Publicly accessible
URL: http://www.nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/collections.html
copyright 2016, by the Victoria University of Wellington Library
All unambiguous end-of-line hyphens have been removed and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line, except in the case of those words that break over a page.
Some keywords in the header are a local Electronic Text Collection scheme to aid in establishing analytical groupings.
In order to make new content available faster this work has been uploaded but does not have comprehensive name authority mark up for sub-works and corresponding authors. We will endeavour to add this mark up as soon as possible.
On Thursday 21 June, a scant two hours before Muldoon read out his budget, the students of Canterbury University completed voting in their referendum: That UCSA withdraw from NZUSA at the end of
Membership of NZUSA has been a contentious issue at Canterbury for the last 18 months, with innumerable votes taken at meetings, and two full scale referenda, so it seems optimistic to believe that this latest binding referendum will resolve the matter for once and for all. This is because it has always seemed that the moves against NZUSA are not "ground-swell" movements of large numbers of students who are dissatisfied with the organisation, but have tended to come from the leadership of UCSA. It is no secret that UCSA's
It must be emphasised that the intention of those individuals is to destroy NZUSA, not to reform it, but to smash it once and for all. NZUSA's strength and effectiveness comes from its national character, the fact that it represents all 38,000 university students in this country. If Canterbury were to permanently leave the organisation much of NZUSA's effectiveness would be lost. The shell of the organisation might remain for a while, but ultimately that too would crumble.
The arguments against NZUSA, which have never been particularly clearly articulated, stem from two beliefs. The first, more widely held, is that NZUSA devotes too much time to matters which do not "concern" students. The second, which follows from this, is that, in the area of student welfare, individual constituent associations could perform as an effective a job as NZUSA does on their behalf.
The claim that students' association are expending too much effort on matters which do not directly affect their members is one that is frequently levelled against all the members of NZUSA as well as NZUSA itself. It must be admitted that NZUSA expends a greater proportion of its energies into these matters than do the individual constituents. Even at Victoria (regarded as the hot-bed of concern for "irrelevant" matters) the amount of money and time spent on, say international issues, is quite insignificant. NZUSA however does spend some time and money on matters of national, and less frequently, international importance. There is a General Vice-President (one of the five full-time officers) who is charged specifically with work in this area and a part-time Women's Rights Officer whose field is Women's Rights generally. The work of these two individuals is normally outside the range of what is normally regarded as "relevant students issues"!)
However it is unfortunate for those that advocate removal of all such issues from NZ USA's field of activity, that the expressed interest at campus level suggests that there is a need for this type of work within a students' association. Now clearly, by their very nature, these activities are of a nationwide significance, and therefore it is logical that most of the work around them is most effectively done if centralised through a nation-wide body. The result is that NZUSA spends a greater proportion of its resources on national issues than most of its constituent members, but not because the "political heavies" who, it is claimed, dominate NZUSA, able to implement these policies that they are unable to propose on their own campuses, but because these issues are best handled on this level.
Putting it a different way, if we consider the abortion issues, the issues involved the background work required, the publicity material etc do not vary from university to university. Therefore it is sensible to have all this sort of work done once, on a nationwide basis which co-ordinates the work on all campuses. So, rather than providing the resources at Victoria, Auckland Otago, etc for seven different individuals to work away at the same thing, in essentially the same way, it is done once, for all the constituents, at the national level. It is the allocation that NZUSA makes for this type of work that enables, for example VUWSA, to devote more of its resources to other areas.
It is also significant that those who have criticised this aspect of NZUSA's work the most, have not succeeded in preventing the associations of which they are members from becoming involved in these issues. All the constituent associations of NZUSA have policy on the abortion question, none have taken the position that this is an issue that has no relevance to students. However
The second argument against NZUSA is that, even in matters relating to student welfare, it is unnecessary and the individual students associations could do the job equally well. The objections to this are many and varied. There is the question of expense. NZUSA employs two Research Officers, at not an insubstantial salary, to get the background information and prepare the necessary submissions and reports. Both of them work Very hard (often harder, or at least more efficiently, than some of the elected officers), and generally their work relates to all the associations. For example in the work that was done on the bursaries issue, the matters raised related to all of, or portion of, the student population in each university in the country. Yet some seem to argue that each association should have have its pair of skilled and trained research officers working away diligently, each duplicating what is being done in each centre. It seems to me that this involves a needless repitition of effort.
There is also the question of presenting the best case for students. On the bursaries issues for example (which as an aside
There are a variety of other argument that can be used to rebut the allegation
The rash of "restructuring" that seems to be popular right throughout the country (even Muldoon claims that he's doing it) has also infected the students associations. So far however, none of these restructuring ventures have met with support from, the students, and failing to win at he me, many have turned to attacking NZUS This technique has more chance of success as, sadly, few students seem to understand what their national association is and what is does. The thrust of most of the attacks attempt to continue this ignorance, and
The result of the budget for students so far as bursaries are concerned, was not exactly encouraging, though believe it or not it did have some positive aspects! Regretably it seems that these were outweighed by negative ones, such as having to pay 25% of our course fees next year.
The people I feel particularly sorry for are those students under 20 who are living away from home who are going to have to undergo a parental means test in order to obtain a decent level of bursary assistance. (That is the $17 hardship allowance over and above the basic tertiary allowance over and above the basic tertiary grant of $23.) In fact for those students who do need more than $23 a week to survive the outlook is not at all good.
Although students over 20 will only be assessed as to the amount they should get over and above the basic $23, based on their own budgets, one has to remember that, while some students may receive more than they are currently receiving, the object of the budget is to reduce the total bursary payment.
The means testing element in the new system is a cause for the greatest concern: if a restrictive set of criteria are applied then
The financial situation of the university itself is not promising either. At a recent council meeting the acting Vice-Chancellor described the financial situation an "emergency one" in the context of the present 53 million cut recently announced for the university budgets (300,000 for Victoria in
One of the more notable resultant cutbacks announced was the $15,000 "Devaluation Hedge" in Library funds which has been "placed on reserve." This has serious implications because this measure may result in a reduction of the purchase of necessary books and periodicals from overseas.
If you are concerned at all this, I suggest that you come to the Special Student Meeting on Wednesday 4th July at 12.00 in the Union Hall to discuss these matters - they will affect You directly.
The Executive, by the time this is printed, will have presented to the University a report on the future of the financing of the Union Building and the Recreation Centre. The present arrangement is that the Association and the University each pay 50% of the running costs of the Union facilities. This report is quite important because at present 52% or ($22.50) of the total $43. students association fee goes towards the union buildings every year. Many thanks must go to Steve Underwood, Lindy Cassidy and Lisa Sacksen for their work on this report.
The Executive, in light of discussion about the workings of the Association, after the SGM on 23 May, has called for a report to be presented by the Association lawyer and Mr John Blincoe on the consequences of the possible adoption of proposals to increase the quorums of General Meetings and SRCs to 200 and to introduce a binding referenda system. In connection with this I would emphasise that John Blinkoe is prepared to accept submissions from anybody on these proposals. Any contributions should be deposited at the VUWSA office.
Finally, I would urge everybody to pay due attention to the bursaries and education cutbacks situation. Read about it, and come along to the various meetings being held to discuss vital issues in the education are The first one is this Wednesday at 12.00. At the SCR the following Wednesday (July 11) a new treasurer for VUWSA will be elected as well as a new representative on the University Council, so if you are interested in these positions, get your applications in soon.
"Bad news, boys" exclaimed Geoff Adams with chat air of breathless excitement usually associated with the lower orders of primates. "James Morgan is back in town" Caroline Massof bounded out of her chair with all force (and much of the destructive aftereffects) of a minute man missile. "What do you mean, Boys??!! And what's more, James Morgan's a Man. I'm sick of your purile sexism." Storming around the room like an enraged beer tanker, she grabbed the unfortunate younger Adams, and they were last seen heading for the less savory parts of the wharves.
Andrew Ross looked up in a rather disinterested fashion from his money counting, with the aim of enquiring who the hell James Morgan was anyway, only to find the entire staff in the process of fortifying the office and laying in for a big siege. Stephen A'Court, by virtue of his US marines-type hair cut, was appointed officer in charge of the defence. He was bounding around, dressed in army fatigues with a cute little bovver hat on his head, his foot-long moustaches flowing in the wind behind him.
Soon this human hurricane had the hatches firmly battened down and the staff were congratulating themselves on their preparedness. Simon Wilson, because he was considered the most expendable, was bundled into a flak jacket and hurled out the door to make a recce. "Don't make me go out there" he whimpered. The poor wee laddies' squeak' and whimpers were suddenly cut off when a huge shadow fell across him.
The startled staff listened to his horrible cries as the terrible James Morgan did his worst. Virginia Adams nearly broke down. "Oh, I must do something about his awful plight." Andrew Beach was hurled out as an appeasement, and was found on the doorstep some hours later, a small pellet of fur, wearing bent glasses.
Meanwhile Fergus Barrowman was experimenting with hydroponic farming, using
When last heard of the staff were still trap in the office, awaiting for an act of God to
Salient was edited by a badly scared Peter Beach, and published (from a careful distance by the Victoria University Students' Association. It was printed by fearless Wanganui New papers, Drews Ave, Wanganui.
At the time of writing, the outcome of dispute between the Naitonal Union of
The present dispute started on June 9, date of the last run of the Silver Star been Auckland and Wellington. The train taken out of service, with the intention
The immediate reaction of the NUR was
Although this heartless action on the part
After about four days of unproductive talks with Railway management, the NUR members of the Auckland, South Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch branches enforced a freight-forwarding ban. This meant that no freight would be moved throughout the country by rail from these vital areas. From this point on, things developed quickly - and nastily. Railways employees, the vital importance of the work they do shown by the reaction to its withdrawal, were faced with threates of de-registration from the Government and widespread layoffs by the Railways Department. Under the Government Railway Staff Regulations
This ability to lay off workers not directly involved in the original dispute is not confined to the Railways Department. In the Industrial Relations Amendment Act of
But, again in this case, this regulation has backfired. Railway workers other than those members of the NUR who were employed on the Silver Star have also seen that reductions in Government expenditure could very well result in the same thing happening to them. They have seen that support for the Silver Star workers is in their interests, and in the interests of all people who face Government attacks in living standards. Hence the no-confidence motion in the National Council of the NUR from the Wellington branch. And hence the Driver's Union support in the freight-forwarding ban. In this dispute, suspensions will not have the desired effect of destroying the strike; in fact, they appear to be having the effect of prolonging and inflaming the original dispute to disastrous proportions.
The real lesson that can be drawn from this dispute is that the Government will stop passing and enforcing such legislation as the Industrial Relations Amendment Act as soon as all workers realise that to support those who take industrial action is to act in the interests of every worker.
In its last two meetings, the VUWSA Executive has discussed a number of proposals for reforming the Association. In order to best evaluate these ideas, John Blincoe, a former officer of both VUWSA and NZUSA, has been asked to prepare a report on the implications of these proposals. He invites submissions from interested individuals:
The VUWSA Executive has asked me to report on two proposals:
That a binding referenda system be adapted to decide contentious policy issues of the Association.That the quorum for General Meetings and SCRs be increased to 200 ordinary members of this Association. (The quorum is currently 50.)
I have been given discretion to extend the report beyond the strict limits of these proposals if I consider it practicable or desirable.
I hope to present the report to the Executive by Monday 30 July, in time for it to be published in Salient before the August vacation and for the Executive to refer both proposals to an SGM early in the Third Term.
I invite any interested individuals or groups to make submissions / comments / suggestions to me, either in writing (preferred) or verbally. Please contact me at 738775 (work), or 893157 (home), if possible by Friday 6 July, or leave a message for me at the VUWSA office.
Everyone knows who Mervyn Wellington is. He's the dynamic and intellectual Minister of the Crown who is entrusted with that vital portfolio, Education. But what isn't so widely known is the long, uphill climb it has been for Mery to reach, in the face of all adversity, this exalted position. The story, a tale of human suffering and endurance, will now be unfolded in full.
It begins many years ago when an up and coming army corporal was on guard duty at Parliament. Nicknamed "Scarface" by his colleagues, he was nevertheless a warm and caring person, and in his more mellow moods he saw himself becoming a famous accountant. On one rainy July morning, this chubby little corporal saw, lying on the steps of Parliament, a tiny bundle. Upon investigating further, he found it was a wee baby, clad in swaddling gowns, crying fitfully, and wearing a huge pair of glasses.
Moved by the plight of this unfortunate innocent, Rob (for such was the kind-hearted Corporals name), picked the babe up and took him inside leaving him in a little closet behing the Speaker's office. Fed from scraps from Bellamys, little Mery grew and grew, and soon he was a familiar sight around Parliament, trotting behind his Uncle Rob like an affectionate but gangly lap dog.
But it was about this time that a little black cloud hove to on the horizon of little Merys happy life. Some unkind person noticed Merys startling resemblence to Neville Purvis, and some even said that he Was Neville Purvis. Tearfully, little Mery went to see Uncle Rob, now a backbencher in Parliament. Rob chuckled affectionately, and said that perhaps what Mery needed was a change of environment. Mery said he would like to go to university, and Rob said yes, laughing hysterically.
Bewildered but grateful, Mery packed his lunch into his tucker box, grabbed his old school satchel, and set off for university, ringing his bicycle bell while his little boxer-shorts clad legs pedalled for all they were worth. But Mery found he didn't like university very much either. Mery had been expecting to be taught how to read, write and do elementary sums, but to his surprise he Was told a whole lot of liberal nonsense, which would be of no benefit to him in any job. When he got home that night he asked Rob what he should do about this.
Rob agreed that all forms of intellectualism should be stamped out, but explained that if you want to beat the system you have to join the system. Rob advised Mery to stick it out, and then become a teacher. Somewhat enheartened, Mery returned to university, and stuck it out for three long years. He developed a name for being something of a loner, restricting his student activities to writing on toilet walls "Rob is God".
When he left University, with his BA clasped under his arm (and later stuck on his wall) Mery made a promise to himself to try and eradicate everything about university that had been unpleasant to him. After a
Shaking and whimpering with anguish, he rushed home to his uncle Rob. "Have a nice day at school?" asked Rob. Twisting his school cap in anguish and apolegetically licking Robs toes, little Mery explained his plight. "There, there" said Rob. "I can get you a job in a place more suited to your abilities, where you can do even more damage." The next day, Mery found himself an MP. sitting in the chamber with the ring in his nose newly polished and gleaming in the light.
For the next few years, Mery was in seventh heaven, and his guileless pliability made him a firm favourite with his more ambititous colleagues. And then one day, Rob called Mery into his office. "Mery, I have an important mission that needs doing. I need someone who will fearlessly follow my lead. I need someone who will unthinkingly say yes to everything I say. Will you do it?" "Yes" said Mery.
Although a few of his critics call him unkind names like "Doormat" and "Weather-vane", Mery is happy in his job, and in these troubled times, job satisfaction is so important. Rob, too is happy with his new Minister, and The a is knitting him a new muffler for Christmas. Lucky little Mery.
On June 20 PSA Electricity workers gave 14 days notice of intention to take some form of direct action in their over 3 year old house rents / house purchase dispute with the Government.
By Friday June 22 the "PSA Withdrawal of Recognition Bill" had been introduced into Parliament. What relation there was between these two events is difficult to say except that as World War One followed an assination in Serbia, the one followed the other.
The day the bill was introduced, and in the early part of the following week, meetings took place in government departments where hundreds of government workers registered opposition to the bill.
By last Tuesday a series of mass meetings had begun. 3,000 Wellington PSA members met in the Town Hall and voted for an immediate half-day stop work meeting if the Government attempted to enforce the provision of the Bill. Other meetings committed thousands of public sector workers around the country to action if the PSA was derecognised.
Support for the PSA has been widespread. The FoL, the Australian public service union, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and others have resoundingly registered support for the PSA's right to exist.
So far the PSA leadership has stood firm, refusing to back down in its support for the electricity workers, although this would remove the derecognition threat. They know
Why the widespread agitation amongst public servants - surely they're one of the moderate of moderate unionists. Why such a firm stand by the PSA leadership - surely this has been a leadership noted for its willingness to renegotiate and compromise?
The answer lies in the effect of the bill if enacted. 68,000 people would have their union abolished. Any new union would be formed along lines dictated by the Minister of State Services - that is, the official employer. If the PSA backs down the same result will occur - it will only take a bit longer to reach the same point.
PSA members may have conflicting ideas about what a union should do but they know they want one and they're prepared to fight for it.
It's hard to see this move as a precedent as it is so monstrous in itself, but consider, if the PSA loses this fight, who is next on the list. Students' Association and University Teachers are stopping for a day soon - longer than PSA electricity workers have done in their whole 50+ year history. Its the sad logic of the right ward drift of capitalist societies in crises that all attacks become precedents and all people are potential victims. That why we need unity and what makes even "small" matters of principle so important.
Begins Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th July in the cafe. All wizards welcome. Entry fee is $1 for 3 turns on the fabulous Phoenix machine. The prize money is the Students Association takings for the period of the competition. The proceeds go to the Education Fight back Campaign so keep your fingers ready.
On June 21 over 60 Levin caravan workers were laid off as a result of the new sales tax on caravans. Soon after the new tax was announced, notice was given to the entire workforce employed in the caravan industry in Levin.
When the Government announced the new sales tax they said it would generate some extra revenue and would also "take some steam out of the economy." A combined delegation of employers and unions from the industry met the Minister who imposed the tax, Hugh Templeton. It was pointed out that the tax would not achieve its stated aims, and it could only bring unemployment to workers in the industry.
The delegation claimed that the caravan industry had already suffered a 27% sales drop this year and, like the rest of the economy, there was no steam to be taken out of it. It was estimated that the tax would result in an overall 50% drop in employment in the entire industry. Already about 15% of the caravan workers have been told their jobs are on the line. If sales slump further and workers are laid-off, as predicted, the Government will lose income taxes and company taxes as a result. Along with the dole for those unemployed, this will mean that the Government will not get any extra revenue as a result of this tax.
Both Templeton and the employers have proved very reluctant to lift a finger to ease the hardships faced by workers laid off. Talks between the union and employers over the issue of redundancy have been virtually fruitless.
As far as the workers in the industry know know, two out of every three of Levin's caravan assembly companies will close dc entirely, and the workforce of the third
The only logic in the Government's sales tax on caravans is that the Government wants to close down the small businesses and turn the larger ones into monopolies. They hope that these large monopolies will then have the capacity to expo a portion of their products. This policy is called "restructuring."
The Government has altered its policy on the sales tax slightly to ease the squeez on the small manufacturers, to allow their to get out of the industry without being bankrupted. Only the workers will suffer in the Government's scheme of things.
On Monday June 18, the 60 angry caravan workers marched on Parliament to protest at Government solving its economic
The Levin caravan workers are the first victims of the Government's economic policy of closing down small businesses, throwing their employees out of work, and eventually diverting the resources into exporting. They will not be the last.
On Thursday 21 June hundreds of y
In the present situation, when we go into
Huge amounts of money have been spent seeking local sources of petroleum. At
Muldoon's budget attacks the problem much in the way we have come to expect from him. The thrust of the new export incentives is to keep the part of the process centred in New Zealand as cheap as possible. Clearly this will make our products more competitive, it will also make our workers poorer. Furthermore it does nothing to encourage diversification into areas which are less dependent on imports. Muldoon is still encouraging our manufacturers to operate by assembling imported components rather than building up articles from entirely local resources. As long as New Zealand's export industry is operated on this basis, we will continue to be heavily dependent on every little change in the international climate.
In the budget, Muldoon actually said that "exporters ability to compete in the overseas markets is vitally affected by...........labour costs generally." Aside from revealing Muldoon's attitudes to workers' wages, the statement is woefully inaccurate. Students who have worked in factories will know the tremendous costs that are incurred through sheer inefficiency of operation. Yet by sauashing the labour force, such industries can still remain competitive abroad.
On the question of overseas investment, Muldoon announced a continuation of the already begun policy of encouragement. In itself there is nothing inherently wrong with lifting restrictions in order to bring in such things as advanced technology. The problem arises however when such investments are not directed to making the nation more self-sufficient. The basis for allowing such practices should be to decrease New Zealand's dependence on imports. Judging from past practice however the policy announced in the Budget will be to encourage greater dependence. For example in the automobile industry, the massive investments in New Zealand by the transnational companies has has not stimulated the development of our own automotive industry. Indeed we are now far more dependent on the car firms, because the number of people employed in the assembly plants, than ever before.
Speaking of the internal deficit, Muldoon claims that it was "appropriate because it generated a reasonable level of economic activity. However, with the recovery well established, it is desireable that the deficit should come down somewhat....." This statement might suggest to some that the deficit was going to be recovered in those areas in which it was generated, to stimulate economic activity. Readers will know however that this is not the case. The deficit, which Muldoon is claiming was run up in productive areas, is being recovered by cutting expenditure on welfare services and education.
Indeed the claim that the deficit was run up in "productive areas" is somewhat suspect. A substantial portion of the deficit arose from the most expensive election bribe in this country's history, the National Superannuation scheme - which only received slight trimming.
However if the super annuitants only got slightly shaved, the same is not true for those on the unemployment benefit. Without any increase in the rate at all the government has decided to tax the benefit, which for most beneficiaries will be at 14.5 cents in the dollar, ie a 14.5% reduction in the rate. The argument in favour of taxing the benefit, namely that it is iniquitous that someone earning $45 per week should be taxed but someone on the same income through the unemployment benefit should not be, is based on the fallacy that people are on the unemployment benefit by choice - all 25,000 of them.
There was one bit of overdue good news in the budget however - married women are now eligible to claim the full unemployment benefit. All in all though it seems fairly clear that the
Too often students accept uncritically what they are taught. It is a particularly healthy sign to see a stage one student questioning the content of the ECON 101 course. I am taking the opportunity of the publication of W. B. Anderson's letter to the Chairman of the Economics Department (Salient
First, I should declare my interest. I am an economics honours students and I expect to apply my training on leaving university.
As with most models, there are many facets to the neoclassical model but it will suffice here to distinguish only two. The neo-classical framework of analysis allows the application of a set of methods and techniques which embody marginal analysis of behavioural relations. Thus attention is directed toward the marginal contribution of factors to production, of consumption goods to utility etc. Secondly, the model supplies a body of behavioural propositions. Thus we have a series of dicta: individuals are utility maximisers, firms produce to a point where profits are maximised etc. One of the advantages of the neoclassical model is precisely that tightness and rigorousness which Anderson criticises. This not only makes is suitable for teaching, but it is also this same completeness and testability of the model which has enabled it to dominate economic thought for so long. And indeed this model still reigns supreme. Economic journals are full of extensions, developments of, empirical tests of, and criticisms of neoclassical theories. Given W. B. Anderson's charge of irrelevant assumptions and we may well ask why.
The answer is to be found partly in the nature of the question. It is easy to accuse a model of irrelevancy and much more difficult to support the accusation. After all, the very nature of a theory implies an abstraction from the real world. We need to simplify the world in our models if we are to understand it, otherwise there would be no point making abstractions from reality. Anderson's statement is meaningless unless he/she is prepared to point out specific irrelevancies. (Indeed I would rather read of this than of accusations of Bertram's and Stephen's incompetence which are not supported by my own experience.)
Some of the points we might fairly criticise the neoclassical model on are: The model ignores the unequal distribution of power among individuals in the market place All transactions in the model take the form of exchanges, the possibility of unilateral transfer is not allowed. Furthermore, within the neoclassical model, individuals all compete with each other. There is no room for non-competing groups as one might get in the real world labour market for instance. The framework focuses on the individual as the unit of analysis, no allowance is made for the influence of a group on the decision making of an individual. To the extent that power relations in the market, non-competing groups, and the influence of groups on an individual's economic activity are characteristics of the real world, which affect economic activity, then the orthodox theory is challenged. In responding to these and other challenges neoclassical theorists must either seek to incorporate the missing variables into their analysis or else demonstrate their lack of relevance to the economic processes explained.
It would be impossible to fit all the
And it is important that the orthodoxy be challenged. Few economists would argue that the neoclassical model is internally in consistant, but some may contend that its application is limited because of the omissions raised above, or for other reasons. In the past, neoclassical economists have responded to these criticisms. To give but one example, despite the prominence of institutionalism in the early post war labour economics literature, neoclassical economics remains the dominant scientific paradigm in the study of wage la determination. Neoclassical retaliation to the critique of the institutionalists has taken the form of human capital theory, labour market search theory and the new microeconomics. These new developments in economics must be regarded as net gains had have succeeded in undermining the institutionalist position. This is done by providing neoclassical explanations of many of the empirical phenomena upon which the institutionalist denigration of the explanatory power of orthodox economics had rested. Surely this must be regarded as a sign of a healthy science.
There is one further point of Anderson's that I should like to take up. Of course, microeconomics (or for that matter, any economics) is not value free. In economics we do not have the possibility of controlled experiment, consequently, we as economists must rely on our interpretation of evidence we see and can deduce. Of necessity this involves judgement and where the subject is 'soaked in moral feeling', judgement is coloured by prejudice. Surely this is present in any social science, can we do any more than to state our colours at the outset?
The neoclassical model rests on a number of assumptions about the real world. These are not above challenge and where challenge has been accurate in the past the onus has been on orthodox theorists to defend or extend their model. This has provided some worthwhile additions to the dy of economic thought. The very
I understand that trying to raise the Accounting Dept from its stultifying apathetic lethargy is not too dissimilar from trying to kick-start a Boeing 747 but this Semesters performance has been so abysmal that someone has to make the attempt. So, I challenge Chairman Trow to significantly improve prove the attitude and approach of his I for the second half of the year. I bet he can't do it! And just in case he doesn't know what I'm talking about here's a
A potentially useful and interesting course completely destroyed by a total lack of interest in, or appreciation of, students' concerns. The first Terms Test was dominated by the output of a mathematics machine which could cover acres of blackboard with complicated formulae before you could say "Beta!". Thus we all scored poorly. The second Terms Test reflected a more practical segment and everyone did much better - or at least we think we did. What happened? After at least 2 (rumoured) attempts to meddle with the exam papers the bloody Accy Dept security was still so slack-that some obnoxious prick was able to flog half the scripts! Prof. Winiata didn't really give a stuff. After all, the bloody sweat and tears we'd put into trying to improve our grades he just calmly informed us that the test would be ignored and even those whose papers weren't stolen wouldn't get them back. Winiata's blase attitude and lack of recognition of the impact of all this on our morale is the biggest kick in the guts I've had since I started passing courses.
What a bloody abortion. I must admit that the first half wasn't bad, but then lecturing standards dropped dramatically. In my opinion, one lecturer tried for a while, but he was never cut out to be a lecturer and when he realised he wasn't getting through to us he just gave up. He showed us his lecture notes one day. 1½ lines!! He then hummed and harred and coughed and mumbled for about 20 minutes, and then let us go. Unfortunately, this was an
Then we had wilderness for about
However, I must admit Prof Oed is
Hey reader! If you agree with the
No doubt you understand why I can't sign my name to this. However I assure
To be sure, the EPA hasn't "proved" that 5-T induces miscarriages - the report me-speaks of a "statistically significant
"There are considerable data on the health effects of 2,4,5,-T in animal tests which are predictive of the same human health effects we are seeing in Alsea," said Blum. (The herbicide is contaminated with 2,3,7,8-tet-rachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin, or TCDD-dioxin for short, which even at very low levels produces birth defects, miscarriages, and tumours in laboratory animals. See also box two on "The Chemistry of 2,4,5-T.)
"Taken together, all these facts sound an alarm. Prudence dictates EPA to stop use of the herbicide until we have a fuller understanding of this phenomenon and its implications for human health." Blum said.
"Prudence", mixed with a shot of public pressure, was also behind the Mount Herbert (near Christchurch) county council's decision to limit aerial spraying of TODD-contaminated herbicides to less populous areas.
"Prudence" also motivated the Sale city councillors in the Australian "garden state" of Victoria, who unanimously voted to ban 2,4,5,-T (and the chemically related herbicide 2,4,-D) when a cluster of baby deaths and birth deformities was attributed to the herbicide use in that city last October.
In fact, throughout
That's why the Sale city fathers' action was so unusual. "We are erring on the side of caution," one councillor was quoted as saying, "and that's the side we should be erring on."
It's difficult to fault such prudence - and equally difficult to see why Australian and New Zealand health departments don't share it. Both countries are, by the nature of their economy, large, consumers of herbicides: about 250 to 300 tonnes of 2,4,5-T are used "in Australia each year and in New Zealand more than 500 tonnes.
In the United States 5000 tonnes a year were used before the EPA ban. The herbicide had been severely restricted since
The controversy over the hazards of 2,4,5-T use has been going since the first reports of birth malformations came out of Vietnam in the early
A decade ago there was even some suggestion that 2,4,5-T manufactured by Ivon Watkins-Dow Limited of New Plymouth might be being shipped to Vietnam. Although the US government denied it the New Zealand government of the day, it will be remembered, was all for it.
As it happened, a substantial shipment of an undisclosed type of herbicide (or herbicides) was sent to - the Phillippines. Antiwar activist Owen Wilkes, expressing doubts about the ultimate destination of the shipment was advised that the company could not "dictate to buyers the destination of herbicides we produce."
Then, in
The board okayed this recommendation but reversed its decision again in
If that reversal cast grave doubts on the wisdom of the statutory body which okays the use of 2,4,5-T (and other agricultural chemicals, as the name implies) — it also raised doubts whether the board was indeed anything but an industry rubber-stamp. (After all, one of the men responsible for setting up the board was Daniel Watkins himself, the chairman of directors of Ivon Watkins-Dow, the sole New Zealand manufacturer and distributor of 2,4,5-T,)
The board's main objection to a 2,4,5-T ban seems to be that it's a handy chemical to have around. Apart from that, it happily echoes the curiously non-profit-minded IWD-claim that alternatives to the herbicide would cost the consumer more dearly.
But no impact study of cost escalations and consequences to agriculture in case of an actual ban, gives support to that contention, as the board's registrar, Brian Watts, confirms.
The Agricultural Chemicals Board does not even keep statistics on the amount of herbicide used, says Watts. In an age of global concern over environmental pollutants the board continues to measure the risks vs. benefits of 2,4,5-T use in dollars and cents.
When the
That leaves the reduction of the tetra-dioxin level. However, the subcommittee cautioned at the time, "present methods of analysis used by a Government laboratory are not equal to the task of monitoring to 0.10 ppm, TCDD and considerable work on this method will be necessary in this regard."
This was in
By
Since
Small as these quantities may seem, in the world of chemistry they are a part of reality. TCDD-dioxin is roughly 67,000 times more poisonous than cyanide, and 500 times more so than strychnine. This means that one 67, 000th of a gram of TCDD has the same effect as one gram of cyanide.
In fact, TCDD is regarded as the most poisonous synthetic substance known.
Experiments carried out by Professor James R. Allen and associates of the University of Wisconsin in the United States in
The TCDD-level of 2,4,5-T produced in New Zealand is said to be as far down as 0.01 ppm - that is, eight zeroes to the right of the decimal point. This means that the dioxin level accepted as "safe" in New Zealand remains still several thousand times higher than the smallest dose found to cause cancer in rats.
And, taking into account a World Health Organisation ruling that any dose accepted as safe for humans should be at least 2000 times lower than the lowest dose found to cause cancer in animals, it is hard to see how the present New Zealand level of 0.01 ppm TCDD in 2,4,5-T can, in fact, be regarded as safe.
Birds began to drop off the roofs, dead. Cats died in the streets. Yellow-rimmed holes appeared in the leaves of the plants. When the children came home from play with red skin-rashes, people gradually realised than something was not quite right.
It happened on
When the pressure had reached the critical limit, it blew the safety valve, releasing a hot purple cloud into the atmosphere. Contained in that cloud were 300 kilograms of trichlorophenol and two kilograms of TCDD (2,3,7,8-tctracholrodibenzo-para-dioxin), a virulent poison.
This fact alone should have been sufficient reason for the ICMESA management to alert the authorities and urge instant, large scale evacuation of the town's inhabitants. Instead, mum was the word. Only when the signs of the catastrophe had become manifest - in all, some 500 people had to be hospitalised, 3000 animals died and 75,000 had to be destroyed - did the company admit that TCDD-dioxin had indeed escaped into the atmosphere. Not until almost three weeks after the explosion was evacuation finally begun. It was this delay which gave most cause for concern, in view of the known toxicity of TCDD.
However, ICMESA's behaviour in the face of trouble was merely a further instance of the almost aggressively defensive stance often characteristic of the industry as a whole. ICMESA, a subsidiary of the Swiss chemical group of companies, Givaudan S.A. (which in turn is a subsidiary of the giant Hoffman-La-Roche pharmaceutical concern in Basle), was chosen as manufacturing site for the highly dangerous production of trichlorophenol because Italian legislation on dangerous chemicals had remained unchanged since '34.
Another reason was that Givaudan itself had suffered adverse publicity in
Certainly no-one at managerial level of the ICMESA - Givaudan-Roche troika could claim ignorance of the dangers involved in TCP-manufacture, More than 20 cases of TCP-accidents, from
For example, in
Fifty-five workers were exposed to the dioxin, and all developed chloracne, a highly disfiguring rash of boils and pimples. Twen-ty-one developed symptoms of systemic poisoning which included damage to the liver, kidney and spleen. The heart, respiratory tract, eyes and nervous system were also affected. BASF medical superintendent Dr A. M. Thiess described the case of "G", one severely affected fitter, thus:
"The nostrils were fissured and looked as if burnt out. The hairy part of the head showed a smudgy discolouration and was infilt-rated with leathery patches. Hairloss was increased. Countless pimples continually became inflamed, forming fingertip-sized abscesses. G. could not sweat and had a feeling of boiling inside his skin."
Ten years later, "G." was hospitalised with edema of the lower leg and bleeding in the lung, and died of these late consequences of TCDD-poisoning.
The plant was closed down. Every few months rabbits would be sent in as "sensors." These tests were continued until 19 68 but the rabbits never survived. That year the factory was dismantled under the most elaborate safety precautions. Parts of the building were packed into airtight containers and buried in disused salt mines. Metallic parts were melted down in industrial blast furnaces. (The task of dismantling and "burning" Seveso and much of its outlying top soil to a depth of at least 10 centimetres remains as yet untackled.)
Other accidents had occured in the United States, the U.K., the USSR, Holland, France, Italy, Czechoslavakia, Austria and elsewhere in West Germany.
The Hamburg firm Boehringer Ingelheim experienced two accidents, then developed its own, safer manufacturing process. It wasn't widely adopted because it was also less profitable. But even New Zealand's 2,4,5-T manufacturer Ivon Watkins-Dow, employing the safer Boehringer process-judging from a fact-sheet put out by IWD; the firm actually refuses to deny or confirm this - has not been without accidents.
In
This may be so. But shouldn't the public have a right to know, which?
Whether a chemical substance is toxic or not depends largely on the type of poison, its molecular structure, the amount of intake per time unit, as well as on the part of the body it first comes into contact with and on the part if affects.
The human body constantly fends off all sorts of alien substances which attempt to gain entry into it. These reaction-patterns are, however, phylogenetically determined, that is to say their main thrust is directed against substances occuring in nature.
This situation has undergone drastic changes since the beginning of industrialisation. An immense number of new chemical substances have entered the environment. Each year hundreds of new chemicals are added to the list. Along with this number of allergenes, (allergy-causing factors), also increases.
Initially, the body will always attempt to rid itself of alien matters through the liver, the body's sewage treatment plant, by breaking down harmful chemical substances to harmless ones. And the skin's glands too, can try a first localised counter-attack. If this doesn't succeed, and if even the liver cannot cope with the poisonous combinations, then, as a rule, these are the organs first to go.
Liver and skin, along with the kidneys whose job is to detoxify the blood, are, therefore, the organs most easily damaged by poisons.
This could be seen, for example, in the children of Seveso who, playing outdoors at the time of the explosion, were exposed to the greatest dosages of the poisonous TCDD-fallout. First they developed a seriously disfiguring kind of acne; later, many of the children also showed signs of liver disorders.
Progress in the field of biochemistry has now made it possible to investigate toxicological processes within the body (or plant) cell itself.
The main attention has been focused on researching enzymatic systems or the development of anti-bodies. The findings from these toxicological studies have made possible a better quantitive assessment of the risk nosed by toxic substances in the environment And it has been shown that the same enzyme systems which are supposed to protect the body, can in fact, participate in the transformation of alien substances into highly toxic metabolites, that is, internally produced poisons, which are of particular relevance in assessing foetus-damaging, cancer-causing and gene-damaging tendencies of environmental pollutants.
One group of chemical compounds subjected to considerable critical flak in recent years are the so-called chlorinated hydro-carbons. In particular, vinylchloride (VC), used for more than four decades to make a popular type of plastic - polyvinylch loride, or PVC - was found, as late as '74, to cause cancer. This finding alarmed scientists and the general public alike and woke them up to the limitations of toxicological checking methods devised to that date.
One West German toxicologist. Professor Dietrich Henschler of Wuerzberg University, expressed concern that similar toxic effects might be detected in other members of this family of chemical compounds. Henschler had discovered a connection between the molecular structure of these compounds and their toxic effects. In some substances he said, the toxicity increased with the number of chlorine atoms in the molecule
The molecule structure can also give hints as to a chemical's cell-damaging and cancer-causing propensities. Chlorinated ethylenes with a symmetrical molecular structure, for example, cause no damage to cells. If, on the other hand, the structure is asymmetrical, as for example in the case of VC, then the substance causes cancer.
But such correlations between molecular structure and toxic effectiveness are not very well understood and continue to baffle scientists. Indeed, the order of number of atoms wither a molecule is by no means a reliable indication of a chemical's toxicity.
In particular the dioxins, including TCDD, show an unusual type of behaviour. The same molecule can be either a super-poison or, comparitively, much more harmless. TCDD is, truly, an on/off poison. And indeed, most researchers of the effects of TCDD wind up with curiously on/off findings. Most, like Professor James Allen of the University of Wisconsin, add that "the elucidation of the molecular mechanism of TCDD toxicity is required for a better understanding of these results."
Ignoring such data seems to be the most
After investigating some 20 cases of
At the time the report's many
The report's main faults included:
The health department's Dr Collins who ow has found "severe inadequacies" in the PA report, confided to the New Zealand erild in .
It was felt, he said, that if a high-power
More to the point, however, is the
Certainly the EPA study provides a moel of the investigation the health department should have carried out, complete with
Meanwhile, further evidence of 2,4,5-T
Professor Tung, who had been retained by the Italian government in an advisory capacity after the
The herbicide 2,4,5-T is widely used in European agriculture.
In some cases "the chemicals were easily accessible to children, and in one instance full canisters were stored under a hedge. Stocks of chemicals which showed obvious deterioration of the container, the contents, and an illegible label were frequently encountered. Some chemicals would be at least 10 years old. One orchadist required hospital attention for acute poisoning after sweeping his storeroom. Apparently he had inhaled dust containing organophosphates. Over half the sprayers studied used no protection when making up or mixing chemical sprays, and some even used their bare hands to measure the amount of spray concentrate required. Only 12 sprayers had adequate protection while both mixing and spraying. Washing of hands after spraying was limited, as was washing of protective clothing after use." (New Zealand Medical Journal,
In the final analysis scientific evidence, no matter how voluminous or convincing will count for little without the EPA's political muscle. The success or failure of the American ban - now being challenged in the courtroom by Dow Chemical, the principle American manufacturer of the herbicide - will provide the litmus test for New Zealand's legislators as well.
The Environmental Protection Agency
In a thorough statistical analysis of
In the "control" area, of similar rural type and also in Oregon where, however, no 2,4,5-T was sprayed, no mid-year peak was observed. Instead the researchers found a curious and unexplained M-shaped pattern of regular ups and downs in the miscarriage frequency within any given year. This pattern was also found to exist in urban areas in Oregon and Florida But, significantly, in the study area a sort of W-pattern existed with a marked mid-year peak - an exact reversal of the pattern observed in the control areas
The possibility of a phase-shift in time was investigated and discounted - the June peak was found to be unique to the study area. EPA deputy administrator Barbara Blum called the correlation between the regular June miscarriage peak and the preceding spray period "remarkable" and added: "While it is not proof of a cause and effect relationahip, it is highly suggestive, particularly in light of animal test-data and gives great cause for concern."
Already the Dow Chemical Company of Midland, Michigan - the principle manufacturer of 2,4,5-T has filed a lawsuit to over-turn the EPA's decision. Dow's president, David Rooke, reiterated the long-standing Dow-claim that the herbicide is a "safe product". "It's time to take a stand," said Rooke, "I'm sick and tired of the chemical indistry being picked out as the evil of mankind."
Dow has gained a reputation as the most militant of chemical companies. It virulently defended its manufacture during the Vietnam War of Napalm-B for liquid incendiary bombs, and the defoliant "Agent Orange" - a highly poisonous herbicide-cocktail consisting of a 50:50 mixture of 2,4,5-T and the chemically closely related herbicide 2,4-D.
The company, said Rooke, "believes in fighting. We hung in on napalm when it didn't mean anything to us business-wise. The government asked us to make it and we did. We believed in the principle."
Principles before profits, is Dow's motto. Already the company has spent more defending 2,4,5-T than it has recieved in profits from it, according to Rooke. And indeed, the "profit motive" alone cannot be held responsible for Dow's defence of either napalm or 2,4,5-T. At the time of the Vietnam War, the U.S. government (air force) contracts for the manufacture of Napalm-B amounted to US$6 million of the company's then US$1 billion annual turnover. Today, according to Rooke, manufacture of 2,4,5-T accounts for US$12 million of the company's annual US$6 billion worth of sales.
Strange behaviour for a capitalist ogre? According to Rooke, there is another side to the question as well: "This is only one battle in a much larger war that can affect every product industry makes. If you can wipe a product with this much proven safety off the market, then what is safe?........... There is a moral question: government abuse."
It sounds like the Free Enterprise theme song. The old liberal notion of the freedom of the invidual corporation to set up any kind of business, anytime, anywhere, clashes uncomfortably with the EPA's job to protect the freedom of the individual American citizen to choose clean air and a cancer-free environment to live in.
The record of why 2,4,5-T - many tines as poisonour to humans as for example, DDT which was banned in the U.S. in
The main thrust of these acts, as intended, has been to put the burden of proof of safety of a chemical onto the producers. But the chemical and agricultural industries, commanding considerable political muscle in Washington, ("lobbyism"), managed to obtain legislation setting up a labyrinthine obstacle course before a substance can, in fact, be barred from the market place.
The strength of the industry muscle can also be seen in the fact that TOSCA took six years of filibustering to overcome before it could become law. So, while TOSCA, on paper, is an exemplary poisons act, in reality it gives the EPA only relatively limited powers. The "emergency" ban on 2,4,5-T was the most drastic measure the EPA could take under the law. "EPA can't take things off the market without good cause," said the agency's pesticides chief, Ed Johnson, "We're not acting like a bunch of lunatics. We are trying to be objective about risks and benefits."
That's what concerned environmentalists in the U.S. and elsewhere, including New Zealand, would call a classic case of understatement.
Strong indications of the harmful effects of 2,4,5-T had been building up throughout the
Public concern in the United States led to domestic restrictions on 2,4,5-T in
In
Coincidentally, at the same time last year, the chairman of the New Zealand Dow-subsidiary. Daniel Watkins of Ivon Watkins-Dow Limited at New Plymouth, told "his" company's annual meeting, allegations that 2,4, 5-T was detrimental to human health were unfounded. "It is important to note," said Watkins, "that the allegations were not raised in scientific papers, nor did they originate from scientists with training and experience in toxicolocy, physiology, environmental chemistry and pediatric medicine."
Watkins was echoing what the EPA's Ed Johnson has called Dow's "posturing". The facts certainly present a different picture. In
However, Dow has good reasons to claim the safety of its product and, in particular, the safety of very small doses of TCDD and other dioxins. The EPA has been howling for Dow's blood since the company environment has been found to be contaminated" with low-level dioxin "fallout", and the Midland birth defects rate is three times higher than that of the rest of Michigan. (Which is none too reassuring news for the people of New Plymough, home of a TCDD-emitting ting Dow subsidiary.)
In addition, large numbers of U.S. Vietnam veterans have begun urging the government's Veterans Administration to recognise late-blooming service-related injuries allegedly stemming from handling "Agent Orange" during the war. As the U.S. Air Force had experimented with highly dioxin- contaminated 2,4,5-T in
Dow could well be faced with an avalanche of million-dollar damages claims during the next few years if the EPA could prove that all the nasty things being said about TCDD were true. That's why the company fights the EPA tooth and nail.
In today's modern, democratic way of life, one might easily be forgiven, and often is, (strictly in the politest terms) for believing that the affairs of one's bodily functions are one's own. Of course we realized long ago that our mental functions belonged to some bureaucracy or another to which we had rights of lease only, and to which certain terms of occupancy applied. But for the body, one seemed left to cope with blowing one's own nose for dinkum, squeesing one's own pimples, and farting one's own home grown fart, with fear of only an occassional retribution.
In truth, however, for a dog named Boo and Mr O. Block, the responsibility for bodily function might there end. Somehow, the conditioning for anything complicated or "deep within", is to treat it as a heritage from the gods best left untampered. Like the plumber's leaky fawcet, or the butcher's lamb chop, so the artistry and mystique of one's very substance is palmed off and spat out into the clammy, trembling hands of that guru of gurus, butcher of butchers, plumbers of plumber of plumbers, the doctor with his own powerful bureaucracy called. The Modern Medical Health System.
Have I exaggerated do you think? Have I been callous, overactive, facetious and pompous in these remarks? Well yes, I admit, a little. But the Medical Health System is a callous, overactive, facetious and pompous thing.
So where do gurus come from; what permits them this right to delve into our very substance, our bodily core, our health with such matter of fact off-handedness? And the answer. 'But we do!" "We do?"
We must regard them with overwhelming awe then, these gurus. They must be of an exceptional quality to influence our destinies so. And yet it is so much pretentious mouth-gargle.
That doctors exist is quite undeniable, but it is the manner of existence that raises some objections and it is here that the size and use of their health budget might be called into question.
A moment ago in this impertinent rave, I tendered the pertinent question of where doctors came from.
New Zealand has four Medical Schools, one to each centre, catering for the production of 320 new doctors a year, and these at an estimated cost of $100,000 each. Considering then that each CP effectively spends in the region of $100,000 a year of the tax-payers money, and each specialist $200,000. There is a lot of money spent in the name of health. A1 so considering that New Zealand is not losing 320 doctors a year, from death, retirement or emigration, and that the shortages that do exist in some areas and fields are due to uneven deployment, rather than overall shortage, there will be a healthy surplus of 'one hundred thousand dollar doctors' to sweep office floors very shortly. The spending however doesn't stop there.
Medical empire builders as a race have an unhealthy obsession to build concrete buildings; large ones; ones that sit around for many years not being used; linked by corridors of the Russian steppe variety; that tower over and engulf, ruminate and cogwheel round these infamous "diseases", and "germs". They cost money.
The patient? What are patients? They get in the way don't they? And the doctors? Doctors are intelligent, knowledgeable people, dedicated, hard-working and sincere. They walk briskly in white coats with those varying expressions of determination, good humour, compassion, serenity, godliness, approaching orgasm, or detachment aloofness, condescension, bombasticity, belligerence or simple ignorance. People, trained to pluck from the air whichever virtue matches the occasion; professional veneer it's called. It hides those thousand insecurities remarkably well.
And lastly, the student. Yes s/he is a bright cookie; straight A entrance, leave your personality at the door. Boring? My God; Spontaniety in communication should be avoided. But why condemn, students will always be students, never much more than a reflection of the system they are in, sometimes a refraction or polarization, as modern health and disease is a reflection of the society and environment we live in.
So it would be nice, even profitable, if Mr O. Block actually felt healthier for this vast expenditure and manipulation, if he lived longer; if he could work more man hours, but he doesn't. A little better off than he was 100 years ago perhaps, but mainly because of other factors like cleaner conditions, fresher water, availability of certain vaccinations, none of which are essentially medical.
Unfortunately for Medicine's reputation, in almost every case of improvement in general public health, its discoveries and interventions have come after the actual improvement, the relevant contributions having been social rather than medical. So today instead of dying of tuberculosis or the infectious diseases, we are dying of the degenerative diseases, the heart and chest complications, the mental syndromes; a reflection of the society and environment.
Health, therefore, cannot simply be left to the medical profession with it's vast mechanisms and complications which revolve distances away from the essential existence of a health disorder in a certain situation, but which tries nevertheless to remove it from that situation to enable a categorization in its own terms. Health is necessarily and vitally the society's responsibility, or more particularly the individuals' within it. The biggest misconception is that doctors alone can give this health, but it is God or whoever else you believe in, which is far the more likely, and doctors with a nod and a shisk, charge the tax. The statement is of course misleading, however, as it implies some premotivation to the connivance on behalf of the doctors, where rather they are at best described as phsical pawns to some, blind alturistic mental process, which drives them to lumber onto this health something more gross than God actuall prescribed. If only Mr O. Block weren't blasted with the medical paraphernalia bit, he wouldn't be quite so blinded to his own self-curing abilities.
For the moment, hospitals et al continue to exist, and the value of the modern medical student, by continuing in the system, might hopefully be to instil pressures from within to develop a more flexible, personal, low-key, less out of touch, less expensive and less insecure health-caring system than presently exists, and that without compromising overmuch one's personal sanity or integrity.
The presence of the medical student in Wellington I feel, has hitherto been largely ignored by the general hub-bub of people concerned with University affairs; not on any deliberate account perhaps, but more because the school's ties have tended to stay with Otago, rather than switch to Victoria. The hope is that this lack of communication might in the future be redressed, to the advantage of both parties. One of the greatest traps for Medical students as they move into, and progress through, the Medical system, is that their focus on everyday life and its events does become progressively narrowed to fit the single medical monocular, and attempts at open discussion are all too often hampered by the unfortunate tendency of those in power, not to tolerate questioning of certain age-protected attitudes; especially not from subordinates in the same field. In such questioning they take on the amazing ability to feel threatened.
In all the above remarks in no way am I seeking to be unconstructive, only to point out that in no society should a structure purporting to work in the populaces' interest, be allowed to become autonomous from the essential workings of that society. The medical system has an accountability; an accountibility to every individual for whom it strives to promote health. And as such any discussion on the workings of this system should be encouraged, not persecuted, as was the case with recent criticism, of the medical school. Only in this way will some realistic attitude develop in New Zealand, to what has for too long been an 'unquestioned' and 'awe-seeking' profession.
On July 26, university students on every campus are
Government Attacks on the Viability of Education Will Inevitably Mean a Serious Erosion of Standards and a Denial of Opportunities to Large Numbers of People.
This Campaign is Planned as One of the Biggest Ever Undertaken on Campus. There .
Here's what you can do:
Every day, on campus and downtown, we want to have people sitting on stalls in prominent places. They will give out information, sell stickers and badges, sign people up for the campaign, etc. Do you and a friend have spare hour or two (or ten)?
We are trying to send speakers into every tutorial, to
Two speakers will go to every secondary school in the
Before each major activity, lectures will be biltzed. It's easy once you've done it once.
Laflets, banners, posters, displays, etc., all need regular production and distribution. This is one area where every spare half hour can be of use.
We have lots of information available on what's happening, but not enough willing writers to put it all into Print.
This is the core of the whole thing: we are drastically short of people in this area.
If you want more information, want to help in the above or in some other way, see the Campaign Coordinator, Campaign Room, Middle Floor, Union Building (next to Radio Active). All welcome.
The following events are scheduled for Education Fightback:
July
Wednesday 4:
Forum: "Education and the Budget". Speakers from the National and Labour parties, the Acting Vice Chancellor, someone to put the student views 12 noon. Union Hall.
Organising meeting straight after the forum, to decide on action over: cuts on campus, the new Tertiary Grants System, July 26, etc.
Wed 4th, Thurs 5th, Fri 6th: Grard Pinball Competition. Heats during SASRAC, final Friday afternoon. Cash prizes. Enquire at the Campaign Room for details.
Tuesday 10th: Forum "Can the university cuts be made made?" Do you think somebody's getting too much or too little? Hear how and why the cuts are being made and say what you think.
Sunday 15th: Jazz Concert. Fund raising for the campaign with some of the top jazz acts around.
Tuesday 17th: Mery Wellington speaks at Polytechnic.
Wednesday 18th: Forum "What is happening to our schools?"
Friday 20th: Rock Concert fundraising for the campaign.
Thursday 26th: National Education Day: Rally and mass march on Parliament 11 am - 2pm; extended seminar activities on the state of education, afternoon.
August: Boycott of lectures from 11 am.
Wednesday 1st: Public Meeting organised by the Combined Educational Associations.
Unscheduled Activities:
Pickets, Protest Action, More Debates and Forums, You Name It and Help Organise It, We'll Do It.
Educational groups in the Wellington area have been meeting in the last few weeks to decide on joint action against cuts to education spending. Proposals so far fall into two categories.
The NZUSA Education Fightback campaign, climaxing on July 26 with a mass rally and march on Parliament, followed in the afternoon by an "extended seminar" on the state of education in New Zealand. Student organisations from the technical institutes and teacher trainees are expected to join us on this day. We are also encouraging students in secondary schools to support the march.
The New Zealand Combined Educational Associations (NZCEA) is also organising a mass campaign among people involved in education and the public. Through NZUSA and VUWSA we are participating in this. The CEA has registered its support for the NZUSA campaign; we are publicising CEA activities and material. A public meeting is planned for Wednesday August 1.
Support for the campaign continues to be expressed by the Association of University Teachers. At a meeting of 97 members last Thursday it passed the following resolutions:
Official approaches by VUWSA and the AUT to have lectures suspended on July 26 have failed (no surprise). The first motion above now reflects the AUT's official attitude to the Education Fightback campaign. In reality it means measures like the following are likely to be taken by many staff members: distribution of lecture notes, postponement of tests, rescheduling of small classes, cancellation of classes. Raise the matter with your lecturers and tutors soon to find out what they want to do.
The second motion will probably lead to comprehensive interviewing of MPs. VUWSA is planning similar activities for biter in the campaign.
On Wednesday, 13 June, the Public Trial and execution of Mery Wellington was staged at Pigeon Park. Wellington was accused of crimes against NZ education. Found guilty after he admitted he had nothing to say for himself, he was sentenced to the only worthwhile education cut: his head was chopped from his head.
In the
National Party publicity gave students the very real impression that its scheme would be brighter and better than the STB.
Three and a half years later the "new reformed bursary" was announced by Prime Minister Muldoon. However, as outlined in the Budget, and subsequently elaborated on by the Minister of Education Mery Wellington and the Department of Education, there is nothing to suggest that in any significant way this new scheme is an improvement on the STB. Whereas despite its many inadequacies (such as the failure to keep up with inflation and the abatement) the STB was definitely an improvement on its predecessor this cannot be said for the new scheme.
The new scheme is intended to be implemented for
An initial glance at the Estimates for Vote Education would suggest that an extra $6 million has been allocated to bursary expenditure.
However, in considering this three factors should be taken into account.
In a post-Budget press statement on Saturday 23 June Mr Wellington made the following comments about how the decision to formulate and implement the Tertiary Study Grant was made.
"This is part of a continuing policy. In
In
The new scheme announced in the Budget is an outcome of this review of the present system of assistance for tertairy students."
This claim of the Minister is a complete fabrication and is totally misleading. NZUSA has representatives on the Steering Committee and at no stage was the Tertiary Study Grant discussed and nor were its main features part of the two (not three) interim reports to the Minister. Furthermore the meetings between NZUSA and the Minister never discussed the scheme. At no stage was NZUSA invited to comment on the proposed Tertiary Study Grant.
In reading the Budget to Parliament Mr Muldoon made an initial misleading comment when introducing the hew scheme. He referred to a $40 grant. However, in reality it is a $23 weekly grant for the academic year.
This represents a significant change from the present STB. Instead of four different levels there is now only one.
The current rates are:—
Obviously the group of students who suffer the most are those on the unabated rate. They represented, in 19 78, about 57% of all STB holders and will suffer weekly reductions of either $7 or $10.50.
The following figures show the distribution of students on the abated and unabated rates throughout the seven universities.
Returns for numbers of students receiving standard tertiary bursaries in New Zealand universities in
At a minimum at least one-third of STB holders will suffer a direct cut at each campus. The effects are most severe at Massey, Lincoln, Otago and Waikato.
The position of unabated students shows how farcicial the Minister's claim that the controversial abatement has been ceased is. Rather than abolish the abatement (which has been a demand of students since it's implementation in abated all bursary holders.
Superficially one would expect that the abated students would have reason to be content. There is little effective change for those on $22.50 but on the surface those on $19 get a $4 increase.
However if a conservative estimate of a 10% annual
In
Even "academically successful" students will be hit. They could' be eligible for only four year's assistance. For example, if a student completed his/her Bachelor degree in three years and Honours in one, s/he would not be entitled to bursary assistance for a fifth year to do a masterate or diploma course.
It is evident that the Government is endeavouring to establish a parallel system of grants and loans. Restricting the grant entitlement is the means of acheiving this. A system of supplementary assistance in the form of loans is being investigated for introduction as soon soon as practicable. It will include provision for "support" for students not eligible for tertiary study and/or fees grant assistance.
Currently University Entrance entitles students to a Fees Bursary which pays for all tuition fees. This applies to both full-time and part-time students.
Under the new scheme the Fees Bursary will be replaced by a Tertiary Fees Grant which will meet 75% of tuition fees. In
There is also an income restriction on eligibility for the Tertiary Fees Grant. Students are not eligible if they have a "personal gross annual income from any source" in excess of $3,000. It is unclear whether the words "from any source" apply to supposed assistance from parents or spouse.
Even though the National Party rejects means-testing for its pet Superannuation Scheme, it is nevertheless prevalent throughout this new bursary scheme.
Parental
As stated earlier both the Tertiary Study Grant and the Tertiary Fees Grant are income-tested. The problem with income testing is working out a fair and equitable system in which to do it. One way is to base it on the previous year's income. But this falls down because both personal and general circumstances can vary considerably from year to year.
Another way is to base it on assumed earnings for the coming year. However assumed earnings are not easy to assess in advance and the result can invariably be a significant discrepancy between assumed and actual earnings.
The proposed new bursary scheme is nothing more than a crude method of reducing the purchasing power of students. It is not a positive improvement of the STB. This cost-cutting will be done in four ways:
The overall effect is two-fold. On the one hand it is a further erosion of the principle of free tertiary education. On the other it erodes the principle of universities being educational institutions rather than simply being qualification-entered institutions.
At Victoria, everybody's getting it. The cuts, that is. In line with a decision made at University Council in late May, our share is being divided up among nearly all areas of university expenditure. Broadly speaking, it's a sensible policy. But in some circumstances it has meant that the particular importance or needs of an area have not been fully acknowledged. The library is such a case.
The library loses $15,000 from its grant and $10,000 from salaries through the non-appointment of staff. The salaries figure comes on top of the previous freezing of a number of positions, so that the library is now operating with notably less staff than it considers desirable.
The $15,000 from the grant is an even more dubious saving. At last week's Council meeting the Acting Vice Chancellor (John Tomlinson) described it as a "devaluation hedge." The library, as a large scale importer of books, needs that hedge. Now the university has removed it and the Budget has announced a 5% devaluation. By the end of the year, that figure is likely to be considerably higher.
This can only mean a significant reduction in the amount of books and periodicals the library will be able to buy for next year. Already, our library is the worst financed (per effective full-time student) of all university libraries. Clearly, the blanket cuts imposed on the whole university will have an unjustifiably severe affect on this area.
The Students Association has policy stating that the library, as the university's central resource centre, should have special priority status. This view is not shared by the university administration. The Library Committee has passed a motion alone the lines of VUWSA policy but the Committee of Vice Chancellor and Deans has not responded favourably.
To be fair to Tomlinson, the $15,000 has not been simply removed: it has been "placed on reserve." The idea is that if need for the money becomes particularly pressing, or if it is found that enough has been saved in other areas, it will be freed up.
The problem is, most of the savings this university was required to make have been made in this way. If the money is "freed up", we won't save enough. What a way with concepts these academics have.
At the forum on Wednesday (12 noon) and the Organising Meeting that will follow it, action on the library will be discussed. Come along and make your views known.
Some other universities have met the cuts by eating into their reserves. That's what reserves are for, after all. But at Victoria, uncommitted reserves stood, at the time of the last university budget, "at a mere two percent of our annual expenditure" (Tomlinson's report to Council.) The administration has taken the view that it would not be prudent for them to be reduced any further.
Victoria's share of the $3 million cut is $400,000: three quarters of it to come from the
The money is coming from three broad areas in the following amounts:
The withheld monies begin with $100,000 of funds once at the disposal of the Registrar. But that isn't a padded expense account. $80,000 of it should be for the maintenance of major buildings. Our buildings are not all in a good condition; deferred maintenance, as everyone knows, leads to increased costs later on.
The rest was to be for upkeep of the grounds and site and for the acquisition and maintenance of furniture and Registry equipment. (The grounds on this campus, of course, don't need to be kept up: they should be dug up and planted.)
Over $50,000 has been taken from academic departments and facilities, including the Computing Services Centre, "for essential running expenses and equipment and materials." The Research, Equipment and Publications Funds have been stripped of $40,000. The Leave Fund has lost $20,000. the library $15,000, and a miscellany of other allocations have also been reduced.
Tomlinson states that he is "now confident that the University's financial position for
In that latter statement, he is quite right. I have already noted that the funds "placed on reserve" make up the major part of the total redaction. Tomlinson says, "Because of the essential - on some cases critical part that the majority of these allocations play in maintaining the University's fundamental activities, a primary objective in the forthcoming months will be to ensure that these reserved funds are returned in full to the parent funds at the earliest possible date." He also says, "In the event that the financial outcome of the economy and salary saving measures described in b) and c) (running expenses and salaries - see break-down above), assessed in conjunction with the block grant funding provided for
(like an end to open entry) will have to
e
Some years now, the University has been care-
At present, New Zealand universities are 540 academics short compared to
In the last two months, approval for filling posts has been withheld in Accountancy Education, Law, Political Science, the Centre for Continuing Education and the Computing Services Centre. Probably many others have not even been advertised. Approval has been given for filling other positions in Accountancy, Business Administration, Education, History, Law and the Registry and Library.
Tomlinson outlined four objectives he had in mind when overseeing the implementation of the cuts:
How successful he has been in meeting these objectives remains to be seen. Right now, we have cause for concern over:
This university, officially, continues to take the cuts more or less lying down. Come along to the forum on Wednesday and find out why. Tomlinson will be there.
On Saturday 9th of June, the
March 20, 1pm - I am in my school with a friend. We go into the office. The results are not released yet. We wait. My class had been small, with fewer than 20 students. Yet we are a determined lot. I was one of them.
We knew our aims. We recognised our problems. We realised the obstacles. We know that entering local universities was very competitive. I had given up participation in the school's relay team, and other activities, just to strive harder in my studies.
I had pressed myself too hard. I had suffered severe headaches. Sometimes, I consulted the doctor once every 10 days. One told me that I had overstrained myself, and advised me to rest. Reluctantly, I followed his advice. Though helpful, it did little good, because I kept worrying about the exams. So, through out my exams, my headaches persisted. I found it very difficult to recall, but I tried my best.
3.40 pm: I accept that I could not have done very well. With this, I go in to get my results. I had Principles A, B, C, and D.
May 19: I have not yet received any reply from Unit Pusat Universiti-universiti (a government body that administers the intake of students to the 5 tertiary institutions), or the individual universities. Some of my friends have, so I go to see them. I notice gloomy faces, so I ask why.
"Two A's, two B's and only a science course," says one of my friends, "what do you think I studied Double Maths for, if I can't get into engineering?" Obviously he is very disappointed.
"And me, this lousy course will probably make me jobless," complains another, who also got two A's and two B's, but was given the science course. I would have been satisfied with a science course. I am aware that I cannot compete for better courses. But for us - those with points between 52 and 57, the shock was yet to come.
May 24: A few of my friends and I have B
Friend in Kuala Lumpur and ask him We
It is the greatest blow in my school career. All the distinctions acquired in the LCE, MCE and HSC, they are considered ho good. Refusing to give up hope, we begin to look for alternatives - overseas. One or two of us probably can afford it. For the rest, especially myself, it will be a dream, "We search. May be................just maybe, we can raise the money, we can borrow. Maybe, we can do this, we can do that (by honest means), then go. We are truly desperate.
May 26: We walk into the Australia High Commission. We ask for the forms, but the lady in charge asks us for our letters of rejection. We have not received them, so we tried to explain our situation. However the lady insists, she will not be able to help us without those letters. Disappointed we leave.
As we enter the New Zealand High Commission, we see a number of others already absorbed with the information books available.. I am given an application form. I sift through "Overseas Students Handbook."
There are two others beside me. "What did you obtain?" I ask one.
"A, B, C, D."
"GP (general paper)?"
"Six (subsidiary level)"
"When I first got the results," he continues, "my teacher told me I can just walk in. Now where am I?"
"The kicked us out," a nearby listener interrupted.
"What about you?' someone asks me.
I shake my head. He understood. With my friend I go to the Ampang Park Shopping Complex. We certainly look dejected. A girl approached me.
"Are you the one at the Australia High Commission this morning?" she asks.
"Yes, I saw you there" I reply.
"Well, it seems we are in the same boat."
"Sinking", I added.
I soon find out that she is from Malacca - rejected, and now not sure where to go. Her father had told her to repeat. "This is the first time I have tasted such a thing, I really don't know what to do." She sounds lost. I can see that she is holding herself back with difficulty. I understand how she feels. She must have had sleepless nights. I know, because I experienced it. I am absolutely sure that she cannot take it
At Macee (Malaysian-American Commission on Education Exchange) I am given a card to fill in, a booklet, "Undergraduate Education in the United States" and a book "American College and University Guild." Flipping through the booklet, I come to page 9 - "The costs of higher Education." My heart sinks heavily.
Although I had expected high expenses, by merely looking at the figures, I have to accept that my destination is sealed.
Estimated nine-month academic year costs for 1978-79:
Plus US$800 to US$1,000 to cover expenses during the summer period. Moreover, costs are increasing at approximately 6% annually.
May 31: "Candidates who have been rejected by local universities can still register to re-sit for titter HSC/STP examinations.........if they want to improve their results, although the closing date for the examinations is over." say newspaper reports. It kindles a speck of hope, but one of my friends says he doesn't feel he can sit again. Last year was the second time he did it, after failing to gain entry at this first attempt.
Another classmate also expresses doubt. I am too taken aback to make any decision. Maybe I should do it. On top of it all, there is one major question: How can we know that the same thing will not happen to us again next year?
For us, the future is a blank.
Reprinted from the Star, 12th June '79.
The above letter was written by a HSC holder, expressing his sense of frustration and discontent having passed his examination with above average results and yet unable to enter into any of the 5 universities in Malaysia. He looked for alternatives and soon found out to his shock that the path to a tertiary education overseas is beyond his reach.
This is the typical scene in the education 'chase' in Malaysia. It is also from this pool of 'dropouts' that most of the present overseas students originated. They are not 'dropouts' in the real sense, they are a bunch of top scholars as shown in New Zealand, Australia or the United Kingdom.
Those who can afford would go to countries like USA, Canada or Britain. Precisely due to the lower costs of attending a university in New Zealand, we find most of the overseas students here are not from rich families.
Perhaps, this letter would enlighten those who are unaware, and more importantly, to refute the groundless charges by Mr Muldoon on the overseas students over the past few weeks about the $1,500 fees-rise.
Over 200 overseas and local students marched on Parliament on Friday, 15 June, to protest at the discriminatory fees imposed on overseas students. The following week, Mery Wellington announced that the fee decision was under review. Then, on Budget day, he revealed that the Government had decided to exempt overseas students currently studying in New Zealand secondary schools from the new regulations.
This decision has its roots directly in the campaign waged by overseas students and NZUSA against the discriminatory fee. Of all the attacks the Government has made on education, the fee is the most hard to justify and the most obvious example of the Government's callous attitude towards education.
It also clearly exposes its arrogant disregard for its responsibility towards the developing countries in the region. (In fact, Merv told NZUSA and NOSAC reps that NZ educational opportunities are not part of this country's aid commitment: a big departure from previous statements.)
The decison on overseas secondary students is a victory, but the war is not over. 70 students have been given a reprieve. The struggle against the discriminatory fee continues; it deserves our support.
Roger Bartley of the VUW Careers Advisory Service provides background on the Milk round' and other facilities provided by the Service.
What is 'the Milkround'?
It is an annual programme of visits by employers to our campus, and others, to hold informal interviews with students about jobs and careers. (The name is just a label for this process, used in the UK. It seems to have stuck. Perhaps it doesn't mean much in the NZ context but it's rich in potential puns and is a lot easier to say than 'annual programme of.......etc')
What's the object of the exercise?
There are a variety of reasons for holding such interviews. Not least is the sheer demand for them - over 750 interviews were held last year. I like to see them in the broad context of bringing the University and the employing community closer together. For the individual student, there is a real opportunity to meet a wide range of possible future employers. It is difficult to make decisions of any kind unless you are familiar with the nature of the choices you face. These interviews provide the chance for students to become more familiar with the various fields of graduate employment in an informal, convenient and unthreatening situation.
How are the employers chosen?
Partly on the basis of past experience - propensity to recruit reasonable numbers of graduates - and partly on the basis of trying to attract new employers into the fold. Quite a few employers simply invite themselves - though of course we have the right to refuse a particular employer access to the programme. If, for instance it becomes out of balance with an excess of less 'popular' entries, we will (and do) ask one or two to remain off the programme.
How does this year look, compared to earlier years?
Numerically, we are just about up to last year's figure; a few employers have dropped out, while other new ones have joined the list.
It's a little early to say what this means in terms of availability of work for late '79 early '80, but my feeling is that 'graduate employment prospects' remain remarkably buoyant at a time when general employment prospects are gloomy. However it will certainly pay arts and science graduates, in particular, to take advantage of the Milk-round to provide themselves with preliminary contacts with employers. All other disciplines are of course welcome too. (We are keen to see more BUAD students using the Service.)
Is the Milk round only for final-stage students?
No. However we do give priority in bookings to finalists and postgraduates. If a student from any year of study misses out on an interview with an employer because of heavy bookings, we provide names and phone-numbers so that a private arrangement can be made. This is not so easy in the case of the Auckland-based employers, for which early bookings are recommended.
How do you get to see the employers?
First things first. There's not much point in just booking appointments to see the employers that sound attractive in some way, without first looking into what they offer. Programmes will be issued week by week giving details of employers and their requirements. They will be available at the Library exit, on notice boards, in the Union office, and the Careers office - look out for them. The programmes will also appear week by week in Salient. Programmes 1 (for Accountancy students) is out now, and will appear in the next Salient.
More detailed information is available in the Careers Library at 6 Kelburn Parade, and it is obviously useful to have read this before interviews. If you are undecided about the range-of employers you wish to see, or simply wonder whether or not the Milkround might be of some value to you - have an ititial chat with the Careers Adviser.
Booking appointments: having decided which employers you wish to meet, see Barbara Burgess (or one of the other girls) in the general office at 6 Kelburn Parade, You will be issued with a one-page personal data form for each employer you wish to meet, plus a reference copy for the careers office. When you have chosen times for the half-hour interviews, they are 'pencilled-in', and you are given a note of them. The appointments are confirmed only when the completed personal data forms are returned to the careers office. (There is a sheet of notes available on the whole process, in the Careers office.)
Is there a restriction on numbers you may see?
Nominally we restrict students to four interviews plus two on reserve - though with the exception of Week 1 (which will be heavily booked) it should be possible for students to see just about as many as they want. And to reiterate the point made previously, we can help students to get in contact with employers if for some reason they miss out on the Milkround.
Any other points on the Milkround?
Apart from being reasonably prepared in terms of information (and perhaps appearance? - no one expects suits or twin-set-and-pearls, but there are limits!) the main point is to Turn Up - On Time for appointments booked. The record last year was generally excellent, though there were a few students who created difficulties by turning up late or simply not showing at all.
What happens afterwards?
This depends very much on the employer and on the 'success' of the interview. Although these are not formal recruiting interviews, in some cases - and perhaps this would be more true of the Auckland employers - the employer will definitely have an eye to filling vacancies later in the year.
In other Cases an offer of a second, formal interview is made on the spot. Probably in the majority of cases it is left open-ended: "contact us again in October". Don't hesitate to ask the employer what happens next.
Finally, what are the other facilities of the Careers Advisory Service?
Most of them are mentioned here, but to list them:
Sight and Sound)
Monthly Film Bulletin)
'... an air of studied triviality.........(and) an absurd lyricism.....But DePalma doesn't invest his fancy footwork with enough to make it an adequate substitute for more commonplace techniques.....' (Janet Maslin, Newsweek)
And even most of the positive reviews were careful to qualify their praise:
'The main flaw in Carrie is Depalma's exaggeration of details and situations to make a point and sway the viewer's sympathies. But with its excellent acting and tight script, Carrie is a well-crafted film that is less slick, more satisfying, and more frightening because of its subtle psychological build-up than other recent films of this type......" (Suzanne Bowers, Film Information)
'Carrie is pure, and simply, a screamer of a horror movie......(it) really delivers its punch, and does so with style, wit and feeling rather than by slamming us in the guts with the mechanical shock effects of a disaster film or an Exorcist or Marathon Man. DePalma reminds us that movie terror doesn't have to be cruel, but can be exhilarating......' (Frank Rich, New York Post)
'Carrie is by no means just another variation on The Exorcist. What separates them is the difference between artistry and craftsmanship. Director Brian DePalma has so transcended his easily exploitable material as to transform it into a poignant yet increasingly terrifying evocation of the tension between adolescent sexuality and religious obsession. Like the classic Hammer gothic horror films, he counterpoints supernatural forces as external symbols of sexual repression, but his concerns go further. By utilizing the device which distinguished the fantasy films of Val Lewton - that of concentrating on characterization and an accelerating narrative - he underscores the shock effects with sympathy and irony, thereby intensifying their impact....' (Steve Swires, Films in Review)
'....director Brian DePalma and cameraman Mario Tosi manage to weave around this fly-blown theme a gauzy, dazzling web of technique, a spectacular cocoon for a black black fairy tale, which shamelessly calls attention to the showy brilliance of its own effects. Carrie is almost a demonstration of telekinesis at work.......
DePalma wants you to notice his parallels and repititions, his show-off angles and trickey crane shots, the whole Look-ma-I'm-A-Director bit. It links him with the Welles of Lady from Shanghai, and other brilliant pot-boilers, rather than the mature Hitchcock with whom he was compared after his earlier film, Obsession. Carrie is a magnificent piece of hokum for those who like bravura, baroque film-making...........' (Alan Brien, The Sunday Times (London)
Maybe Carrie is 'a magnificent piece of hokum'. But you only have to look at most critics' lists of the 'Ten Best Films of All Time' to see that the very same description could be applied to most of them too. And some critical juries at least have recognised it as something more than just a 'brilliant pot-boiler.' It won 1st prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Festival, for instance. Films illustrated's annual poll of critics named it the 3rd-best film of Three Women and Annie Hall.
But there is still something not quite 'respectable about Carrie, because it is a horror film and because public audiences, on the whole, love it. Brian DePalma isn't quite 'respectable in some ways either. He's on the record as saying: 'The Kennedy assassination is the most entertaining thing I ever saw. It riveted me, held me emotionally and I watched the television set for days and days. That is entertainment on a scale that no director could ever come up with.'
He started out in underground, experimental film-making, before his move to Hollywood to make Sisters (which I've unfortunately never seen), then Phantom of the Paradise, Obssession, Carrie and molt recently The Fury. Of these last four, only Carrie is not flawed; in all the others, he doesn't maintain a tight enough control over his techniques, and each fails to fit together into a satisfying unit. Says DePalma: 'I see a film as a great, complicated mathematical problem.' You could say that in Carrie he did his sums right; in all the others he added slightly wrong
DePalma makes a point of saying that before he tackles serious content in his movies, he wants to master the form (a scheme many local film-makers would do well to emulate). In Carrie, the form is perfect. But all his films are worth watching, even, though they're not consistently successful, for a whole variety of reasons. The way he uses music, for example to complement and emphasize the rhythm of movement both within a single shot and in sequences of shots. His clever use of Hitchcockian motifs, and the elaboration of his own. The irony he weaves into his narratives, and the amazing (but, I would stress, always functional) stunts he pulls with his cameras. And the interesting subtext in his films of themes of punishment, sexual guilt, and 'Oedipal' parent-child conflict. If you've already seen Carrie once, I'd recommend that you go again - it really rewards repeated viewings.
One list word, about the acting. Here is an excellent example of ensemble playing. Most memorable of all, though, is Sissy Spacek in the title role, giving what's probably the best performance by an actress I've ever seen. In many ways, it is this strong central performance that holds the film together.
So, once more, go to see Carrie because in my opinion, it's one of the best films I've ever encountered, and without doubt the most enjoyable. If for no other reason, go to see John Travolta (a bit part in his first feature) get the comeuppance he so richly deserves.
Confirm your participation at Reception.
Golf - Drive yourself to drink in the Long Room. Don't be put off, it's on Fridays 11 am - 12 noon. We provide the clubs and the balls.
Ski and General Fitness: don't lose out on the slopes this season; our social fitness classes if regularly attended, will do the trick.
Dance till you are turned back into a pumpkin or something. Come and talk to Diana about various opportunities for dance.
If you aren't into classes, then how about a reminder about the social sports programme?
A social game at a social pace.......ask at Reception now.
Despite the general anti-jogging publicity you read about, Recreation Centre staff approve of jogging as a recreation. But, before you commence ensure that:
You should be going (Centre staff will help).
Having realised all this, then try our beginner's jogging routes: the first one appears below.
Grassy and scenic, with some little-trodden-by-ways around the campus.
Down the steps from the Recreation Centre to Wai-te-Ata Road; Left to the top of Mount Street; across Salamanca Road; left up Salamanca Road to the tennis courts; turn right between the croquet club house and squash courts, trot past the croquet lawn to Kelburn Park.
Jog once round the outside of the grass (n.b. note the view from the fountain); run back past the croquet lawn; cross Directly (but carefully) over Salamanca Road to the path climbing diagonally to the Students Association Building.
At the main path, turn right and immediately left into the cemetery; branch right in the cemetery to Wai-te-Ata Road; return via Wai-Te-Ata Road and the Recreation Centre steps.
Shower and take a cup of coffee in the Restoration Cafe.
Herpes simplex is the name of the virus which causes cold sores, most commonly affecting the lips. The vims is usually contracted through kissing an infected person and is often picked up in childhood.
Once the virus enters the body it can never be eradicated. The infection may remain quiescent for long periods and attacks may become longer apart and less severe but the likelihood of an out-break remains throughout life. Different events trigger attacks in different people but in general they occur when resistance to infection is lowered. This may be due to another infection or other stress or over-fatigue, Women notice that attacks occur more commonly in the premenstual period. In its quiescent phase the virus resides in your friendly neighbourhood nerve ganglion.
There are two types of Herpes virus unimaginatively named Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 is the common variety causing cold sores on the lips. Type 2 has rocketed into prominence over the
When an attack of Herpes is imminent there will usually be local irritation. Later a blister appears and the fluid in this bubble is literally teeming with virus particles. The blister becomes an open sore and at this stage it can be very painful. It is important to prevent secondary infection at this stage. If not infected it will heal in about a week.
No effective treatment is available. Antiobiotics tics are useless unless the sore becomes infected. At the initial stage of irritation it is sometimes helpful to apply surgical spirit. Better stil is Idoxuridine (brand names are "Stoxil", "Herplex D"). This has some anti-viral activity and it is the best that medical science can offer at present. The ointment or lotion must be applied very early and very often, at hourly intervals during the first day in an effort to abort an attack. Once the lesion has reached the blister stage it is ineffective. It is also recommended that you increase the amount of Vitamin C at the time of infection. Try 1G 3-hourly.
If it is "just a cold-sore" why the fuss? Well in the first place it can be very painful and there are also general symptoms which make the person feel miserable. In the second place, if lesions occure on the cervix in women they are under suspicion as cancer inducing agents. Thirdly, they are a hazard to any baby being born through an infected vaginal tract, a hazard which has sometimes proved fatal. And fourthly, inadvertent transmission of the virus to the eye can lead to a painful and potentially scarring ulcer of the come a, if not recognised and treated.
Prevention is the obvious answer. It makes excellent sense never to kiss or have sex with anyone with any sore on the lips or genitals.
12-2 Thursday, July.
WSA has been invited to make submissions to University on the current Physical and Site
11.30am - 1.30pm Monday to Friday
4.30 pm - 7.00 pm Monday to Thursday
Patronize your restaurant. Food it delicious and reasonably priced.
The group n holding its next social on Sunday, July the 8th at 2 pm. If you are gey, student or staff, female or male, and would like to join us then for information ring -
Sharleen 721-111
Ken 721-167
Trevor 862-449
During banking hours (10 am - 4 pm) students wanting packets of tan cent pieces for the library copying machines should get them from the BNZ in the Cotton Foyer.
Outside these times the library will continue to operate a change service from the cash register at the main Circulation Desk.
Our't is a social group of students and some non-students who meet weekly to dance and have a good time. An excellent way to get some not too strenuous exercise. Beginners are most welcome to come along and join in. We meet every Tuesday 5.30 - 7.30 pm in the dance room of the gym. For further information ring Megan 738-206.
Wellington Polytechnic's cut price fashion boutique.
Enquiries: Please contact Linda Burrows at 842-856 on Extention 805.
For an oppointment please contact Dave Bendall at 850-559 on Extention 890.
VUWSA hopes its member will make full use of these services.
Could the person who stole my blue, white and red striped bag from the library foyer at 1.25pm Thursday 28th June! please return it to the same place
If you are a woman on campus and would like to talk and socialize with other women come to the regular meeting Thursday. 12.00, lounge.
Official opening of the Womens Resource Centre on Friday July 6 and Saturday July 7. Activities start with poetry reading on Friday at 6.00. There will also be seminars, drama, music and the opportunity for informal discussion.
All women welcome, 6 Boulcott Street, Wellington.
Organizing meeting Tuesday July 3rd, 12.00 Lounge
Fund-raising stall, sweets, clothes, books, cakes, etc etc.
Friday July 6th, 11.00 Cafe.
This week's column has been provided by
A very interesting and entertaining style of
Maize / Com is the basic staple. When hard
This week two Mexican dishes to have a go at-
Things you will need:
Combine com meal and flour, blend in other
Add enough milk to make mixture pourable.
Pour into greased shallow baking pan or bread
Buy Taco shells from Mexican Cantina,
Filling:
Add all ingredients and cook at low
Stuff shells Half Full with meat, add tomato lettuce or grated tatty cheddar for topping.
(In New Zild Ripper! Bloody good tucker!)
The primary aim of our club it to give the many hundreds of gay people on this campus both students and staff, female or male, a better social life. We meet informally at various people's homes, flats, etc. in a supportive, non-political atmosphere. University is a good place to make friends so if you are gay and want to make some gay friends then why not come out and join us. For information ring...........Sharleen 721-111, Ken 721-167. or Trevor 862-449
A lot of people are turned off the thought of Scottish Country Dancing, either because they think it sounds boring and old fashioned, or because they're too intimidated to show up and risk making a fool of themselves in front of a whole lot of perfectionists.
We're neither of these. Scottish Country Dancing can provide a fun time with a little exercise. We've been in existence for 5 years, and as well as being affiliated to VUWSA, belong to the Wellington Region of the New Zealand Scottish Country-Dance Society. We're not all students, we have a number of ex and non-students to provide a bit of variety. We have a teacher to show us the basic steps and different dances, but the main emphasis is on having a good time, which we manage to do as we bumble foot our way through one dance after another. The Honourable Secretary is one of the most un-coordinated people you're ever likely to see, so if she can manage anyone can!
We do have an opportunity to get dressed up and go to formal dances, which are held by all the clubs in the Wellington Region. Those who went had a really great time at the Lower Hutt formal a fort-night ago, and the Region Ball held last weekend. We'd like to see a whole lot of new faces, and particularly urge any prospective beginners to lose their shyness and join in with us. We meet every Tuesday 5.30 - 7.30 pm in the dance room of the gym. For further information ring Megan, 738-206.
With the running or jogging explosions in the late 70's the Victoria Harrier Club has been trying to expand its student numbers. The Club holds invitation runs and organises for the keener runners to compete in races and relays. The club organises invitation runs and races during the 6 months of the harrier season from April to October.
The Harrier Club is over 50 years old with membership of keen and not so keen runners of about 50. The club is open to people of any fitness who want to have an occassional job or seriously train towards races.
Victoria University Harrier Club is one of the top three clubs in Wellington. Remember that inter-club races are team events so that all runners in a club help to get the club to its high position.
The Harrier season consists of the early cross country season, then the road relays, and finally the road season, Relays consist of usually 3 grades up to 10 runners in each team, so that you can fit your style and caliber to a certain team and leg.
The Invitation run and post run pub sessions are the social backbone of the club. So come along to an invitation run and get rid of exam and study tensions. So have fun, get fit, and see places in Wellington you may never see otherwise.
For further details Ian Jamieson - 728-734
I am writing in protest against the laxness of the University staff in permitting females to enter the Law, Science, and technical courses. Applicants for these subjects need a certain amount of integrity, intelligence (Proper intelligence, none of this 'intuition' bull) and logical reasoning: which most females, no matter how "liberated" they believe themselves to be, lack.
Surely all that the average woman needs to learn (and master) are the Domestic Sciences? What is the use of a degree - assuming a woman would attain a plausible degree - if all one is going to do is raise kids, and do a bit of housework? And That after all, is basically why they're on this planet in the first place.
Certainly the Law Faculty should ban, forcibly, women from even attempting any law course. What woman is rational and logical enough to Ever complete properly even the most basic of the law topics? Furthermore, I leave it up to you to imagine as to what would happen to our Judicial system if women started gaining an equal number of positions to the legitimate Law-Men.
How could a mere female ever hope to contribute something worthwhile to today's society, beyond their domestic role? Therefore; what is the use of overburdening our university resources by trying to teach girls, who will hopefully marry as soon as they can?
P.S. I have just thought, it might be a good idea for them to do a bit of Accountancy: it would help them with the home accounts.
Now a New Zealand citizen coming on 6 months and a resident over 5 years, the original excitement and pride is in the throes of indigestion. The unfair ratio of representation by our bureaucratic bunglers on top of their melting ice cream Trumpet (Taxbury brand natch!) does nothing for one's ulcerations. Even in a moment's light air of egg throwing (we need leaden humour here) to get the cotton our of their ears, the National blue-suits get called in to protect the fannies of the top 10 members.
Now these cuts - how sickening! I would rather see my taxes going to educate my fellow country-people and developing our brains. They could, employed by the government, be used in trained and efficient planning (ahead of time HA, HA, well isn't that what it means?) to get us New Zeewees on our feet so we can adapt to our mental-physical resources efficiently and collectively. This would be better than present examples of government wastage. For example, I have just left the Ministry of "Sworn to Secrecy" where my particular Division spent the thousands of dollars left, only a few weeks before the end of the tax year on multiple cheap, shoddy ideas just to justify an increased costs claim in the "budget". Part of my job involved the disposal of such ill-planned, scrapped-in-the-end ideas. In other words hiding the facts from public view. Surely this wastage coupled with other Govt. Depts could be used to educate our people and helpless fortunates from poor overseas countries.
Since departing from that dept some of my tummy-rumblings have subsided, but inklings of a guilty conscience linger on.
No, I'm not going back overseas, I'm a Kiwi, proud of it, love this land of honeycombs but hate the Queen Bee and its inefficient policy.
P.S. If any Salient readers say "Go home Yank" I'll put them in a wool-press and crank the bale.
Exciting news! Democratic Bolshevism isn't dead! It is alive and well and living in New Zealand! Stand by for further details.
As good old Aristotle used to say, all men want to live in civilised, orderly, and harmonious relations with their fellows. The role of government in this context requires careful consideration. Plato emphasized the importance of state unity; Aristotle opposed this on the grounds that a truly unified state requiring perfect conformity would pose a huge threat to human liberty. Rousseau differed in that he was strength of Government being necessary for individual freedom.
It must be apparent to all, in the light of the present situation in the world, that good old Aristotle was right. Human liberty is being sacrificed, not only in communist states where this sacrifice is is the cornerstone of society; but also in our so-called Western democracies, New Zealand being a prime example.
Anarchy is without doubt the solution to our problems. Its somewhat violently inclined pro- ponents in the last century have given the philosophy a bad name, but the fact remains that anarchy is an extremely worthwhile alternative to our present mess.
Anarchism is a doctrine of extreme individualism All coercion and interference by the state is abolished as is money (undoubtedly the root of all evil). Instead of money, the economy is based on voluntary syndicates under which goods can be exchanged without profit.
Fundamental to this philosophy is the Rous- seauistic belief (JJ wasn't all wrong) in the strength and goodness of basic human nature, and if we pause to think about it, we must conclude that this belief is correct. People are educated in evil - laws are made, on an assumption of human evil, and in every way people are encouraged to be antagonistic to one another (eg the totally competitive nature of our social system from birth onwards.) Christianity tells us we are born into sin so well in fact that even those who reject the religion tend to behave in exactly the way Christians expect them to.
I believe that the removal of all laws, then all religion, then money, and then finally all government will produce (after some initial years of turmoil as people get used to the increased responsibility that goes with increased freedom) an 'ideal' society. The seed is already sown. Our present government is totally ineffective - they can do nothing to improve our economic position - claiming responsibility for favourable changes and blaming downturns on 'prevailing economic circumstance' when both are out of their control. They sit around making petty laws that perpetuate the injustice of our social system, and engage in politicing and electioneering at any opportunity. The democratic system must ultimately destroy itself: government policy is now reduced to survival - never looking beyond the 3 year period and sacrificing the country's economic well-being for votes (look at the disastrous effects last year's tax cuts have had.) So before democracy dies, taking us with it, we should look for an alternative system that more fully embraces the ideals of perpetual freedom and happiness - and that 'system', my friends, is anarchy!
I feel compelled to inform T. Scotney that the abbreviation P.S. is short for "post scriptum", a Latin phrase meaning "after what is written". It is used to indicate an additional note which appears after the main body of a prose passage (usually a letter.)
It is possible to have several such additions, but it is inadvisable to make a habit of doing so, as this can he messy, and usually reveals that the writer does does not possess an orderly mind. However, if recourse too such a format should prove absolutely necessary, the correct abbreviations to use for the second and subsequent postscripts are P.P.S., P.P.P.S et cetera, and not those which T. Scotney in fact used. Obviously, this is because P.S.S., when written in full, makes nonsense whatsoever. T. Scotney need not feel ashamed at having so erred for this mistake is, most regrettably, a very common one these days.
I wish to make known that I am thoroughly annoyed by a scurilous act perpetrated by a larcenous cretin on Tuesday the 12th June at about 5 pm.
I refer to an incident in a lecture theatre where I unfortunately dropped my pen (admittedly a cheap ballpoint) to the floor under the row of seats in front of me, thus putting it out of easy reach. Not wishing to cause a disturbance I refrained from reacquiring my property until the lecture was over.
After waiting for the rows occupants to disperse I sought to locate the offending article. However to my chagrin it was not to be found. Hence it can be assumed that a member of the row in front of me must have purloined it (read as flogged.)
I can only hope that it leaks continuously over everything that you possess you cretinous, halfwitted, neo-fascist, pink-commo-lefty, national supporting chaser of big black dogs and perverter of little boys. You are obviously descended from a long line of batchelors and I don't like you very much.
We had thought that Brother Martin (aka Luther) had made it abundantly clear. Perhaps a little reminder is in order?
Be warned, Oh "Salient", further correspondence from "The Pope", "Holy father" or any other inductant, member, or confidante of this heretical self-perpetuating elitist clique might mean you will sally no more, we could even send the boys a- round again, ey? We know who "He" is!
Once again, I must take time out to reply the slanderous letters of those comical characters. Namely: Daffy Duck (P. O'Donoghue) Bugs Bunny (B.C. Kelly) and last and defintely least Priscilla Pig (K. Drysdale.)
I/O malignant O. Donoghue, the great defender of Her Majesty's English. You would complain about my superb vocalulary. Let
Your debased, peapod, uni-cellular brain
2/ Dear loveable Cathy Drysdale. Your
3/ B.C. Kelly, you inexperienced
Your brain certainly could not conceive
Thus, finally, with no more to follow, I will say "Slurge to you" (that a bad one).
I remember, many years ago (when I was in that rather dubious position of being recently matriculated) there were a considerable number of people shorter than myself. These days I seem to be one of the shortest people on this worthy campus, and in fact in the whole country
Now Pete, I'm sure you're a man of the
I see it, Mr Tees doesn't stand a chance of
One good point however, I now have a bona excuse for failing my last finals at this
The President of the Students' Association is hound by the constitution to follow the association policy. Therefore the policy making body can force the President to resign. This can simply be by passing a motion of no confidence in the President. Mr Tees should note therefore that had he succeeded in removing policy making from SRC to the executive, he would now be out of a job.
Note also Mr Tees the contradiction between your moving one week a motion calling for the minutes of the Executive meetings to be made in public then the next week you claim they should not. Perhaps you could explain this apparent contradiction.
Finally I wish to ask Mr Tees if he considers such name tailing as "you arrogant little animal" and a reply of "go and fart against a wall or something" as being consistent with his job of uniting the Executive.
P.S. Can the Editor of Salient tell me under what conditions the Executive can sack the President and call an election?
(It is not possible to "force" any representative to resign. Nor is the Executive empowered to dismiss any elected representative. That can only be done by a General Meeting of the Association, which can be called by the Executive, by three Executive members or by 75 ordinary members of the Association - ed. )
It was with some sadness that I read M. Robbie's letter of the 11th of June. Too many people, in the University and in the wider society, seem to have been seduced by the notion that the University is nothing but a factory for producing graduates with marketable degrees. In reducing education to meal tickets and dollars they seem intent upon denying its real value and on contributing to the reduction of life itself to a variant of accountancy.
Perhaps the blame lies with the University itself in that it has allowed itself to be understood as a collection of lecture theatres rather than as an environment which facilitates communication, learning, discussion, research, and debate in all matters, academic, social and political.
In saving education from the ravages of Muldoon's recently sharpened knife, should we not also give some thought to attempting to save it from the prostitution to which so many today would have it given over?
The Capping Revue has been mentioned briefly in your pages in conjunction with Internal Politics, which leaves me a little amazed.
The Revue was produced by the VUW Revue Club, and as such is not a piece of Cultural Evidence to be used to support any politicians' past record.
Last year the Revue was administered under the Executive. Personnel from last year's show formed an affiliated club this year to perpetuate the skills and traditions of Revue, and to operate away from the currently dangerously volatile area of Executive control.
To this end the Revue Club has succeeded magnificently and may proudly claim that we received approval and moral support from some members of Exec. just as we did from our mothers and fathers.
So, once again let me stress that no individual Exec. member can claim credit or blame for getting the Revue going it did it on it's own, and strictly in accordance with club constitution.
As an Overseas Student, I would also like to express my view on the issue of the so-called Discriminatory Fees.
I have seen a couple of pamphlets by NOSAC on this issue. They claim that the New Zealand Government is curtailing the rights of Overseas Students to education by imposing the 11500 admission fee. For a start, I do not think that overseas students have any rights in New Zealand apart from those normally (by international convention) afforded holders of passports of governments recognised by New Zealand. This does not include a right to education unless such foreign students are dependents of diplomatic personnel. So private and other foreign students are enjoying the hospitality of the New Zealand Government land people and the education they receive is a privilege, and Not a right, that they are afforded (partly, in the case of private students) at the expense of the New Zealand taxpayer.
It is true that New Zealand was among the colonial countries that 'siphoned off most of the resources and wealth of under-developed countries to develop their own economy.' The New Zealand government recognises this fact by exempting the South Pacific students from the fee rise. New Zealand had colonial relationships with the island territories of the South Pacific and not with the Middle East, Africa, Malaysia or Singapore. So New Zealand is not morally bound to subsidise the education of students from outside the South Pacific.
As most other countries of the capitalist world, New Zealand is facing an economic crisis at the moment and is reluctandy faced with curbing expenditure to an unprecedented minimum. At such a time, any grateful foreign students (myself included) must realise that s/he cannot continue to enjoy the economic privileges that s/he has long taken for granted. We should realise that as it is, New Zealand is by far the cheapest haven for education. In the U.S., a foreign student's total annual expenditure is around $15,000.
I would like to appeal to my fellow foreign students to be reasonable and, above all, grateful.
I would just like to say that this is the first time that I have written to Salient and that I am very honoured to have the opportunity to do so, especially in such a good cause.
I think that you and your staff all do a wonderful job and I hope that you will keep it up even with all the criticism that is levelled at you. As a somewhat average first-year student I find most of your articles very enlightening and interesting and politically unbiased, so I do not agree with those people who say that this is not the case. Thank-you very much for reading my humble epistle.
Through your column I would like to express undying gratitude to Michael Carr-Gregg and others. They have enlightened everyone as to the identity of the master-minds behind the running of this year's revue, After the Ball is Over. Being only a director, along with Phil McDonald and Penny Dodd, I was unaware of the driving forces that "got us together".
Thanks to Michael Carr-Gregg, Andrew Tees (President), and the Executive.
It concerns' me that I should be deriving more from varsity life than mere academic education and the common held view that Victoria has a sterile campus prompts me to closer investigation. I conclude that here lumped together are some six thousand people endowed with a wide variety of diverse interests and worthy talents, yet an atmosphere of inhibition and anonymity prevails. Everyone need not dance naked on the cafeteria tables to remedy this (not that I'm against one or two doing it), but how many neat blank walls around this place offer scope for art work and meaningful messages? This is no call for vandalism but my plea for another opportunity to raise the level of interaction between the people I see a- round me.
Now there is talk of superceding SRCs with referenda; the final outcome is to be the measure of our democratic freedom. But what of the alienating black-or-white nature of the referenda process, where there is greater emphasis on the mere act of holding an opinion, than on debating the quality and implications of that opinion. It would be better if the SCR forum is see as an end in itself; that the vital discussion of the topic is an attempt to involve and educate the individual. Besides, who wants to replace a flesh and blood entertainment situation with the paper work of a referendum. And surely most people agree that political freedom outside of its creative and dynamic use By those people, is in the van and vulnerable realm of propaganda and hollow rhetoric. Tra-dum-de-da!
My many thanks to all the people who man the Rec. Centre and the various clubs and activities here, in which I can particpate. It's good to see that not everything is evaluated on a debit/credit basis or on an assignment mark. I conclude: Quality of campus life is what you put into it - for art and non-art students alike!
Having read Mr Saxby's brilliant article in 'Canta' I am sure that his integrity honesty, attention to detail, brilliant style and plain dear minded unbias will get him a position high up in the hierarchy of that most noble and respected piece of shit called 'Truth' any-day,
The man in the street, at this present point in time, is being denied his democratic rights by facist, right-wing, multi-national, elitist clique. The socio-political implications of this Western imperialistic oppressionistic domination by the bourgeoisie in these days of rising costs of living and typical of the divide-and-rule propaganda inherent in this minority government. A credibility gap is not conducive to restructuring the economy or cementing firm industrial agreements, especially under neo-Marxian conditions of factionalism which the workers are striving to attain. Latent pseudo-neo-quasi Maoist capitalist psychologically aberrent Trotskyist neo-Freudian cro-Magnon men have suffered long enough through the discriminatory tertiary entry policies regarding our almond-eyed yellow skinned friends. Institutio-nalisation of the bureaucratically dominated Establishment is reliant upon the circular motions of the totalitarian state's hypocritical reciprocity.
Where is the liberated apathetic female element in this university (the free and easy type)? Is the Prime-Minister an anagrammatic troubled moron? Where are the indignant ivory-towered pseudo-intellectual conflict sympathisers? How much longer will we, the average students, accept this manifestation of pie-in-the-sky banana-republic philosophy whilst merely verbalising "that's life"? As I always say, you can't teach ducks to dance.
P.S. I omitted to mention "politically naive" in my discourse. Please accept my apologies.
This is Action again, revealing more shocking social phenomena. I am, of course, referring to the "Salient" of April 11, and in particular to yet another disturbing disease to plague its unhealthy pages. This malignant growth last week grew to such horrifying proportions that I thought it time to warn humanity of its debilitating existence, namely - the ever-dreaded P.S.
The frequently abused postscript is not inherently an evil creation, and on a less literate level than my own can be quite an acceptable device for remedying a typical piece of previous incompetence. However in the hands of certain plebs and other foul-minded individuals who are operating on an intellectual level far below that high-minded plane maintained by Real students, it has become an instrument of filth and perversion deserving of a swift bolt of lightning from God (or alternatively a quick knee to the groin of the perpetrators.)
In all I counted 8 postscripts in that issue, all filled with mindless, pointless filth that was couched in the most disgusting language I have ever read - things like "fucking cunt", "goer", "hairy legs", "antipodean", "sonuvabitch", "Peter Beach", "econ 101 students" and "political". I personally am among many people who were outraged at this callous display of unfeeling coarseness not only on the part of those who wrote them but also on the part of the "Salient" staff who published it. So in the words of another famous protector of decency - "dean up your act"..............or else.
(Association for the Complete Termination of Items that are Offensive in Newspapers.)
P.S. Shame on you, you naughty boys.
Florence lay giggling in the long grass. Dougal awoke from deep slumber nearby and eyed her curiously. "I wonder what she is so happy about?" thought Dougal. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.
"The knives are out," said Florence "and Ze - betee's going to get the axe" she added.
"Oh really........." said Dougal and went back sleep.
Sometime later Dougal was awakened by the sound of many voices. There was a meeting going on and quite near, "There's a meeting going on and quite near" thought Dougal. He slowly got to his feet and wandered over to the clearing where many of the round-a-bout gang were listening to Florence.
"Zebetee is incompetent" said Florence "he doesn't go 'Boing' and say 'time for bed' properly."
'Boing'.................Zebetee arrived "I'm not incompetent" he said "It's just that my spring is not run in yet and you commies keep obstructing me by not going to bed when you are told."
"Rubbish" said Florence "and it's not fair to callit's us names you......you......fascist" she added.
"Oh dear" thought Dougal as he strolled away "not very inspiring".
'Boing' went Zebetee. "Time for action" said Florence.
"Oh really........" said Dougal and went back to bed.
I would respectfully suggest to the -unknowing girl", whose money was stolen, that her letter on that subject is highly emotive and irrational, and therefore obviously written in the heat of the moment. Furthermore, her description of me is sterio-typed and sexist (and fundamentally incorrect) as well as being an insult to male students generally. Also, she must be incredibly stupid to leave such a large amount of money in a public place where it is such a temptation for whoever happens to find it while engaged in a cursory search of those bags which look promising - people like her keep people like me in business.
Most of the third paragraph of her letter is totally irrelevant to the matter in hand, but the best part is the P.S. - besides being the most vulgar and sexist writing I have seen for a long time, it is also manifestly inconsistent and does me a grave injustice - how can a "fucking cunt", as she so expressively puts it, (and she should know what one is, of all people) also be a "sonuvabitch" and have a cock and balls?
Wot!!! It can't be possible!
You have caused me to fall to the very depths of despair (and nearly off a library chair, too.)
I innoncently opened my "Salient" (no. 13 — coincidence) all eager and expectant and...........it wasn't there!! No letter from Carol Addley!
Aren't We friends any more, then?
P.S. I don't know how I'm going to break this to my poor ole mum tonight.
May I bring to the attention of your readers the fact that Sub stands for Student Union Building, the humble abode of those most august members of the Association's governing body?
Congratulations Salent. The printing of the minutes from the executive meeting is timely and to be highly commended. Andrew Tees judgement is now to be seriously doubted by all concerned
students. The minutes reveal that he made a serious mistake at that meeting. Farting is out. He should have told Peter Beach to piss into the wind, a good strong Wellington wind.
P.S. I hope you have the grace to print this.
Lamentably, things have come to a head.
At this very moment I sit not four imperial Yards away from that despicable faction so accurately accurately abused by Mr Entell in his letter.
Despite the rightious wrath levelled against them, they persist in their sordid pastime and right now are composing a reply to Mr Entell's letter, which was beyond rebuke.
Cannot people see that these bead-fingering bastards are the perpetrators of a papist putsch that, if not ruthlessly quashed, will surely attract those poor unfortunates of low mental prowess and Roman sentiments.
As a proud student who honours his faith and seldom takes time out to read Salient or patronise pages pages with my heartfelt opinions, I call upon the militant wing of any true-blooded monarchists to shove the sods over their hallowed balcony.
P.S. When the Shadow Minister of Developing the Republic refers to Me Entell as a Rongatai feminist it merely brands him a tit. And what the fuck* does it matter if 3 diamonds isn't a legit call!!
P.P.S. They smoke Rothmans too!
From this week on I wall be sending in Orwelian letters just to remind the average students that Socialists and Catholics are bad people too. We Black Shirts (in capital letters to attract people like Maggie "Revy looo shon" Clark to read this letter) are sick and tired of being presented as the only baddies.
Orwell Quote No. 1: "The underlying motive of many Socialists, I believe, is simply a hypertrophied sense of order. The present state of affairs offends them not because it causes misery, still less because it makes freedom impossible, but because it is untidy; what they desire, basically is to reduce the world into something resembling a chess board."
Yes just like John Kirk and LB. (M) Flapworth (Les Clevelands prodigal son) I have a great love and respect for my father and think that everyone should hear about it.
Right; I am not going to take this sitting down in a spirit of meek subservience. I hereby decry the smarmy, self righteous, supercilious insinuations of the patently pompous and palpably perfidious person ostensibly Yclept James Doolittle.
I defy him to conjure credible witnesses to negate the evidence of mine who will freely and willingly aver that the Antipodean Rock Sitters' equity was inceived in the Aestival period of AD
I will not dwell on the pathetic punctuation, the gratuitous grammar, the sexist assumptions, the appalling appellational attacks, or the inflated content of James Doolittle's epistolary effort, excepting to say, "how you passed the School Certificate English examination I'll never know."
Death to parenthetomaniacs and prostracted post-scribes.
As the Butler of the esteemed Major Von Prunemancher Mc Flatulence-Worthy, who feels that his name lends your publication tone and
A nacreous stench filled that vile chamber and my senses reeled and my mind spun as I crept forward holding the lamp. Evil odours assaulted my senses and the acrid smell of the undead writhed through the cell like a hideous snake. The dark Nauseating, Croaking Voice that Seemed to Arise from the Bowel of Hell Itself Said:
The Thorndon Apathy League is alive and inactive.
I am still the president as I couldn't be bot- hered crossing my name off the election nominations from
May recall my brother Ralph wag Down and Ralph met his erotic and convulsing burbling orgasmic mass of radioactive latex. A days earlier my Uncle Harold had a breakdown attempting to make love to a gin trap, and the Blecchhh!! a toss of my golden braids, shreiking "Fuck ! Llamas will rule the world! None of this
can't help but to be highly amused to find my suspicions with regard to the average of Salient readers is approximately the as a dead sewer rat. My apology to the is of course automatic.
Anyway, with reference to the irrelevant culmination of M. Entell's paranoia (something resembling a letter to the editor) the extreme right honourable Mr R. D. Muldoon is not a member of SPROB, and he is quite welcome up onto the balcony in question anytime, and would no doubt prominently feature in the traditional throwing over the balcony, a practice reserved for soggy chips and ordinary chaps.
Honourary treasurer of SPROB (also stands for Society for the Projection of Rob Over the Balcony), and Ex-agent* for the Detection Agency of pangerous Excreta Eaters. *(Now that it has been detected, this position is defunct.)
I am writing as a non student mainly because you lot don't earn enough' This could be remedied if you pull out the proverbial. No that I begrudge you the boredom of having to sit through all those exciting lecturers, 'oops I mean lectures. Still at least you'll be on the big monies when your time is up. If you haven't been committed for life by that time.
Actually I have just finished reading your esteemed portfolio of literature and just wish to comment on some of the more intelligent of the letters printed. For instance.........One Letter Not Written on a Typewriter, please notice, mine is - although not very successfully. In reply to the Revolutionary) Garry Page What a load of Coddswallop, Balderdash and other outdated terms. Didn't the aforesaid know that this has already been done e.g. Throwing the christians in with the lions.
Also that charming individual ripping that poor person O'Donoghue apart, oops, I almost forgot Master Kelly. The only thing I have to say to that is Well Done you most obscene hunk of undignified Dog Shit. I did notice that one person did stick up for P O'Donoghue or have I got that the wrong way round? As for the gum boot maniac, I have only one thing to say to you - Galoshes. While I'm on the subject. I'll change it. Our Moari friend needn't worry about Maoris being the Jews of Nineteen Eighty, the noses are an entirely different shape. Well that about finishes it, I thank you for your time and may all those other Bullshitting individuals that read Salient carry on with their tedious sermons on the woes of the poor underpriviliged - underpaid overworked students? Also spare a thought for all those under privileged underpaid, overworked Workers.............
How are ya? Since this is the first time we've put pen to paper this year writing to you. This is a dual effort as we have several niggles that we want to bring to your attention.
Firstly to Snodgrut and Co in Salient No 12, okay Weir House may be the next best thing to Godzone (minus Muldoon), but if you lot relate the Gumboot Maniac to a pile of Wombat's doos again, (which is not very fair to Wombats is it?) Very insulting in fact, as we are not dumb but highly intelligent creatures, and another point we are no claiming to be God's reincarnation either!) I will set my Rubber Dingo on you. While we are on the subject, my friend the Llama informs me that Ralph the wonder llama isn't one.
Secondly the Gumboot Maniac is a Cretin, besides his feet stink.
Thirdly to Reginald Krutz (last weeks Salient) how would you like your teeth removed through your arse hole? Everybody has the right to write into Salient regardless of political outlook etc, or what they claim to be. This is about the only tiling left that we can do with any freedom; the only comeback is abuse from disagreeable parties, so when some slimy semi-decomposed turd says that some people shouldn't be allowed to write in, well lookout, something nasty may happen to you. Anyway, these letters are screened by an Editor or somebody to that effect, so if there was too many of a particular "type of letter, he / she wouldn't pass them for printing.
Fourthly, please can we have a different type of crossword, I can't do cryptic crosswords, (they are' in a different dimension to my brain waves), nor can many other people I know; probably due to the extreme brain strain involved and low interest factor, so howz about something like the Rock crosswords in Canta, a general knowledge type, or maybe a plain ordinary dominion type one?
Fifthly and lastly, I am writing, to the pimple fucker, scab sucker, pox infested bright pink polystyrene dildo o! a vehicle driver that poked its tow-bar or similar suitable part of his or hers (just in case the feminists are reading) cars' anatomy through the nice polished chrome grille of my trusty steed. How would you like your headlights punched out? I have been at this castle in fantasyland for 3 enjoyable years apart from the fact that during those 3 years I have had my cars' grille modified 4 times, so I say to you with the backing of other car owners who have had their cars paintwork, bodywork modified by your type of driver keep out of the car park, or better still keep off the roads and leave the petrol for those who can control their cars reasonably and enjoy driving.
God, I'm bored! I am the most monotous individual on this whole campus. I just go on and on about absolutely nothing and get nowhere and nobody understands me and they get bored and I go on and on and keep saying "and", then they go away and nobody listens to me going on in the same dull repetitive way until even I get bored and fall asleep, which is even less exciting, so I wake up and write these tedious letters that are totally unimaginatice and keep going on and on and are so repetitive and God will this sentence never end, it has to be the least interesting and most wearisome, not to men lion cumbersome and talk about lacking appeal and where the hell was I - that's right, just plain dull sentence ever, so please let it end, I mean, it has to end soon, it just can't keep going on and on getting more and more boring like I do - no, I can't stand anymore, it's inhuman, nothing could be this monotonous, please dear God stop this, anybody help - the editor even, put a full stop in, anywhere, I don't care, just finish this sentence, I can't take any more of this crap, it's so boring and keeps going on and.
P.S. By the time you read this you'll be in serious need of psychiatric treatment.
I am astounded! Nay, flaberghasted at the tinacity of Mr Grope in ascertaining that I am, so to speak, no more.
I am not only very much still alive and kicking but consider my life expectancy to be infinitely greater than that of Mr Grope.
If this is not the case then the existence Of this letter is Proof of a miracle of resurrection And consequently the Lord smiles upon me Thus refuting any satanic leanings on my Part.
However, I Am dismayed to see That Mr Grope has been reduced to enlisting The aid of a semiliterate to assist him in his vicious attacks on my hallowed person.
I have yet to see a more cold blooded attack as that perpetrated by Daphne Tuatara especially considering the howling inconsistencies of her arguments. What loyal believer in the Lord wouldn't be delighted at the chance of offering Lucifer as a sacrifice and thus affirming the quality of their faith?
As for Hedgehogs causing harm! By far the greatest harm to our nation is caused by strikes, and where are most strikes these days? In the freezing works! And what happend in freezing works? Sheep are butchered, thats what! Thus it can be seen that sheep cause far more damage to our well being than do Hedgehogs.
As for a Tuatara being the Lord this is ridiculous naturally as we all know that Tuataras are alow lethargic creatures (a lot like our leader) and couldn't move 10 miles in 6 days let alone create a world.
Finally to you Mr Grope I say remember Drysdale and anyway, I didn't say the noise sheep made was useless, I said it was Worthless! Read the flipping words will you? Yet another indication of the
Your issue of June 11th contains an interview with Michael Carr-Gregg in which he makes reference to the role of the President (VUWSA) in the production of the revue (not "review"). He claims that without the "constant nagging" of the President we would not have "got ourselves together", or got anything done. This suggests that if it were not for the President the revue would not have happened. This is simply not true.
The President was certainly encouraging and sympathetic to our efforts hut his role in carrying its administration was virtually nil.
The revue was planned and underway be before the Executive was even approached. The Executive, through a motion, (which was actually passed "in camera") actually hindered the operation of the revue. The revue club, unlike any other university club at the time, had to pass all its finances through the Students Association office. The President was party to this motion which can hardly be regarded as "getting the revue going."
Michael Carr-Gregg's statement implies that the people in the revue club were totally incompetent, and needed the President's help. Club members find this suggestion ludicrous. The revue, without the assistance of anyone from executive (least of all the President) made $3,500 on a loan of $900 from executive. We had a capping revue which over 3,500 people saw and was financially a Success with only nodding approval from the President and (his??) executive. This is hardly incompetence and we therefore resent Mike Carr-Gregg's implications, and the President's earlier claim that he made the revue happen.
The President's role in getting the revue to Christ church was even less than that for it's production in Wellington. Various promises for assistance were received from Students Arts Council, which got smaller and smaller as time went on. The Executive and President were aware of this two-timing by Students Arts Council and mentioned how they were going to do something about it, but that is as far as it ever got. We eventually had to haggle with Students Arts Council outselves and secure a very poor deal. Like all student politicians, the President and Students Arts Council were full of promises but did little about carrying them out.
However the President did guarantee that Studass would pay for the transport of the revue to Christchurch whether we made a profit or not. He was also enthusiastic about our activities and provided only verbal encouragement. But for Mike Carr-Gregg to claim that the President was the prime motivator in the production of the revue is a gross distortion of the facts. (I am writing as an official of the revue club and not an "ordinary student", as there appears to be a lot of confusion about opinions of officials these days!!!).
The position of Treasurer is now vacant.
The election of a new Treasurer will be held at the Student Representative Council Meeting on Wednesday
Applicants should have a minimum qualification of Stage 2 Accountancy.
Further information on this position may be obtained from the Students' Association Office.
The results of last term's Executive election were:
These results give a full Executive for the first time this year. The present