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At last the long-awaited eight has arrived from Sydney. It was in the water for the first time on Saturday, July 29th., when a crew from the city clubs took it for a trial spin. A searching test was made in very squally water, and at the conclusion all the crew, including the stroke of the last Olympic eight, pronounced it a first-class boat—one of the best in New Zealand.
This purchase will eliminate the difficulty experienced in recent years of borrowing a boat from the Wellington Rowing Association; a V.U.C. crew will again take its place at Tournament.
Never have the students been more crushingly condemned, never have their motives been more mercilessly exposed, than they were by Mr. J. B. Callan in the course of his anti- "anti-war" address. We are, it seems, so depraved as to be actuated by "generous emotions," presumably in contrast with the purer motivation of truth and reason. Yet, far from being ashamed of our errors, we see nothing nobler in a man than a justifiable claim that he is motivated by generous emotions. In admitting that the smug disinterestedness that too often parades as "cold logic" has no home among us, Mr. Callan has overwhelmed us with praise; for we seem to recall that all movements of reform have been actuated by these very "generous emotions" and that only after their adoption has theory or reason consented to acknowledge their beneficence. But perhaps the real blame attaching to us is not that we are actuated by emotions, but that these emotions are leading us to reform.
Mr. Callan continues with a plea which will clearly alienate from him the support of all right-minded people. He suggested that the student should be reasoned with, and we seem to read between the lines an analogy with humouring the lunatic. Such an attitude is as absurd as it is novel. The fact is that students are mainly emotional (in contrast with the extreme rationality of other classes)—in the fiery passion of their life, there is no place for that reason which seems to appear miraculously from heaven the older an man grows and the less active he becomes in mind and body. Perhaps it was a generous kindness that prompted Mr. Callan's plea, but the students are waiting for it to be carried into effect.
During his address to Weir House, Robert K. Burns criticised the Anti-War Movement as being on too narrow a basis; as attacking a symptom rather than a cause. He suggested a wider movement should be instituted, such as one for "Recovery and Peace." Such a movement would be more likely to last. He agreed, however, that what had been done was well worth while.
Mr. H. C. Read, of fame in hockey, Xtravs., Haeremai Club, Common Room two-up, and pedagogics, is to Ire married to Miss Agnes Aroha Syms at Remuera on 25th. August. Another good man . . .
Another engagement is that of Nancy Roberts and Doug. Burns. We feel we cannot rival the eloquence of our contemporary, the "Free Lance," on this subject, and so refer our readers to it. Best of luck !
Congrats, too, to Kingi Tahiwi and Reg. Larkin, our Joynt Scrollers, who were placed second to Dunedin in a debate so close that the judges had to call in an umpire to help them.
A letter has just reached us from Tony Chorlton who is billed to appear first at Minneapolis in July some time. We understand his hghest ambition is to be taken with Miss Mae West, by camera.
This year has been very disappointing from the point of view of Gym. dances. Bob hops seem to have disappeared completely, and only the more hoary and expensive functions have survived. The only dance since last issue was the Haeremai and Basketball Club's fancy dress turn out. Despite the judge we would certainly have handed the high hat to Hilda Hurley and Cedric Wright for their nurse- surgeon impersonations, had Cedric not squirted some nauseaus liquid in our partner's and our own face. We pointed out rather forcefully with our foot that he should confine his operations to his own patients and transferred our monster prize to Bob Hall, who turned out to be a snare and a delusion.
C. J. Seelye is leaving for Edinburgh University in about a fortnight's time. After the last meeting of the Maths, and Physics Society, Prof. Florence, Mr. Miles and several well-wishers from among the advanced Maths, and Physics students presented him with a handsome travelling case and expressed their good wishes. "Smad," too, sends its best luck.
Weir House was considerably enlivened by the presence of the ever cheery Robert K. Burns last week. he gave us many sidelights on American life at 'Varsity, which seems to have a very fair proportion of the brighter side. When asked if he had tasted the new American beer, he replied, "Aw, sure, I've lived on it." And that seemed to endear him to the whole house. His taste in dress was made clear by his statement that while the old Victorian hoop skirts covered the object but didn't touch the subject, his talk would be more like the scanty modern dress that touched the subject but didn't cover the object.
Stop Press news : This year's Rhodes Scholarshin nominees are K. J. Mc-Naught and C. M. P. Brown.
Mr. Robert K. Burns addressed Weir House on the subject of American Youth Movements on the evening of Sunday last. He began by telling us of a paper advertisement in Nanking, in which he was billed to speak on the subject, "Are Depressions Preventable?"; beneath was a big red question mark, and below this an announcement that a church choir would render "Search me, Oh God."
There are 1½ million students leaving college every year in America, said Mr. Burns, and but 3 out of every 10 are finding jobs. The primary youth movements spring from this lack of jobs, and this scarcity and want are being tackled by sabotage of production, by the destruction of wealth; also by the curtailing of education, for our educational system was based on an expanding industrial system.
Fundamentally the system we live in is a surplus society; it produces surplus goods which its own workers have not the purchasing power to buy and which are consequently exported. But the industrialisation of backward areas has brought this period to an end.
Mr. Burns questioned whether this was just another in the long line of depressions of the past, and brought forward these facts. This is the first depression with an absolutely international sphere; the first in which a profit-seeking society has been unable to come through successfully. There is no hope of getting out of it by expanding foreign markets. There lies no hope in the creation of new industries, as the purchasing power was not available to sell the present mass products. This is, further, the first time we have had all the available facts about crises, and yet we can't come through it.
And the fundamental question is, Recovery to What?—to the evils of '25-'28, with its recurrence of depressions?
Youth of to-day has inherited the problems of the past and has but the future as its legacy. A host of organisations have been formed in America, prominent among which is the League for Industrial Democracy, with its slogan "Production not for profit but for need." When we see 40 per cent, of the people of America living at subsistence level, and yet America, able to produce enough cars for worlds' use, we realise there is a block—and it is the profit system which is founded on the two fallacies.
1. All goods can be sold at a profit. Investment is loss of purchasing power for current consumption.
2. Every country assumes it can have a favourable balance. The Youth movement there is formed on a wider basis than a mere Anti-War movement, and aims at Recovery and Peace. Districts are carefully organised under a Central Council, and six best speakers are picked out to tour the area. In Seattle this Youth Movement secured 2 out of 5 seats in the recent municipal elections. The primary aim is to educate people to think along right lines and in terms of reality. The times demand a plan, and we should not let Russia have all the fun in remaking the world. The aim of this movement is rather to change the philosophy of the system, to create right thinking which will lead to change, rather than to put forward definite proposals.
A movement was started in Auckland by Mr. Burns along these lines, and some interested at Victoria are meeting Mr. Burns on his return to Wellington on August 27th.
Professor Hunter, at the Peace Meeting, came to- the conclusion that improvement in the state of affairs could only be obtained by educating the rising generation.
"Smad" appreciates the wisdom of these words. Undoubtedly it is true that children should be brought up to regard the occupation of the soldier with the same abhorence as that of the nightman or the hangman. Thus, while allowing them to admit its necessity (without prejudice) there is no danger of their being deluded by any false glamour about the nobility of the calling.
Each member of the audience was handed a copy of the manifesto of the Students' Anti-War Committee. The best recommendation for the manifesto is the fact that the "Dominion" thought it worthy of a sub-leader. While calling us misguided youths, it seemed to agree with our sentiments, but could not forgive us for using N.Z. figures.
Professor Hunter discoursed on Propaganda in War. The War was fomented and kept going by a tissue of lies and misrepresentation. Well authenticated incidents were cited, such as that of Mr. Mulliner (no relation to P. G. Wodehouse's celebrity) and Mr. Shearer, armament manufacturer, whose business it was to bring about international discord.
Propaganda could not be met with propaganda, nor lies with lies. Eduation was the only way.
Ian Campbell, from the chair, drew a comparison between conditions in
The meeting, which comprised about 150 students, passed a resolution approving of the actions so far taken by the Anti-War Committee and approved of appointing a delegate, Mr. R. S. Odell to a National Anti-War Congress, apparently being prepared to risk his becoming perverted by association with that body.
Dear "Smad,"
Your readers may be interested in the following Executive activities, notes on which are forwarded for their information :—
1. The Social Service Club, which has been in abeyance for a number of months, has been revived by the Executive. This Club has been responsible for much good work of a charitable nature in the past, and it is hoped that students generally will support the strong committee which was elected at the General Meeting.
2. Miss Julia M. Dunn, having given up the position of V.U.C. "Representative and Corresponding Secretary of the N.Z.U.S.A., Mr. D. M. Burns has been appointed to fill the vacancy.
3. Messrs D. M. Burns and H. P. C. Wild have been reappointed Tournament Delegates for the ensuing year.
4. The Executive is again offering prizes to the value of £2 2s. for contributions to "Spike," and this sum will be allocated in the discretion of the Editors, Messrs R. J. Larkin and J. A. Carrad.
5. A sub-committee of the Executive, consisting of Miss H. Hurley and Messrs D. M. Burns and R. C. Bradshaw, has been appointed to deal with all matters pertaining to the upkeep of the Gym.
6. With a view to improving the often untidy state of the main Notice-board in the Hall, it has been decided that club notices in future shall be restricted in size to that of a double foolscap sheet and in number so that no club shall at any one time have more then two notices advertising any one function.
Mr. H. M. Mcintosh has been appointed Asst. Hon. Treasurer of the Association for the ensuing year.
8. In accordance with the motion passed at the Annual General Meeting, a Committee has been set up to consider alternatives to the system of voting at present in use in College elections. The Committee consists of Messrs "R. J. Nankervis (Chairman), R. S. Odell and C. S. Plank.
9. A further grant of £2 10s. has been made to the Harrier Club to cover additional expenditure in connection with the Inter-'Varsity Cross-country Championship, which is to be held in Wellington shortly.
We tried, with alarming success, but the "Dominion went one better when they introduced us to Harold Stephen Ginger, who recently appeared in the witness box as the clerk of Mr. Hardic Boyes.
The curfew, once the remedy for fires, is now, it seems, the remedy for firebrands
Four men convicted at Auckland for breach of a city by-law have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment, to be followed by a period of probation, one of the conditions of which requires them not to be out from their homes after 7 o'clock at night.
They had participated in street meetings, and had made the absurd assumption that where the authorities provide no Hyde Park, orators may declaim upon the highways. This, of course, is absurd. Streets and footpaths are to enable people to go to work and to go home, not to go hostile.
The curfew has a distinguished history in early English annals, and the Magistrate was following a precedent hallowed by age-long antiquity; one might say it dated back well nigh to the days of barbarism. Used by William the Conueror to prevent nightly meetings, the curfew statute was repealed in the reign of Henry I., so great was the opposition that it aroused. And even while in vogue, it was never used as a badge of infamy. Many opportunities for innovation were thus left to the Magistrate at Auckland.
In a recent case at Palmerston North (R.v ANDERSON and Others), the judgment read:
"Persons in New Zealand are entitled to demonstrate and hold processions to publicly air their views and bring them before the authorities, so long as the meetings are orderly and peaceful. This is a cherished right of the British nation, and should not lightly be interfered with or curtailed."
To the same effect one may refer to Wakefield v. Governor Fitzroy (
"I feel bound to remind your Excellency that in all free countries, and especially in the British dominions, the liberty of expressing his own opinions is one of the most precious privileges of every, even the meanest, subject of his Sovereign."
Just how invaluable is the liberty conferred in practice by this principle of British Justice can be judged from the fact that only once in the history of the Dominion has any Court sought to enforce the restraining measures of the "curfew." Indeed, the sentence in the cases at Auckland only serves to emphasise in its full significance the truth of a recent statement of the London "Times":
"A gulf separates Germany from the western nations owing to the suppression of freedom of speech and thought. Germany has temporarily ceased to be a modern European country, and has reverted to medievality."
Last Wednesday a team from Canterbury arrived for the annual match, which was played at Athletic Park in almost ideal conditions. The teams were :
Victoria—Cormack; McElwain, Ruru Feltham; Thurston, Wild; Rae; Elliott, Burka, O'Shea, Hope, Blacker, Claris, MacKenzie.
Canterbury—B.azey; Carmichael, Watt, Hayman; Roberts, Parsons; McAuliffe; Stewart, Harding, McKee, Copland, Roberts, Hudson, Walters, Hamilton.
Play at the outset was open and fast. Canterbury narrowly missed a score following a loose rush by the forwards, and then McAuliffe opened the visitors' account with a good penalty goal. Victoria evened with the brightest piece of play of the day, the ball going from Blacker to Rae, to Wild, to Ruru, back to Wild, to Rae, to Feltham, who scored in the corner. The kick missed. V.U.C. 3, C.U.C. 3. Shortly afterwards the Green forwards broke through in a loose rush, and Burke, following up splendidly, scored between the posts, Rae converting. V.U.C. 8, C.T.C. 3. Just before half-time McAuliffe had another free kick, a good effort falling a little short.
Victoria attacked when play was resumed, but the back movement lacked thrust, time and again the ball going to the wings without any ground being gained. Up and down play followed, with Victoria holding the territorial advantage. From a scrum Rae gained ground by cutting through, and McKenzie picked up and sent to Feltham, who went over in the corner, to be recalled, however, for a forward pass. Solid tackling by Canterbury kept Victoria out, and play lacked interest until Hope staked the usual "change of trousers" act in front of the Grandstand. Then Rae again slipped through the defences, but his pass went astray. Immediately afterwards the forwards broke through, and McKenzie fell across at the corner. Cormack missed the kick. V.U.C. 11, C.U.C. 3.
The Canterbury forwards returned to the attack wtih renewed energy, and Victoria were defending hard. Canterbury then hooked well from a scrum in front of the posts, and Parsons put over a snappy field goal. V.U.C. 11, C.U.C. 7. At this stage the game was in a very interesting position, with Canterbury striving hard. From a scrum, however, Rae sent Thurston away on the blind side, and with the Canterbury full-back in two minds he swerved past to score between the posts. Rae converted. V.U.C. 16, C.U.C. 7. Canterbury attacked in the closing stages, and a good attempt at a free kick fell short, the final whistle going with the score unchanged. Mr. Tas Taylor was the referee.
The game was not an outstanding exhibition of Rugby, more dash being expected from the back divisions. Both sets of forwards worked hard, Rurke being outstanding. The Canterbury Lacks were sound on defence, and McAuliffe played a sound game behind the scrum. For Victoria Cormack always safe, Rae was very elusive on the blind side, and Feltham showed plenty of dash.
Although the Canterbury team was only here for the day, there was time for some entertainment. Weir House provided billiards and lunch, and a very succsesful dinner was held at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel before the team embarked on the homeward journey.
It is officially denied that the theme song of the Biology Class is the now half-forgotten "worm song" of Weir House. As a matter of fact they skilfully conceal all interest in such creatures by singing the following songs: "What We Like," to the tune of "Down Among the Dead Men," and secondly "Absent Friends."
We leave the inference to our readers.
Readers of the local dailies will have noticed that the doings and sayings of the Students' Anti-War Committee and the bites that follow in their wake have monopolised close on a column a day. The Committee certainly has a claim to publicity. It is, at present, making a bigger impact on student and public opinion than any other student organisation.
"War has been forced upon us. We believe unshakeably that all our faithful subjects will rise with unanimity and devotion for the defence of Russian soil."
"With all our energies we sought to prolong peace. But War has been forced upon the peoples of this Empire. Great Britain enters the War to defend the soil and the independence of Belgium, and the integrity of our Empire."
"From the proofs that have been given you, you will see how my Government, and especially my Chancellor, strove up to the last moment to preserve peace. Now we take up arms in sacred defence of the Fatherland."
"We look upon this as a purely defensive war which has been forced on us."
"There is and can be no possible protection what-ever for civilian populations against Chemical Warfare from the air."
"All Governments have and must fail completely over the protection of civilian populations from gas warfare."
Chlorine—"The victim is early affected with violent coughing, tending to pulmonaric disorders and death by asphyxiation—or in the polite language of the Government Manual, the victim is horribly drowned in his own exudation."
"The symptoms of sternutater gases are most curious. They cause victims to have terrific pains in the head and chest—the head pains being like that caused when fresh water gets into the nose, but infinitely more severe. These symptoms are acompanied by the most appalling distress and mental misery. Soldiers poisoned by these substances have to be prevented from committing suicide—others went raving mad and tried to burrow into the ground to escape imaginary pursuers."—
"The steps they were taking would not militate against peace, but would rather aid security . . . . when you think of the defence of England you no longer think of the chalk cliffs of Dover; you think of the Rhine."
"Lack of financial provision for the complete development of the air arm of New Zealand's defence forces is again referred to in this year's report to Parliament of the General Officer Commanding the N.Z. Military Forces, Major-General Sir William Sinclair-Burgess."
"Air defence is in the spotlight to the exclusion of all other Government functions. . . . The War Department has perfected a 33,000,000 dollar plan to encircle the United States with anti-aircraft defences."
"Japan desires only security in Asia. All our armaments, as well as our exports, are directed towards the cause of peace."
Since the Amsterdam Anti-War Congress in
At the London AntiWar Congress in
At the Scandinavian Workers' Anti-War Congress, in
In
In Anti-War Congress of North America. 35 of the 48 States were represented by 2,600 delegates and 30 organisations. 79 students were among the delegates.
Events in the Far East lent particular importance to the Anti-War Congress in Shanghai, in
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The certainty with which some of us held to the cause of cancellation of War Debts received a bad knock on Saturday, August 4th., when Robt. K. Burns put the case for the other side. No pain was fell with the blow, however, for Mr. Burns's pleasing personality, courtesy in debate, and persuasive presentation were an anaesthetic, or, to use his own metaphor, he greases up one side and down the other.
Prof. von Zedlitz was chairman, and in welcoming Mr. Burns he expressed sentiments with which the audience was heartily in accord.
"Honk" Scotney, who opened the debate, had a powerful opportunity in saying the first words.
"Twenty years ago this very day—," a significant pause, in it the audience felt the horror and futility of all the intervening years, and Mr. Scotney drove his advantage home. He traversed the course of the world's failure, and blamed it on to the War Debt issue. He argued that the Allied debts were entirely represented by goods and services rendered by U.S.A., yet that nation would not accept payment in kind. Gold was demanded, though, in fact, the whole world's gold supply could only half meet the debt. There was no way the debts could be paid, and the only course was to cancel them.
"Bonk" was at the top of form, and the audience sat back in their chairs, quietly confident that his case was impregnable.
Mr. Burns was popular from the start when he told a story about his little sister. (Sundry interjections from the boys who are always sceptical about little sister stories).
The fundamental problem as he saw it was the question of whether the Allies could pay or could not pay, and if they could, were they willing to? The loans which the greater nations granted to Eastern and Central Europe with which to purchase arms were damning evidence, apart from the sums they spent on arming themselves. Mr. Burns drew applause when he stated that the best way to prevent another war was to make sure that the nations pay for the last one. Neither had the Allies asked for cancellation, they all professed willingness to pay— if they could.
Max Brown, seconding the motion, said that all repayments that had been made, to date, had actually been out of further loan money from the U.S.A. "Make the foreigner pay" and "Buy American" were mutually abhorent slogans. If Congress were prepared to accept payment in goods it would mean further hardship to thousands of Americans discharged from doomed industries.
Max has seldom spoken to better effect. It was one of his best efforts.
Mr. Burns, rising the second time, challenged the statement that America would not accept payment in goods. Payment was quite possible by this means, as well as by certain other, such as the transfer of American securities. Payment also was preferable. Sanctity of international interests was essential to preserve the stability of the private debt structure. Cancellation would direct further money to arms expenditure, and in any case it only meant a transfer of the burden from the European to the American taxpayers.
Mr. Scotney and Mr. Burns summed up their cases, thrust for thrust, and the audience waited for the decision of the judge.
The Solicitor-General had no hesitation in awarding the palm to Mr. Burns. Apart from subject matter, Mr. Burns gained in advantage by his persuasive manner and good humour. The others were too much inclined to scold America.
"Brown's two . . . . Davis three . . . A slim khaki-clad young man was standing at the doors of a baker's van in a small village on the coast north of New Plymouth distributing plain everyday loaves of bread in a business-like manner.
"Have you a spare loaf?" asked a camper.
"I'm not sure yet . . . . . . . He turned to see who was speaking, and espied the old lozenge-shaped badge, . . . . From Victoria?"
"Yes."
"I was ther '24-'27 taking law and had a breakdown, so I'm doing open-air work. West Facility"
"Science . . . . since '31."
"They were good old days. . . . Smith feur. . . Yes, I have a spare loaf."
A few words more, a handshake and the incident was over . . . . the meeting of two Wikitorians.
"O Kiwi shall I call thee bird ?"—Wordsworth Nix.
As a born New Zealander I have been of late perturbed by what would seem to be a direct attack upon the wellbeing of our avifauna. Not only do I read alarmist reports, of rapidly dwindling tuis huias, etc., but even the Government has gone so far as to erect a memorial on our coinage "with uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd " to the about-to-be-dear-departed kiwi (Apteryx). But there are reasons for his decay. Surely any self-respecting bird must recoil before such gross-misrepresentation, such studied insult as is given it by the caricature in the library window. I doubt very much whether 50 per cent, of V.U.C. know that there IS a kiwi in the library window, much less an aviary, but in any case of all these the kiwi undoubtedly takes the bird.
The " 'keewee,' an Australian bird which cannot fly" (to quote an American cousin) and a name applied, in the last-war-but-six, to dud aviators, is a most remarkable beastie. It has sausage-shaped body, vaguely reminiscent of a baby's bottle whereto are affixed legs like those of a Noah's Ark animal and a disproportionate beaky head like an elephant's trunk. According as to the direction in which one's tastes lie, the "tout ensemble" may recall a ham (not necessarily Weir brand) with its shank bent or merely the prosaic retort. A better sample of Apterycian art is, I understand, to be seen in far-off Southern England, where a Kiwi, carved on a chalk hillside by our aviators has been given such high praise as to drown even that of the famed White Horse. In justice to the glazier, I may add that aforesaid Kiwi, in the window, is of such dull plumage as to be easily missed, and that compared with the mysterious New Zealand birds which adorn other panels is at least recognizable as endemic (endemic one might add to V.U.C. rather than N.Z.).
Poor bird ! Alas ! What it must have suffered up there in the fugginess all these years, slighted and scorned by dull, blear-eyed, scribbling idiots below. And, worst of all, in spite of wistful expression and bedraggled tail, with its soul burning with patriotic fervour—Not understood !
Miss Nance R.— to Mr. D.M.B.; "Sit closer, damn you, I'm cold.
Having heard a great deal of the Anti-War point of view, and having judged by the conduct of one or two that there might be another viewpoint, we approached a critc of the present campaign and asked for his views:—
I believe in the futility of war. I believe in the honour and the inglorious trail it leaves behind. Its appeal to emotion, swept up by the heartless pens of journalists and the sudden wave of hate which fills the masses, the thought of all this leaves one sick at the sickness of mankind.
I am against war, but prepared to take effective measures to prevent it, and prepared to keep the foot of the invader from my native soil.
The British Empire, its forces land and sea, are the only true international means of watching and guarding the path of the world in times of stress and in normal times.
It is a great contribution to the peace of this world, the Navy especially being the international police of the Seven Seas.
It keeps respect for the standard of liberty and justice as known to Englishmen, and. if necesasry, demands respect.
What is the use of side-stepping realities? All the peace talk, all the propaganda and all the resolutions will not ensure our security from harsh, blind militarism—whch, like a sullen dog, hangs near the entrance to the world's halls of peace.
Let us show our hand for peace, just as we sound the death knell of pirates in China and the slave traffic in Persia, by the flag on a British naval flotilla; so let us quietly remind those who wait for our weak days that the spirit and desire for peace is strong yet.
Why should we withhold a million pounds on the defence of a country worth defending, and later find that we have no other means of preserving it than by throwing away a million lives, always the flower of our nation?
Let us cease this disunity and drifting and conferences and compromises which have led to the falling of British prestige.
Let us build our defences, our Navy especially, and let our principles be respected, and show that by definite action we will make the world safe for Democracy.
It has been "Thank God for the Navy," it may yet be "Thank God for the Air lorce." Let us watch and be prepared !
'The Editor. "Smad."
Sir,
May I have space in your columns to make a practical suggestion with regard to the election of the Students' Executive?
Numbers of students, both men and women, during the period of voting, complained that they did not know, and were unfamiliar with even the names, of some of those students nominated. Even so, they were required to give them, in order of preference. Most thought they could not omit even the unfamiliar names, because, if they did, their votes would have been out of order.
In the first place, should not those students who make the nominations satisfy themselves that the student they nominate is properly representative? There ought to be some check on nominations when people largely unknown are nominated.
I would suggest that the Executive should provide this check, that they should consider the relative qualifications of each student nominated. For example: has he (she) taken lectures for at least one year previously? Is he (she) at present taking active part in academic activities? Does he (she) intend to take lectures in the year (years) immediately following election to office? These are necessary, and not unreasonable requirements for fair representation.
II It would be of great help to those interested in the affairs of their College if each person nominated had a note indicating his (her) claim to consideration as a candidate. The trouble entailed by such an enquiry is surely more than counterbalanced by the help that such knowledge would be to the students as a whole.
In the case of the election of Life Members this is considered necessary. Is it not quite as necessary that the immediate authority should be as carefully chosen ?
Dear "Smad,"
I feel that forceful attention should be drawn to the deplorable lack of manners displayed by a section of those attending debates at V.U.C. One is constrained to wonder what some of these go there for. I have always understood it to be the height of rudeness to talk while someone else has the floor, yet I find that a section of the audience do this with impunity. I should like to draw attention to the action, and execration down upon the heads of those who at a recent debate when respectfully asked by the chairman to desist or go outside (even this should not have been necessary) blandly continued their discussion for a time, and then, to add insult to injury, rose in a body and stamped noisily from the room, and this. Sir, when a lady was speaking. The audience, I may say, actually laughed! It would be regrettable to find persons in any audience guilty of this conduct, but coming from University students, allegedly setting the standard of culture and refinement in the community, it can only be described as nauseating. When to this is added the fact that after the debate, when supper is passed round, we find wave upon wave of clamourous masculinity pouring up on to the stage and grabbing the food from the plates like underfed street urchins in a lolly scramble at. a school picnic, regardless of the fact that visitors may be present, and unmindful even of girl students in the audience, the picture becomes so depressing that no words of mine can describe; the more so because, as apparently we live in a community of boors, there is no hope of a reformation.
I regard with the utmost indignation your presumptuous request for a contribution to your illiterate publication. Nothing I do or say can fully express the contempt with which I regard this journal. Its painfully self-conscious cleverness, its old-maidenish liberalism, its anaemic tolerance, its weak-kneed criticism, its bad grammar, fill me with horror. Even the distorted reproduction of Mr. Larkin's knees, knees that have sent football fans into ecstacies, that have known the chill kiss of cathedral mosaic, cannot save its cover from vulgarity and mediocrity.
I have a close acquaintance with your paper, Sir, having read it with distaste for over four years, and having served, reluctantly, as its sub-editor for a period of several months. I feel I have done my duty by it and now wish to be left unmolested by its
As my fifth year of 'Varsity life draws to a close, I can find pleasure only in contemplating the excellences of another generation. I cannot become reconciled to the horde of puling neophytes that spring up around me. Gone are the gods of my youth—the Macduffs, the Reardons, the Riskes, the Rollingses, the Priestleys, and even the great Carrad flits over the scene a pale spectre of his former attenuated magnificence. A. Eaton Hurley is only a name, an archaic fragrance, a dim stained-glass luminary, forgotten by the masses, his memory worshipped in innocent heresy only by those few S.C.M.'ites who remember him. His fate was touching. Returning in a blaze of glory to the scenes of his youth, he looked for veneration, and found only venery. Scott has withdrawn, monastic and silent, from the scenes of his boisterous youth, and finding neither beauty nor wit in his contemporaries, seeks solace in the company of the great minds of antiquity. Some talk of a thesis.
And Plank, who once framed a constitution, and ruled the College with a tennis recquet, makes a dreary shut-out bid and trumps his partner's ace.
Where this decay will end, who knows?
There are new domestic gods, false idols, little argumentative fellows in fustian who blast the firmament with their rhetoric, and tread impatiently on the heels of their ancestors. What can one say of these? Why should the aged cast their pearls before the undergraduate?
Sir, kindly desist in future from penetrating into the Valhalla of the venerable, and leave me to remain
Our Friday afternoon Chemistry lecture has now twice been violated in a manner that beggars all description Let me whisper in your ear.
Sir, the seat of the trouble is the Biology Laboratory and the Lingering and offensive smells capable of emanating from that chamber of horrors.
As is my wont each Friday afternoon, I arrived at the Chemistry Lecture room at 4 p.m. No sooner Avas I seated than wave upon wave of a nauseous vapour assailed my nostrils. It was that most deadly and excruciatingly malignant horror—D.O. (Even their best friends wont tell them).
You, in your innocence, may not know what I mean by D.O., but I assure you that if you were to sit through a lecture with any of "Biology's Blunders" after they had been at work upstairs, you would soon realise how preposterously we are being treated.
As you have doubtlessly realised by now, D.O. means "Dogfish Odour." Now, not only does the intense odour of decaying dogfish escape from the Biology Lab., and cascade down the stairs to the lower depths which are the Chemistry Lecture room, but also it becomes impregnated in the clothing of all those students, who, through blatant carelessness and lack of thought, have embarked on a course in Biology.
I have a few ideas which may prove of use in the campaign which you will undoubtedly lead against these miserable nitwits and their fish (although one can't blame the fish).
My ideas:—
(1) Each morning and each evening it should be the duty of the Lab. assistant to bathe each and every Dogfish on the premises with "Lifebuoy" soap (also any stray students found wandering about with a fishy look in their eyes).
(2) The Biology Class should be provided with a "Disrobing and Shower Room." They (all Biology students) should enter this room, disrobe, cut up the Dogfish in the nude (students as well as fish), retire to the shower room, ablute very thoroughly, re-robe, and then advance on the Chemistry Lecture room, where they will then undoubtedly be received like human beings and not, as at present, like any outcast pariahs.
The first Inter-University Cross Country Race will be run in Wellington on 25th. August. The race will be run at Lyall Bay under practically the same conditions as the N.Z. National Championships. The start and finish will be at the tram terminus, the course being over 64 miles of good cross-country, including the Lyall Bay beach and a climb of half a mile up 300 feet over the Seatoun Heights.
"Smad" congratulates A. G. Bagnall on coming eighth in the Vosseller Shield Race on Saturday out of about 90 entrants.
The Senior A and Senior B rep. teams for the Dominion Basketball Tournament include four Victorian players : Misses Turner and Granger in the Senor A's, and Misses Chappie and J. Roberts in the Senior B's. The Senior team's string of victories was broken by Wellington East O.G.1, who proved a little too good in a close match. The B's have been showing better form recently, but there is still a lack of combination at times.
Misty conditions marred the Harrier Club's trip to Mt. Hector, but six hardy individuals of the party of 24 defied the elments and went to the summit, and some very good track clearing work was done by five others. During a recent week-end a party undertook some tricky rock climbing on the Titahi Bay Rocks under the tuition of C. J. Read. This branch of the sport is increasng in popularity, and it is hoped to renew acquaintance with "the Slab" in the near future. Members going on the Tararua Winter Crossing, and the trip to National Park, should be starting to rub the soles of their feet with soap.
The football season is drawing to a close. The Club has quite a good record, standing fourth in the Club Competition, although the senior teams have not been outstanding. Last week, however, the 1st. XV. rounded off the season by defeating Canterbury and St. Pats. Old Boys, in the latter game avenging the defeat on the King's Birthday. The seniors have not been disgraced in their defeats, and it is to be hoped that they will hold their 1st. Division status next season. Burke and Eade have been outstanding in the forwards, and with Ruru they are perhaps unlucky not to have gone further.
On Saturday important games were played by the 3rd. C's and 4ths. The former, by decisively braising Miramar by 15—0, are in a very strong position at the head of the ladder. The team deserves mention for its splendid combination, both back and forward, which is worthy of the best University football. The 4ths. have fallen from grace in the last few games, but by drawing with Petone, 3—3, they still lead the Competition by one point. We hope one of these teams, if not both, will give 'Varsity its first win in the Competitions since the Seniors won in
The Senior team still continues to be erratic, as the scores indicate, and is now 5th. on the Championship Ladder. "Smad" congratulates Misses Webber and Harding on being picked for the Reps. The former has been a tower of strength in goal all the season, and Miss Harding has been in brilliant form.
No senior matches were played on Saturday, as the trials for the Wellington Rep. team were in progress. Seven Wikitorians took part, and Newcombe, Stewart, Struthers and Williams are training for the final selection. "Smad" congratulates Snow Williams on being in the Wellington team which beat Nelson by 8 goals to 1.
7th. July to 4th. August.