educated and acquainted themselves with the facts of our colonies history.
The resentment he wrote about was obviously present at last weeks forum but I am uncertain whether this resentment was preceded by a thorough knowledge and greater acquaintence with our colonial history'
The emotional aspect is totally involved in the issue but on its own it is directionless. It is so necessary for the movement to match 'fact for fact' if possible those people who question what Matakite present as the situation regarding Maori land past and present.
At present the emotional elements of frustrations, anger and resentment are substantially reflected in the methods used by the protesters They must be subdued (for the good of their cause) and must step aside for sensibly reasoned arguments, supported by evidence which is thoroughly researched.
There is no word for Mickey Mouse in Maori to my knowledge; and I for one do not see the need for there to be one if they can see the value of knowing what they are about if they believe they represent the Maori people then let them do so responsibly. Their cause and the ideal which underlies it is too important to be lost in emotions which can only drain the spirit.
' the accrument of knowledge of all matters dealing with the security of South Africa andBoss' - The Bureau for State Security is the supreme body with the dual responsiblities of:-
Boss was officially created in
In
Anxiety continued to grow. The government felt that the Suppression of Communism Act, the Terrorism Act, and Sabotage Act and the detention-without-trial laws were insufficient. Hence the enthusiam for another efficient organisation. Since
The Bureau forms part of both the Prime Minister's department and the State Security Council and is therefore, close to the vital matters of government. Its leaders as a result have a concise knowledge of the action required in any situation. The Bureau has a guaranteed budget which has trebled from 4 million to 12 million rand between
The ability to work efficiently and in secret has been guaranteed by the government which has passed laws preventing details of its operations and personnel from being made public. No details considered by the Cabinet to be detrimental to the 'good of the state' or likely to undermine the capabilities of the bureau are allow to be discussed anywhere but in parliament. This includes courts of law, which has sparked much criticism from the very conservative legal profession. Some of its most respected members have launched virilent verbal attacks - castigating decisions which prevent evidence being presented in any case if it is deemed to be possibly damaging - the head of the Bureau has the right to decide this.
The Bureau for State Security exists principally as the controlling body within what is essentially a police state, where the majority of citizens are denied most basic civil and political rights and no serious opposition is permitted. In this connection its secondary purpose is to provide a cloak for police surveillance, interrogation and brutality in order to keep the OX Wagon Sentinel). This organisation was pro-Nazi in 'aim and intention and dedicated to performing whatever tasks of sabotage and terrorism deemed necessary by its leaders - (Vorster was one such leader) to hinder the pro British war effort of the government.
Ossewabrandwag doctrine is very revealing it reads in part - 'to seek the establishment of an authoritarian state with citizenship restricted to assimilable white elements, the abolition of private enterprise and the breaking of the British connection'. Between
Since Boss, its actions, and its employees.
The Bureau has worked in close collaboration with its Rhodesian counterpart and, until its expulsion from the Continent with Portugal's force, in Mozambique and Angola. There is very strong evidence that Boss is active in Britain and Zambia, where it is thought to have strong links with the CIA. The Bureaus foreign activities will of necessity increase with the advent of hostile governments in the former Portuguese colonics and the upsurge of guerilla action in Namibia.
Many thousands of Blacks have been detained indefinitely imprisoned for advocating majority rule and have generally had their lives disrupted and their families broken up. As much as the Bureau has the legal power and government sanction to arrest those it sees fit, it contribution is just as important to the general atmosphere of intimidation, confusion and fear which dominates the lives of all but the supporters of apartheid.
To some, the consequences of investigation by the Bureau are far more severe. It is estimated that more than 100 people have died while in detention. In all cases the police verdict covers it actions. An example is the case of Mr Imen Abdullah Haron, who died according to the police from an 'accidental fall down a flight of stairs in the police station at which he was being questioned, on the 27th September
Boss, is to Black South Africans, an instrument of terror and brutality. To the whites - a weapon in their arsenal of oppression. In the last ten years 6 million Blacks - more than 50% of adult African males have been detained for one reason or another - many because of the investigations of Boss.
Anmesty International claims that by the end of Boss has become such a fearsome reality to the Black population of South Africa.
Note:- Further readings on this subject can be found in 'Defence and Aid publications' available from the Student Book Shop. Mount St.
Petra Van den Munckhof, a third-year Victoria Arts student, was a New Zealand University Students' Association mtative at the 5th Asian Students' Association general meeting, held in Thailand during December. Petra was also New Zealand's representative at the Women in the Third World conference in this article she gives her impressions, both of the general conference discussions, and of the conclusions reached by conference delegates.
Last November I was delegate at the Asian Students' Association Conference on 'Women in the Third World' which was held in Chiengmai, Thailand. Here many active men and women from ten different countries in the Asian Region gathered to discuss many aspects of women's oppression.
Our overall task was to draw up a workable plan of action which could further the liberation of women in our respective situations.
The conference can be divided into 3 main areas:-
All the reports clearly pointed to the fact that women in Asia are oppressed in all areas of life.
Men still possess strong power within the family. Their position is confirmed by law, giving them sole rights.
A woman is powerless to have a say in any divorce proceedings even if she has fifty witnesses proving that her husband has slept with other women. The fact that one's husband sleeps with many women is fairly well accepted practice. But if a woman dare take a lover she is out on the streets with no money or protection. Her children are taken away from her, and the community ignores her.
Most women in Asia must work out of economic necessity. They have little choice as to the type of jobs they wish to take due to both high unemployment and poor education. The conditions under which they work are appalling, and their wages are much below that of men (in Thailand women earn about 16 baht a day - 90c NZ: whereas men would earn 20 baht a day - $1.00 NZ).
In the rural areas women must work in the fields, mind the children and do the domestic chores, but the money remains in the hands of the father. Many factories in Asia have adopted the policy of employing women and underaged girls in place of adult men as they can pay them lower wages.
Women also lend to be more submissive in their work situation, and their productive capacity is thus higher. There is no maternal leave and special care is not taken of pregnant women.
During times of economic recession, the older women and younger girls are disposed of. Women are thus exploited in work through unequal pay, appalling conditions, no job security and no avenues through which to voice their opinions.
The compulsory period for education is very short in most Asian countries for both men and women. In Thailand most children should receive four years
In Hongkong the ratio of male to female of those women who did marry, most only wanted about two children, and many of the women did use some method of birth control.
Both girls and boys went to school so most of the younger age group could read and write. Girls were not encouraged to continue their schooling beyond about two or three years as they were needed to work in the fields. The boys usually finished the compulsory 4 years education and were encouraged to go to secondary school if their parents could afford it.
Due to the recent clash, however, women were beginning to stand up and be counted. They expressed their views when the decision to take action against the mine was decided upon and some even took up arms. But it was still the women who were responsible for going back to cook dinner and look after the children.
The men were beginning to realise that they needed the support of women and were looking to them for guidance even though women in Mae Liang were not recognised as being as capable as men in specific areas. The men couldn't understand any Western notion of equality between men and women because to them being a man is more prestigious than being a woman.
The women were slowly breaking out of their oppressed tradition. Obviously these men (and more importantly the women) have a hard fight ahead of them, but as they said 'We have justice and greater numbers on our side. We will eventually win.'
The factories were depressing places. We saw cottage type industries, where even young girls aged 10 years were sitting and making umbrellas behind shops and on the side of the road. They worked at top speed with no rest and their financial return was laughable - 5 baht or 0.25c (NZ) per day.
Other women were carving or varnishing wood and embroidering dresses for about 16 baht - 90c NZ. This was a little over what it cost for a meal for a family per day.
The most miserable place was locally owned pottery factory in Chiengmai. Here both men and women were working in a dull dreary shed with little air and scarcely enough space to move around.
They worked 8 hours a day, 7 days a week. The factory had been going for 4 years and although the workers had been promised a holiday, they had not had one day off in 4 years.
When I asked a girl of about 16 years if she belonged to any union which could make the employer keep his contract, she abruptly replied that 'unions are just a waste of time - they do no good at all.' She was reluctant to expand on this, due possibly to the fact that if her employer found out that she was sympathetic to unions, she would be out on the streets.
Unions have therefore very little effect. Her wages were only 16 baht - 90c NZ - per day, and her job was making pottery mugs which were sold at about 100% mark-up in the tourist shop attached to the factory. She had may more years of this to look forward to. If she prostested alone she could do nothing.
It appears then that unite with men to change structures within their society which oppress the whole people.
Only if
There was closed temporarily but the effect
The final and most important section of the conference was to decide how best to implement programmes which would facilitate the progress of women in improving their conditions.
We all saw the limitations of drawing out specific schedules as the conditions vary between countries. Our programmes were therefore general, hopefully not to the point of obscurity.
The main role of the delegates, it was decided, was to organise awareness compaigns throughout various sectors of the community. Through this many women and men would have a chance to share and discuss various conclusions and ideas brought up at the conference.
In doing this it was felt that delegates should prepare materials on the role and status of women in various Third World and Second World countries, and circulate them as widely as possible throughout the community.
It was also suggested that commissions in various student unions ought to be set up to coordinate activities and programmes aimed towards an economic understanding of women's low status through the formation of women's consciousness raising groups. It was stressed aIso that it was necessary to support other groups fighting for equal and full participation of women as an intergral part of the struggle for self reliance and self determination.
Such groups included those fighting for -
In each of the countries involved a woman was delegated the role of coordinating all such activities and keeping other women in the Asian region informed about success or otherwise of various programmes. In keeping up contact the feeling of a committed group behind the delegates strengthened them in their work.
Many may question the validity of applying the philosophies of the women's conference to a Second World situation like New Zealand. In New Zealand we are in theory equal in family law, equal pay is being implemented (even though with little success) and the working conditions of women are obviously far better.
I believe that the same social structures causing the oppression of women in Asia oppress women in New Zealand, only here the effects are not so painfully obvious.
Many women's organisations tend to see the problem in relation to men's dominance only. They work through the recognised democratic channels to effect
Juliet Chin, former President (73-74) and the Honorary General Secretary (74-75) of University of Singapore Student Union (USSU) was deported by the Singapore Government in December 1974 amidst social and economic unrest on both sides of the Causeway. On entering Malaysia she was immediately detained under the notorious Internal Security Act. The sinister collaboration and high handed tactic of the two regimes was widely condemned by all justice-loving people. After much publicity and pressure from both national and international bodies, she was finally released on the 11th December 1975.
Below is a statement by Juliet Chin after her release, published in the 'Singapore Undergrad'.
Sisters and brothers of USSU, friends and all peace-loving people,
Allegation 1 states:-
That you in
I refute: All telegrams are sent by USSU (University of Singapore Students' Union), yet the allegation states 'I' not 'USSU'. It is ironical that the ruling party should fail to understand this as it professes to operate on the same basis as USSU i.e. parliamentary democracy. Secondly, the allegation mentioned the MNLF, whilst in actuality, the telegram sent by USSU made no mention of the MNLF, support to stage protest demonstrations at the Malaysian High Commission in both countries over the eviction of the illegal squatters at Pasek Utara, Johore Bahur.
I refute: This allegation is absolutely false. Neither I in my personal capacity nor USSU ever contacted Malayan students bodies in New Zealand and Australia.
Allegation 3 states:-
That you and others have, on
I refute: I have no knowledge of the CUF or its common strategies, much less help to fulfil it. The fact is, that on
Failure to Produce Proof:
It should also be noted that the Advisory Board in
The telegrams were nowhere to be found, which is natural as they are non existent. When my lawyer said that as there was no evidence against me, I should be freed, there was only silence. As for allegation 3, the evidence produced was a police report from Johore Bahru which read: Mr and others.....' I was never mentioned by name among the 'others' yet allegation 3 states 'You and others.....'
That I should be released on conditions which contravenes the United Nations' Charter on Human Rights which the Malaysian regime claims to adhere to, reflects that there is no true and genuine freedom in my release, nor in my country.
It is also abundantly clear that I am released on the strength of pressure from courageous students on both sides of the Causeway and internationally and from the worlds peace-loving people.
The Straits Times Press on This is an Absolute Lie and a Low-Handed Tactic. The spokesman from the Ministry in making this unfounded statement is undoubtedly seeking to mutilate me, insinuating that I have been a deviant member of my society, that I have regretted and am now willing to be rehabilitated. This is utterly untrue.
Today there is an urgent need for all students and peace-loving people to unite and work for:
The Release of all Political Prisoners.
A Society Based on Truth, Justice, Democracy and Respect for Human Rights.
Mara Students Defies Arbitrary Disciplinary Rules
Recently, MARA students peacefully went on a campus demonstration over the decision of the MIT (Mara Institute of Technology) Authorities to arbitrarily enforce the Institute's Disciplinary Rules which require boys, among other things, not to sport long hair, and the girls to be decently dressed. Union Secretary-General Syed Osman Mohamad questioned the necessity of the regulations when there were more important issues such as education opportunities for students, dropout rate, alleged waste of funds and the shortage of staff and lecturers. However, in a typical arbitrary fashion, the MIT Governing Council closed the Institute 'for indefinite period'. An estimated 5,000 students thereon barricaded themselves in the Shah Alam campus. In the ensuing 4-day 'occupation' of MIT, the government used various tactics to force the students to leave the campus. For example throughout the 4-days student struggle, the Authorities eventually cut off food, electricity and water supplies to the campus; lined the FRU (Federal Reserved Unit) threateningly against the students and at the same time warning them that they would not be registered if they did not leave the campus. In the end, the police went in and had the photographs of the last batch of students - 78 girls and 67 boys taken and personal particulars recorded.
Below we reprint some important extracts of the 4 days' incident:
Mahathir to MIT Students: Police will go in if you stay.
New Straits Times 9-1-76
Education Minister Dr Mahathir has ordered all MARA Institute of Technology students to vacate the Shah Alam campus tomorrow or the police will move in. He said that as far as possible the Government would like to avoid the use of force, and the students were being given a chance to leave the campus voluntarily.
Dr Mahathir also expressed full confidence in MIT's director, Datuk Lokman Musa, and in the way he was handling the situation.
Radio and Television Malaysia put the Minister's message across to the students on the campus, closed since yesterday until further notice, but only about 500 students heeded the Minister's call today.
The MIT students' union leader Encik Abdullah Baba denied today that the union had taken over contorl of the campus. He said the union was surprised at the decision to close the institue. The situation in the campus was peaceful and under control, he said. 'Security of the students is assured' Lecturers and staff can continue to work in the campus, except the director, Datuk Haji Lokman Musa.' he added.
Police, Field Force men are still manning roadblocks on the approach road to the campus and on the Federal Highway nearby.
My Daughters are determined to support their leaders
The Malay Mail 10-1-76
Twelve lecturers went into the MIT campus early this morning in a final effort to persuade the last group of 500 defiant students to leave, as eight truckloads of Federal Reserve unit men moved in and began camping a mile away.
The FRU men were stationed about a mile from the campus and are expected to move in to flush the students out if the attempt by the lecturers fails.
Some parents who went to the campus last night could not persuade their children to go home. One of the parents who walked out of the gate after meeting his two daughters in the hostels said: 'My daughters are determined to support their leaders.'
Well that time of year is coming up again - the best organised, combined games and piss-up period known as Easter Tournament. This time its at Otago University in the far South, and to get there, we've booked a whole swag of room on the the Rangatira. Survivors of that trip will be conveyed speedily to Dunedin, where the fun begins.
Sports expected to compete include: cricket, rowing, volleyball, tennis, rifle shooting, athletics, snooker, yachting, and perhaps such oddities as surf riding and spear fishing.
Anyone who's been will tell you - the atmosphere for the whole thing is fantastic. The sportspersons perform unparalleled feats, by competing ferociously at their chosen sports, then going on to incredible heroics at the amazing piss ups.
Theoretically these culminate in the Tournament Ball, but for many a true player the end comes with the holding of the fabled Drinking Horn.
Teams, in training for months have been known to fall down and refuse further refreshment, and grown men to pale and sicken at the sight of another jug!
If you can knock them back yourself joing the Vic team - the travels cheap, and the piss is free! If you want to come, we want you, and we've got room for lots more Join a club that appeals to you, or just come and watch! If you want, form a Supporters Club!
For whatever reason you come, we can promise you the best Easter you've ever had. So join up: put your name down for one of these clubs.
They'll be keen to have you. Don't worry about a thing. You don't have to win a Blue - just participate. See you on the boat.
Applications are invited for membership of the newest a most exclusive club on Campus. Designed solely for the purpose of assisting, by means of physical presence and coordinated shouting, our gallant contigent to
For further information write to: The Supporters' Club, c/- VUWSA, or contact your nearest Sports Officer. Peter Thrush, Union Office.
The Squash Club, experiencing new and enthusiastic life this year, expresses a warm welcome to new members, Both Beginners and Experienced Players.
An AGM was held in the smoking room at 7.30pm on Monday, 8th March. Apart from the election of the new committee, the prospect of two club nights per week to alleviate a high demand on court time was discussed.
An Open Night will be held on the 15th March at John Reid's starting at 7.00pm. Feel free to come along to play, ask questions or just look.
By joining the club you not only participate in a great fitness sport in a friendly atmosphere, you also use courts in close proximity to varsity at cheap rates.
Squash on Monday nights is free (includes rackets and balls). Also enjoy concessions obtained only by joining the club - 20c off court costs whenever you play.
For further information phone:
If you want to row for Vic at Dunedin come to training at Star Boating Club (opposite Town Hall) Tuesday, 16th March at 5.30p.m.
All grades and new members welcome. For more information Phone Blair Steer 786-002 or Kevin Wright 757-347.
Anyone interested in playing netball please contact Trish or Marg at 863-677. New members welcome.
The Vic. Rembuden, Martial Arts Club is a branch of the Rembuden Institute, New Zealand's largest and most well known martial arts club. It is open to both university and polytechnic students offering top instruction in Karate, Kendo, laido and Jo do.
The Director and Chief Instructor of the Institute is the internationally respected John Jarvis, holder of 9 Dans which include: 5th Dan Karate, 2nd Dan laido, 1st Dan Jo do and 1st Dan Tanjo. This makes him the most qualified martial arts instructor in the South Pacific; in these times of bogus Karate instructors it is refreshing to find an instructor who is legitimately qualified and recognised by Japan.
The club trains at the University gym on Thursday 6pm to 8pm and members may train at main dojo sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Fridays 6pm to 8pm or Saturdays 2pm to 4pm. It is hoped that students will recognise the opportunity to join such a respected club. Come and see us if you are interested, but remember, it is hard training in the true Japanese way.
Thank you for reading this. Any further details may be obtained from:-
V.U.W.J.C. starts this year on Tuesday 16th in the Judo Dojo located in the basement of the Gym, starting at 7.00pm.
Classes this year will be taught by Japanese trained Black Belt exponents of the Art.
All who would like to learn Judo, or learn about the sport are very welcome.
Emerging from the enrolment machine heavily laden with instruction sheets, lists of recommended reading and the expectations of my academic advisor, I wasn't looking forward to that last enrolment ritual, the obstacle course in the coffee-room. But I somehow managed to get myself informed about student welfare, the chaplaincy and the Rembuden Martial Arts Club and arrived home safely to find Handbook 76 among all the guff-sheets and pamphlets.
This year's handbook begins promisingly enough (there isn't one spelling mistake on the contents page), and the freckly - or is it pimply? - superwomen's balloon 'It's time to put things right" seems to indicate that Handbook 76 is going to be straightforward and informative, which is, after all, what one hopes for from such a publication. And to a certain extent it is: it's clearly set out, with good chapter headings and no fancy stuff except for a few not always apt illustrations, and most of the information seems to be correct.
There, however, the praise must end, for there are several faults which deserve mention. Firstly, and most obviously there are frequent and distressing errors; typesetting, spelling and layout, but neither VUWSA nor Ms Sacksen can be responsible for those.
Then, as already mentioned, the illustrations don't always relate to the text, and it's a pity there weren't more photographs (did the Vice Chancellor refuse to be photographed? And what happened to Tony Ward on Page 8?). Some shots of the Union staff, including one of the new caterer, on whom such high hopes are pinned, would have been welcome.
Throughout, with one or two exceptions, the authors of articles are not acknowledged. The small print inside the front cover gives us a list of names to be used, I supposed, for private entertainment in a 'match the author article' game. If we know who wrote what, it would be possible to attack someone specifically for wandering away from the point in particular articles, often in an attempt to encompass wider issues than those in hand. For example, in the notes on welfare services, by far the longest paragraph is devoted to 'General Comments'. Given that the aim of the Handbook must surely be to give straight information to enrolling students, these were somewhat out of place. However worthwhile those comments may be. Salient and S.R.C. are more suitable vehicles for their expression than Handbook.
Similarly, the article on assessment (It was actually about examinations) really went off the rails at the end with a call to revolution and the 'Liberation of Oppressed Nations". Certainly, since a reappraisal of the assessment system is necessary, the article was a welcome one, but the expressions used in it show that the editor has seen fit to overlook those standards which she should be setting and maintaining; standards of unbiased and informative notes on student life and affairs.
That brings one to the question of HART's coverage in Handbook. Not only was there a pamphlet about HART and the South African situation (published by NZUSA) inside the front cover of Handbook 76, but also an article on the subject printed inside. The article was considerably longer than any of those on the university union building, NZSAC and bursaries, all of which are of immediate concern to readers of Handbook, particularly to first-year students. While VUWSA and NZUSA's executives may see HART's activities as an issue which students cannot ignore, it would be well to remember that other issues: bursaries, the way the university works, survival within the system, and cultural and sporting activities are of equal or (dare I say?) greater importance to the individual student.
So, how does Handbook 76 measure up? On balance, pretty well. The complaint always goes out that nobody reads Handbook anyway, but for a work of general interest it more or less does what it should. Handbook 76 should be added to all lists of recommended reading for
Drama Society Annual General Meeting
The AGM of the Drama Society was held on Thursday, 4th March, and was well attended by approximately 50 people. The meeting, which was chaired by Anne Dwyer, of the Cultural Affairs Committee, was presented with a well-organised but inconclusive financial report by the out-going Treasurer, Alan Henwood. Although it is difficult to know at present just who are the remaining creditors of the Drama Society from previous years, it seems that we still owe anything up to $700.
The financial report led to a vigorous discussion of the past financial history of the Society, together with suggestions for its progress towards repaying all owing amounts. Such suggestions included applying for a grant from the Cultural Affairs committee.
The latter suggestion was abandoned as it seemed from the size of the meeting that there would be sufficient support from within the Society to administer it efficiently. It was also rejected on the grounds that it might connect the Drama Soc. too closely with the bureaucratic administration of the university.
A report on last year showed that the Society achieved its
A similar policy is to be followed this year; activities, but on a well-supervised budget. More informal involvement is to be the key-note of this year's Drama Soc. not only within the Society but also throughout the university. Lunchtime performances are well-favoured together with informal drama workshops. To implement this policy is a new committee, who will work in closely with monthly meetings of the full Drama Society, aiming at widespread co-operation and involvement.
Drama Society is keen to hear from anyone who is in the least interested in Drama, whether in acting, or directing, or even backstage. In addition to this, several workshops are being organised for the next few months, and all interested in participating should come along to the next open meeting of the Drama Society, to be held in the Smoking Hall, 7.00p.m. Monday, 22nd March.
For more information before this meeting, you should talk to Deborah Guthrie, who can be contacted at - 758-668.
The Drama Society noticeboard, carrying many useful (and some useless) scraps of information, can be found on the 1st Floor, Union Building, opposite the Smoking Room.
There are three seminars coming up soon, all of which welcome new drama enthusiasts and should be very worthwhile:
Stage Management Course
Stage Management Course
10-11 April.
Applications close 26 March.
Venue: Unity Theatre, 845-581
Fee: $3.00
Set Design and Costumes
8-9 May.
Fee: $5.00
Residential Weekend
18-20 June.
Schools in Acting and Production
Venue: Tatum Park
For more information on any of these, please get in touch with the President, Deborah Guthrie at 758-668, or any of her committee members (their phone numbers are posted on the Drama Society noticeboard).
Comparisons may well be odious, but they are certainly useful to a reviewer faced with two productions so vastly different as The Court Theatre Christchurch's production 'Sweet Mr Shakespeare', directed by Ngaio Marsh, and Paul Maunder's Amamus Theatre's two pieces, 'Gallipoli' and The Half Dance of Mary M', part of the Come Together festival currently at Downstage Poles apart in every respect, they represent two completely different theatrical ideologies and illustrate perfectly, Jerzy Grotowskis definitions of rich and poor theatre.
'Sweet Mr Shakespeare' is completely traditional in conception, with the actor isolated from the audience on a stage, using every trick in the mummer's ragbag, splended costume, sophisticated lighting techniques, elegant props and a flawless makeup job (how much we owe to television), that would have done Madame Tussaud proud. 'Sweet Mr Shakespeare' is a one man show, devised by, and a vehicle for, expatriate Christchurch actor Jonathon Elsom who, for the past iffteen years, has been working on stage and TV in England.
The production is in two parts, the first being an impression of Shakespeare from contemporary sources, with Elsom impersonating such writers as Ben Jonson, Nicholas Rowe, Robert Greene and John Aubrey. The second half is taken up with a fine histrionic performance of the sonnets and a tape-recorded Lament from Cymbeline, voice over a brooding
Mr Elsom is an accomplished actor. Dame Ngaio Marsh is an excellent director, (a word which seems to have replaced 'producer' in the theatre these days). The acting was polished and the production impeccably staged and directed. Why then was it disappointing? What was lacking? Why was I bored?
For a start, it lacked structure and a coherent development of a central idea or theme. The whole work lacked cohesion. The second half seemed tacked on as padding, almost an afterthought. An a performance of the sonnets, even such a good one is pretty old hat - hardly the stuff of scintillating theatre. There were some droll impersonations, but the highlight of the evening was a cameo of Launce addressing his dog from Two Gentlemen of Verona'.
This was hilarious relief and an attempt to reveal the bard's character through an excerpt from a play. More of this, rather than a concentration on the sonnets certainly would have made for more entertaining theatre and demonstrated Jonathon Elsom's considerable talent to better advantage.
'Sweet Mr Shakespeare' is just this, a demonstration of the classical actor's craft. It lacked content and the scholarship necessary to cast anything but a dim light on the enigma of Shakespeare's character. It even lacked the froth and buble that its tital implies. Without the resources of the rich theatre, this production wouldn't have been much more than a poorly researched stage one English lecture. It amounted to nice Mr Elsom holding our noses and giving us a good dose of culture.
This kind of theatre does have its audience though. They are wheeled into the auditorium in their fur stoles and lorgnettes, exclaiming appreciatively and ha ha ha-ing ostentatiously. One of these days I will review a typical Downstage audience.
The Amamus Theatre is a horse of a completely different colour. Its roots are firmly embedded in Grotowski's poor theatre and they are, I think, the only group in this country so committed to his austere and demanding ideology. Certainly I have not seen theatre pushed to these limits before, nor any local product more powerful than 'Gallipoli'.
This is theatre divested of all its trappings, reduced to a basic ritualistic confrontation between actor and audience. There is no set. The audience is seated in a small oblong surrounding the actors. Downstage's sophisticated and expensive lighting facilities are ignored. The house lights are left on, exposing the audience and tacitly involving them in the action. This is not to say that light is unimportant. The actors use the light and dark areas of the floor subtly and to effect. The floor, upon which they evoke the beach at Gallipoli solely with movement and a minimal script.
I understand they found working on a tym mat on this carpeted floor a little disconcerting. They are accustomed to working on resonant bare boards. Rhythm is important in their work, body rhythm and chanting. 'Gallipoli' begins with Paul Maunder huddled, rhythmically slapping the floor.
Props consist of a 303 rifle in 'Gallipoli' and a large cross in 'The Half Dance of Mary M'. With these props, combined with their technique and sincerity, they succeed in breathing new life into theatre in this country.
I am not suggesting that these pieces are without fault. Greater breadth of conception and a further devlopment of its rich potential would have made 'Gallipoli' a more substantial piece. However, to err on the side of economy is not a bad fault. I found 'The Half Dance of Mary M' a little unintelligible and the use of the cross in this piece unfortunately a little half-baked. Probably the most powerful single symbol in our culture, in this piece the prop upstaged the actor. If, as I understand, 'Mary M.' is an excerpt from a larger work, this may explain its weakness.
These faults are minor however, considering Amamus Theatre's greater achievement. They are exploring a no man's land, the very periphery of theatre. Their work has a raw honesty and toughness and is exciting indeed.
I was more than slightly surprised to see the critical columns of The Dominion suddenly grow teeth last week in George Webby's review of this production. Accustomed to Russell Bond creaming his flannels trying not to offend anybody, I fair dropped my ginger nut at the vehemence of Mr Webby's attack. What's more, he condemns them for what I consider are their very strengths! Mr Webby is the director of the National Theatre school, and does not burst into print very often. What have Amamus done the incurs your wrath George?
Are your interests so vested in the camp establishment theatre that serious and committed work of this ilk is anathema to you? Or was the review just dashed off, late at night for a quick buck? Whichever reason, George, your motives are suspect.
You used to do a bit of preaching when you started playing on the road.
Yeah, when I was young I used to. I was brought up in the church.
People like the Rev. Gary Davis used to....
Well, Rev. Gary Davis was a parish preacher. He was an ordained preacher. But I wasn't. Mine was a gimmick. I knew that religion was a fantasy and everybody believed it and if you can express yourself from the Bible. You know, you can take up a collection. It was to get a crowd round and take up a collection - singing and preaching that was it.
Did you ever record any religious songs?
Oh yes, Brother George and the Sanctified Singers I was on. I've got a whole album out on Fantasy now called 'Closer walk with Thee' All scriptures.
You first recorded, evidently, under the name of Blind Boy Fuller.
No, Brownie McGhee was my first recording
Weren't you ever given a sort of subtitle of.....
That's after BBF died. I made the 'The Death of Blind Boy'. It was a guitar playing - Sonny was playing with me at the time and I met Sonny. I made 'The Death of BBF and for record selling purposes they called me Blind Boy Fuller No. 2.
Do you feel it helped or hindered your career?
Well, my father though it was scandalous.
In those time who would your biggest influences have been?
Well, I hadn't met BBF at the time. My father was my biggest influence because I'd only heard him and his associates playing. His way of playing the guitar had a great deal of influence on me. He played with 2 fingers and thumb. I used to play with 3 fingers and a thumb. But it got me into just one way of playing. I played more like a classical style. He played that-a-way but he played very slow blues. My father played very slow, country, real cornfield.
Were there any other influences?
Lonnie Johnson was my biggest influence after my father. After I began to listen to the records they had around the house. I found that LJ was picking guitar at that time. I liked that way. I really thought the man had more hands than he did have.
Did you ever work with him?
Yes, I met him in
He was a hell of an influence on me, mostly on my single string. I'd never be able to do what Lonnie was doing, but I could hear it by doing it my way. LJ would sing and play afterward you see. Usually his phrasing would come after he'd sing. All his fantastic playing and his improvising would come after. Now I sing and play at the same time. My style.... my father did that. But I usually use Lonnie Johnson on my improvising on the single string.
Just thinking of guitar styles, I listened the other day to a track you recorded with Sonny and Big Bill Broonzy. What do you think of BBB?
Oh Bill was an outstanding player. Bill's contribution to the blues both in writing and singing of real country blues was enormous.
A lot of blues nowadays is still being written. You've got the old standars but you've got a lot of original stuff continually being written.
The form will never be destroyed. The content goes into it people have different ideas. They're not singing about mules and cotton much. They' re going to sing about cars and short dresses, nice houses and
How do you feel about white people playing the blues?
I've got no discrimination against anybody singing the blues because I know they didn't create it. What do you think about me singing an English Ballad. What do you think about Charlie Pride singing country and western? He's Black. If you like the thing and want to do it, you can do it. So that just shows you, Ray Charles took all of country and western and turned them into gold records.
And that changed my attitude about people singing songs - you can sing anything you want to if you want to. If you think you can do it - I can't do it. But now white people can do a good job on the blues. But the main thing found out about white people is that they don't want you to know what goes on behind closed doors. They will not tell you about their personal lives. They seem to be ashamed about what goes on at home - about what goes on in the family. They don't want you to know that they have had it hard.
One of the chief qualities of blues is that one blues song is probably never played the same way to two people. Would you agree?
Yes thats true. It's a free type of music. People try to make a set pattern - they try to put it into a written category. But blues is free. It's a story-tellin thing. It's a music that you tell stories behind — you can relate to that. That's the thing about it and that's what I'm doing when I'me on the stage. I feel so free and relaxed when I have my guitar with me. I'm only really my past. And blues as I said we have a form which is only a 2 chord, 3 chord 4 chord thing. You can do so much improvising on it, and people absolutely turn it into really fantastic stuff.
It's the thing that throws you when you start reading about the history of the blues. There are so many people that probably never actually made it but were evidently really good. Do you think of these people?
I do, yes There's a lot of young blacks that really need to be heard. And I'm trying to do something about it by investing into companies - young record companies that might be able to get them on and get them heard. I think fellas like myself should take them by the hand and let them play with us more. They should be heard because they still have it.
But you won't see them. There's nobody to lead them, and so they'll just be a lost cause, and that's why they keep asking us questions. Are there any young blacks playing the blues? Yeah, there are, but they are hidden. They're pushed back by all the fellas like myself that's out here. Down there as you say, out of the light. The only way they're going to get recognition is by fellas like me, and others like Freddie King and BB King.
You ran a blues school in New York, didn't you?
Yeah, I had a place called the home of the blues and I was training people on stage and on how to get lyrics together, how to store them, how to put them into the form in a way that would be listenable, and hopefully somebody might, like them. And I put a lot of people on records. But I turned them loose at the wrong time and I was working with he wrong people.
I noticed last night that you and Sonny seemed to be playing individually rather than acting as a two some.
Well, that's the whole thing about myself and Sonny's survival. There are 3 acts on the stage. There's Sonny Terry, and there's Brownie McGhee, and there's Sonny and Brownie. Now we're missing the third part of the show. We always did that. One opened, the other backed and we did 30, 15, 20 - whatever we wanted to do. There s no set time of doing it. If you want to do five numbers, you do 5. We don't go backstage and argue about how many numbers we're going to do. There's as much difference between myself and Sonny Terry as there is between night and day. But we have pooled our resources in being together. We don't dictate to one another. I don't try to change him. You don't change a man's style of playing. You try to support his style of playing and that's why we've been together 37 years. That's a long time to be with a man.
But it's got to the stage now after so many years that the 3rd show is missing. I know it. The duet show, which we do maybe 6 or 8 duets. We're not recording that type of thing any more. We haven't written any new numbers and so I feel like its left out. I haven't written any duets since
Were you singing more duets when you first started up?
No we weren't singing any. Sonny was just backing me up, being honest about it. Sonny didn't start to sing until
You do a song for 20 years, and you think its about time you do some new one. But if we can get on and do that, we do a whole show. That's what we usually do when we got to France, because that album has been translated into French. People say 'are you writing new things?' Sure! Got many new songs. And I could do songs that you have never heard anyway, and you'd think they were new ones. Somebody asked me the other night, he said 'Play the Baseball Boogie' - I didn't think anybody had ever heard of it. It was a dedication in
In the early days before you started recording you were playing with jug bands.
With washboards and tubs, yeah! Those instruments have become very popular, because they're classic instruments now, if you can find anybody to play them. Very seldom you can find a jug-blower, and its very hard to find a good washboard-beater. And tub-players, they're very rare, because how you can pluck a string and move that neck around, its very hard on the hands.
A lot of whites have formed jug bands.
Yes, there is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Jim Kweskin had a pretty good thing going but it didn't last long. We have musicians like that in New York, but they're in the ghettos. Nobodys going to take time go in and find them because this thing between the races has got to goddamn up in the air. You know, nobody wants to go in to look for this talent anymore. So its left up to the blacks that come out. Brooklyn is full of good harmonica players washboard players, good tub players, good kazoo blowers, and they just don't get a chance. They don't come out because they don't know where to go, once they walk out of Brooklyn.
I go there quite often when I'm on the East Coast, because I know them. I want to get some of them on record so people will realise that this music is not dead, its not going out. They're still playing it, just not recording it. John Lee Hooker's first guitar was a one string baling wire on a barn door. He doesn't like to talk about it. He used to go out and put the baling wire between two doors and then push the doors back.... before he was able to buy a guitar. And my first string I made for the banjo was a sewing thread. I tied it on branches of a tree, and pushed the branches back. You had to have a lot of patience. I learnt to do ti from my old uncle, he taught me how to wrap the strings together, and stretch it. When you got the sound you wanted you left it to dry. They didn't last, and you had to play them very soft.
If you tie a string in 9 knots and have to play between the knots - that's where you really have fun. That's where the capo come in. I had no capo then. I used a hickory stick. You'd tie that around the neck of the guitar because you weren't able to buy a string in the late 20's. If you did get a string, you'd hang on to it. I tied bass strings and high strings together. As long as you have the capo below the knot you get the same tone. I bottle all my strings. After this tour I'll go back and bottle each set of strings. I could sell them if I wanted to. Someday I might become famous. You could to into my office and see all these guitar strings bottled up and stuck down my bottles saying Germany and India - and think 'Whats all this for'. I save all my strings. I use the same set of strings that I had when I first toured Australia in
You don't have the guitar you made your first record with?
No, I wished I did, but I was stupid. I had to pay for the new car. It was a little old make-believe guitar. It was so old the keys were all bent on it.
You played a Gibson earlier on didn't you?
Yeah, earlier. I had an SS Steward. Then after that I had a guitar with a neck on it. I liked the body of it and I put a neck in it for me. Then after that I got a Gibson. I sued Blind Boy Fuller's steel Nash one.
How do you feel about the steel guitar?
I liked it at the time because it was a very good weatherproof guitar. Hitch-hiking was.....
You were still on the road?
Yes, I had it when I came to New York.
They were popular because they were loud for the street?
Oh yes, and they were good in the weather. All you had to do was just cover up the resonator - the little piece of wood underneath the bridge. If you keep that from getting wet, its fine. I slept on it many a night. I used it for my pillow, just put a sack on it, put it under your head. Pick it up, put it on your back and walk on. It was no problem. But a wooden guitar - as soon as it started to rain you had to get it under something. It made my shoulders sore after so long - very heavy.
Word's going around that the gentle simpletons of our fair uni have their ears unpleasantly mis-tuned. I've actually witnessed the word 'Country' producing a response of physical convulsion. Monstrosity of conditioning. The time has come for 10cc of that old hickory wind to be injected into auditory canals everywhere for the Natural High.
So listen.
Emmylou has not been idle since the rude departure of the man who found her and brought her to this world, Georgia Peach Gram. She has already shown herself to be a singer of not only incredible poignancy and power, but also the sweetest passion, on her first solo album 'Pieces of the Sky'.
This album was notable also for superb musicianship throughout, and many of those responsible have contributed on Elite Hotel. There's Ben Keith and Hank diVito sharing the sweet steel work admirably, and Eagles and Flying Burrito Brothers guitar man Bernie, Leadon who also helps out with vocal on 'Feelin Single - Seein' Double'.
Altogether it hangs in very well, though the string arrangements come in a bit heavily at times. They are not used grossly, but anything which hints at dragging someone of Emmylou's capacity down to the pop appeal of Carly Simon churns me up just a mite.
The song writing team is graced with the appearance of Gram Parsons no less than three times, including 'Ooh Las Vegas' which is treated to a really shit-kicking pace, though without quite the vocal vigour of the original version (on which Emmylou backed Gram). That's a track of gambling blues which will give all you pussy-footin punters a glimpse of the perils of time spent with the dealer. The album ends with 'Wheels', another lump in the troat for any who caught the spirit of Gram Parsons before he moved on (have a good listen to 'My Man' on the Eagles album On the Border ).
The other Parsons track 'Sin City' was for me the best of the album on first hearing, but it's fast losing it's hold as the other tracks creep up on me, 'Satan's Jewel Crown' is a heart felt rendition of the temptations of riches and a fundamentalist good will conflict with all the accompanying imagery.
Some of the tracks on side two were recorded live, used to good advantage at the beginning of 'Sweet Dreams' which just flows out of the applause between tracks, and turns into a lover's lament - quite similar to Too Far Gone' on Pieces of the Sky and just as sweetly sad.
You never get too brung down with weepies though, thanks to a lot of good up tempo music to pull you away just when you think your eyes are sinking to belly-button-contem-plation level. The album opens with 'Amerillo', a zippy bitter-sweet tale of a lover whose attentions are lost to the delights of the city (overtones of 'Streets of Baltimore'?), and then there's 'Feelin 'Single-Seein' Double', a good number for yer drinking women. Hank Williams' 'Jambalaya' is given a fresh work-out worthy of its composer, guaranteed to get your sluggish feet coursing with rhythm and your knees a-bobbing.
Perhaps the album hasn't the speed of appeal of Emmylou's first but if you'll give it the chance it'll get you in the end. And where better?
So move your latest Tangerine Dream number into a corner somewhere, preferably in a Kleensak along with the rest of your stone cold intellectual musicianshit, and give emotion a chance.
Good Gracious God, I love it!
Live albums are the paradox of the vinyl age. Without the broad subleties of the studio room the group or band is portrayed 'in the skin'. There can be no back-tracking, re-editing or overtakes. If done with precision and skill the intensity and feel of a live performance more than compensate for the loss of studio gimmickry. The Stone's 'Get Your Ya Ya's Out' is a case in point, while the Spinners Live is a good example of some of the faults that can plague a live album when the marvels of electronic wizardry have been trimmed away.
The Spinners Live album is a double L.P set and the songs are soul at its best. The Spinner's are still the slick and precise group that they were ten years ago, and their harmonies and chorus backing are a delight to the ear. The orchestration is tight and well balanced (if at times a little too rehearsed), never drowning out the group itself. Songs like 'Living a Little, Laughing a Little' and 'Then Came You' still retain the exuberance of the original recordings, while 'Could it be. I'm Falling in Love, could hardly be bettered. The only disappointment is the inclusion of 'Sadie' a sentimental and unnecessary piece of slop.
Side three is taken up with a 'Supstar Medley', good night club fare no doubt, but not normally live album material. However, the Spinners carry it off well, the timing always perfect, showing how polished and versatile the group is. The impersonations are never strained or drawn out, retaining listener interest in the act.
But something seems to be lacking, or perhaps there is something there that shouldn't be The Spinners are renowned as much for their stage routines as they are for their harmonies, and the listener is placed in the predicament of being able to hear an excited audience while being unable to gather the cause of the excitement. The constant tinkling of glasses and background chatter are another frustration; at one stage the listener could well imagine that the audience were more concerned with their immediate neighbours than with the Spinners. This no doubt is as much the fault of the recording's location (The Latin Casino!) as it is of the audience.
The mixing and editing sometimes leave a little to be desired. 'One of a Kind' for instance is cut off while the strings are still drawing the conclusion to the song.
However the overall presentation is good. The record delivers the goods admirably, showing the talents of probably one of the greatest soul acts around. If soul is your bag, then don't hesitate to have a listen. The faults fade into the background when considering the overall excellence of the album.
While some records are a senseless waste of vinyl and others are pure joy to listen to, the vast majority fall into a category where they may gain a limited audience but invariably end up in the reduced record boxes.
I would find it hard to believe that anyone could find this disc to approximate the two former catagories. His 'music is inoffensive and harmless - yet does not ever reach great musical heights.
Much as I dislike classifying artists, the reviewers job is to give the prospective buyer some idea as to what tastes the artist is likely to appeal to. Seems to me that Andrew Gold sounds something approaching a watered down version of Bread. His voice is practically identical of that of David Gates, but with excellent backing vocals and reasonable arranging, the producers have managed to salvage the music into sounding very much like the Eagles. The style follows very closely the lightweight country-rock thing.
Lyrically, the album is extremely tiresome as the same old country themes are regurgitated endlessly - broken hearts, gotta git back on the road again, and various other examples of debauchery, self indulgence etc.
At best, the music is pleasant and relaxing with some exceptionally nice slide guitar work and tight harmony featuring Linda Ronstadt and others. At worst, the music is tedious and predictable with very little lyrical or melodic merit which will probably mean that it will sell in large quantities.
Gold himself sings pleasantly and shows versatility as an instrumentalist - he plays drums, bass, piano, guitars and the symthetic haggis. I doubt, however, that he has any chances of hitting the big time as his first offering is so mixed quality-wise. Track 4 on the first side is a genuine rocker with a 'Tower of Power' - type horn section featuring Bobby Keyes of Harry Nilsson fame. In contrast. Track 2, entitled 'Heartaches in heartaches' is as bad as the title suggests - pure crap!
The album cover - an important part of any musical package - is unbelievably bad, resembling the well washed, white suited gent being bombarded with ping pong balls.
Although being superficial, Gold seems to get away with it by making the music unpretentious and generally following the usual lightweight country rock recipe. Worth a listen if you're into that sort of thing.
Queen present us with their night at the opera; an apparent take-off of every musical style from Gilbert and Sullivan and twenties-revival to folk and acid rock. Their tongue is always in somebody or other's cheek, but however much the listener may jump up and down in frustration, Queen remain passionless, aloof, inscrutable.
This album could be many things - revolting, tinny, plagiaristic, but most of the time its not. You can't even call it a take-off because it rises above that and stands as music in its own right.
We start with an all-purpose curse 'Death on two legs. Dedicated to....' which has some lines worth mentioning.
'was the fin on the back part of the deal? (Shark!)'
and
'You're a sewer-pit decaying in a cesspool of pride
Should be made unemployed Then make yourself null and void'
On the surface its like a schoolboy's written exercise that has all the right elements, but lacks the essential spirit. Underneath, its a lot more than this. Queen present it as a statement in its own right that's neither serious nor a take-off.
The same applies to I'm in Love with my car' - a theme that has been done before but never quite like this. Its helped by some beautifully atrocious lyrics:
'Told my girl just had to forget her, rather buy me a new carburettor'
There are parts of this album, particularly some of Freddie Mercury's vocal harmonies, that really send shivers down my spine. 'You're my best friend' has some terrible lyrics, but I do like the shivers, and what a name for a love song!
Now a folk-rock song about soldiers going across the sea to war; '39'. I defy you to find any humourous bits in this one. Yet it should be an awful plagiarism of Lindisfarne, but its not.
Because its an opera, the revolting clichés are repeated as a leitmotif in 'Sweet Lady':
'You call me sweet like I'm some kind of cheese
Waiting on the shelf You eat me up'
It's Queen's fond boast that they use no synthesizers. This gives their music a clarity and briskness and leads to some imaginative instrumentation. Brian May's harp on 'Love of my Love' gives the song a really beautiful touch. His 'genuine Aloha ukelele (made in Japan)' gives 'Good Company' an equally distinctive backing. And of course I mentioned Freddie Mercury's sensuous vocals - you probably remember that bit from 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that gives 'Mama, oo/Don't mean to make you cry'.
But even good things can be taken too far. Queen sometimes get carried away, for example, in 'The Prophets Song' where the same vocals are used to excess. Like most of this album, this song is a variation on an old theme, but it lacks the imagination of some of the other tracks. The same applies to Queen's attempts at social comment:
'All my friends by a year by and by disappeared but we're safe enough behind our door'
Haven't I heard that somewhere before?
However, mostly Queen's sheer bravado carries the album above such doldrums.
On the corner of Brandon and Featherston Streets a new exotic restaurant opened recently. Toko Baru boasts authentic Indonesian fare; nothing more - certainly not pleasant surroundings. Nor is it cheap.
I looked forward to trying this place, but it was a disappointment in every respect. Looking at the menu, main dish prices ranged from $2.80 - $3.60. The two items on the menu that we chose were these:-
Sate Babi ($3.10) Grilled pork on skewers, Raw tomato slices, red onion, cucumber and gerkins.Brown fried ricePeanut sauce (in a side dish)Ajam Ketjap ($3.00 Chicken in a hot (spicy) sauceRaw tomato slices and gerkinsBoiled brown rice.
The food arrived after a considerable delay. In both dishes the food came in two plates with a third to mix the food on and to eat off. In the case of the Sate Babi the pork was grilled on skewers, shish kebab style, with about five of these. The meat portions though minute were beautifully tender and tasty. The fried rice was only luke warm as was the side dish of peanut sauce. By way of contrast the raw vegetables were cool and fresh to taste.
With the Ajam Ketjap - much the same story - rice and meat in sauce lukewarm. The chicken (?) was more generous, though tough. Raw vegetables good.
The servings themselves I thought were small as a main course, and certainly would not qualify as a 'feed'. Whether the style of the cookery was authentic Indonesian I am not qualified to guess - but when a dish is lukewarm I presume that it is meant to be hot. A good way to get an idea of the authenticity of a Chinese restaurant for example is to see if there are any Chinese eating there. This is not applicable to Indonesians in New Zealand as I doubt if there are enough to make seeing one there a condition. I believe that the place is run by Dutch/Indonesian expatriates - but I could be quite wrong.
Other tables had wine so I suspect it is O.K. to B.Y.O.
To sum up a disappointing meal. At $3.00 or so for a main dish I don't consider that cheap, so I'm not prepared to justify the luke warm dishes, the long wait, poor service and the shabby decor. As for the dishes themselves - their authenticity I will assume and possibly on another night that is for you to decide.
Letters can be handed in at the letterbox just inside the Salient office or handed in to the editor personally. However if you wish to pay 8c postage then send your letters to PO Box 1347, Wellington. Letters should be double spaced and on one side of the paper only.
I paid my $30.50 (Stud.Ass.Fee) for this year and learnt sometime last year of the VUWSA's decision to take over the Sweet and Maxwell Bookstore which has since been renamed Victoria Book Centre Ltd.
I do not object to the association's move per se to have an enterprise of its own in the form of a bookshop.
Since student money is involved in the Victoria Book Centre I would like to know exactly how the association's book centre is being run.
At the SGM, Wednesday 10th March the Vice-President said that he saw it fit to discuss the former office manager because she was being paid too much in relation to the job that had to be done. If feat that people who work in the book centre, and who come under the association's jurisdiction (and who may not have a bill of rights like the VUWSA's office staff) may incur the wrath of certain capitalist roaders of the VUWSA's Executive.
In this regard I would like the President to reply to the following in his weekly column in Salient:
I trust the President will give me an answer to each of my questions. If I don't get an answer then SRC is not too far away and the Executive could be in for crisis No.2
If you are still alive, you may well be interested to discover that I am appalled to see that A-K Mugmouth - Sputin is out on parole. Life sentences are just not what they used to be. This release from capitivity may be Mouthwash-Spasm's greatest con and thereby something to regard with awe; it is also an abomination. As such it is on a par with Auschwitz and Rita Hayworth's silicone jobs of
In
That is why I abominate your printing of that absurd missive and insist you make no effort to answer his ridiculous question.
(abridged
On noticing that the Wgtn Public Library is shortly to extend its record library to include Rock and Jazz, I decided to write to try and find out what chance there is of the Uni Library doing likewise.
The selection of classical and literature-type records caters for the 'serious' music student, but I'm sure the majority of students get little use from this service.
A record library which provides only for the needs of a select few is an extravagance to say the least. Rock, Jazz, Blues etc records should all be included, along with a selection of music from different cultures.
This would interest a much wider range of students, and maybe encourage them to broaden and diversify their musical tastes.
The noisy buggers who assume the nom-deguerre of Socialist Action Leaque (or whatever) forget the C.I.A.'s inevitable place in the class struggle. They are the enemy within, and as such are a scourge to be exposed, but they are also the identifiable enemy or totem of the bourgeois.
As Pallenberg says 'The Papal Gendarmes represent the real police force of the Vatican City. The minimum required height is 1.75 metres, but the men are usually much taller. They are all Italians'. This is the C.I.A. in microcosm.
The Papal Gendarme is over 1.75 metres and is Italian and is easily identifiable as the real policeman. So, anyone set upon overwhelming the Vatican by military encounter would go for these guys, not the post office workers etc. So with the C.I.A. Their presence is necessary to ensure their liquidation etc.
This may not be ovious at a glance. But consult Kapital:-
Her looks assisted her enormously. She had very precisely defined lips, the upper one of which sat like a long lid over a much smaller lower one and increased the wistfulness of her features. Her eyes have always had the effect of a baby's - they seem disproportionately large for the face in which they are st.
In figurative language, the same preoccupations appear. Sex, identity and revisionism. As Gerald Brady, the freelance provacateur exposed by Fyson et al, once wrote:-
'Marx's prognosticate infatuation with Lilian Gish gave rise to some of the most piercing analyses of capitalism in decay. In Gish, the great thinker saw an income and an exploitative of labour demand against goods withdrawal. But, more significantly, it was as a paradigm of the withered capitalist
The hunt for the Quisling in the ranks of the university academics is narrowing down. It is now established beyond reasonable doubt that the man concerned with turning in the list of the Rowling supporters to the Tamaki Tomcat is a respected member of the Arts Faculty.
I was discussing what I should write a letter to the Editor about, with a couple of friends when I took a sip (thank god) of my Lily cup of 'coffee'.
This all happened in the cafe about 11.15am and we all commented on the shitty flavour (torrid is a better word). It tastes similar to mollasses (no, not even that nice).
It must have been perked at least 10 times, possibly 9 too many.
I hope the cafe caterer gets pissed off with this letter, cause I'm pissed off with my coffee. After 50 minutes of pol sci I look forward to a good cup of coffee.
May we firstly suggest that you find a new name Salient as, after reading this week's issue, we are convinced it should have one something like 'the Moscow Times' or the 'Peking Periodical'. Some of the last years stuff was bad enough, but the almost blatant left-wing bias in this weeks issue was just pure unadulterated crap.
Starting with Mr Ward's criticism of Muldoon's mini-budget - this must be the best one-sided article in years. For a start, the budget was planned by Muldoon - and his economic 'think tank' committee (which consists of over half a dozen experienced economists and such). Although we are not suggesting that the M.B. was perfect in every aspect (it seemed that this was the opinion of many learned people throughout the country) it certainly had bad points as well as good. Yet Mr Ward, in a true stirring sense, could find no good in it at all. Very strange? (or maybe he is letting political prejudice override rational thoughts?).
On the article regarding the C.I.A. in New Zealand (written by a Young Socialist, I presume) the writer has the cheek to talk of infringement of democratic rights (note no mention of the USSR and Cuban's role in Angola). While we despise any 'spying' whatsoever in New Zealand, it is the virtue of the American system that the CIA has been opened up - but is there any chance of that happening in Russia - not on your nellie. It is just as realistic for the K.G.B. to have been here as the C.I.A.
Last but not least, the tripe about 'National's blackest scheme' surely took the cake. Our only comments are that the writer knows it is such a lot of bullshit that he has even declined to write his name on the article.
Please try and get both sides of the story next time, or you may as well print Salient in red type instead of black.
(Thanks for your criticisms of Salient No. 2. I said in the first issue of the year that the paper 'doesn't pretend to be objective because its reporters have political views (even if many of them remain at the subconscious level)'. The views that you put forward are politically biased too, but it seems that you do not realise this. However, I tend to think that your views lack any real substance to them. You do not say what the 'good points' of the mini-budget were and you do not substantiate (by the presentation of factual material) on why 'National's Blackest Scheme' was 'such a lot of bullshit'. Your comments on the CIA article seem to conclude that as long as someone is honest, it doesn't matter what villainous activities they get up to. Even Catholic theology is not that warped. I invite you to write something for Salient giving the so-called other side, to come along to regular staff meetings, and to help make the student newspaper something that you feel you can identify with - Ed.)
Why the ridiculous 'ticket' system in the downstairs cafe.
Look at the sandwiches and cakes.
(Behind a screen with the notice; please do not help yourself)
(2 mins).
Wait again for ticket to be collected.
(5 mins).
Ticket collected.
Again repeat order.
Lady called down other end. (5mins) Returns.
Again repeat order.
(Total - 20 minutes).
A Malaysian student said today that an SIS- Special Branch (Malaysian Student Dept. W'gtn)- cum sexual pervert-attempt to terrorise him was forcefully thwarted.
The student, who declined to give his name, said this attempt was made over the telephone at about 10:20a.m. in his flat while he was trying to make a sherry trifle for dinner. As he was putting slices of peaches over the unfilled sponge, the phone rang. He answered it, politely saying 'Good morning'. Getting no reply from the other end he enquired 'Hello?' a couple of times. Again there was no response. He immediately concluded that this was one of the typical dastardly tricks used by the departments accused, to terrorise law-abiding people in N.Z.
Without further ado, he put into effect plan X which he had perfected to counter this juvenile delinquency. He emitted a series of bull-frog croaks into the phone until the pervert put the phone down in hurt silence.
The student said that according to psychologists, this method of terrorism was indulged in by frustrated sexual perverts who obtained vicarious pleasure from making obscene phone calls. He claimed that the silent caller was being obscene by calling and then being deliberately quiet over the phone, thus causing the victim discomfort and anxiety.
However the student, fighting back with indomitable spirit and in the name of the peace-loving and working people of the world, thwarted this evil capitalist attempt to cow him.
He did not elaborate why he was accusing the SIS and the Malaysian Special Branch at the Student Department in Wellington, but said that both these agencies have been working together against Malaysians for a long time.
I'd like to reply to last week's enquiry from Bruce, Trev etc. On the Thursday before the Split Enz concert, I received a complaint from a student about the I lack of ISIC cards and this concert. I contacted the Director of Student Arts Council and the DIC booking people. We agreed that students could get the concession if they showed their fees receipt.
The reason library ID cards were not acceptable is that the DIC feels they have been abused in the past through non-students getting student concessions. The whole procedure does need improving, and I would be very interested if any of Bruce, Trev or anyone else would help us in working out a better system.
Thanks for the enquiry — I'm sorry we couldn't do any better.