. . . and WFDY Again

Mr. (That man) Henderson wanted to know why sums of money had been paid out to delegates to attend the, forthcoming WFDY Congress. He angrily remarked that this was a gross breach of trust, since at the SGM in April, the Exec, stated that they had made no payment to the person whom he referred to, in a singularly insulting manner, as "that man Smith." Tempers got a little frayed from here on.

He was sure that the disaffiliation motion would have been carried if those present had known that they were going to pay for "that man Smith and that man Scoones." And so he moved "that the meeting deplored the action of the Exec, and refused to ratify the payments."

When Mr. Evison rose to answer, there was so much noise from the right side of the hall that he used the microphone for his speech. He wished to point out—and did so effectively—that the Exec, could not have decided to make any grant before the SGM since it had already decided to pass the matter to the association to consider. But when the SGM had decided to remain affiliated, then there was only one course to take, that which we took with any other body to which we were affiliated—give token grants to delegates to attend. "Is it normal to pay these token grants?" he asked. "Yes, of course." We did this when Mr. O'Brien went to the NUAUS conference in Australia, and we had done it many other times. If we could afford £20 per year to send someone to Australia, then we could afford the small sum it would cost each year to send delegates to these conferences at three-year intervals. Mr. Smith was going, and we should, in normal decency, pay him something towards his expenses.

A fair amount of acrimony was exhibited at this stage. Mr. Battersby supported the payment, though he deplored the affiliation and said so heatedly. Mr. Pottinger supported Mr. Evison with less qualification, and Mr. Piper took exception to the references to "that man Smith" and "that man Scoones." This did not deter "that man Henderson" from using the same terms again when he exercised his right to speak after the closure motion had been carried. However, that motion was lost (no division), and from there on the meeting was less interested. Mr. W. McLeod (note the name) moved that the association be represented in those who were opposing the rise mooted in tram fare costs, and this was to be acted upon. A question was asked as to whether the Exec, would study Zoo meat being used in the Caf.; and Mr. Garrett moved that, as a practical measure to get over the present very grave danger to students at the Salamanca Rd. bend, the Exec, members institute a roster system to have a school traffic patrol there, and that a supply of white coats and stop signals be purchased for the purpose. Unfortunately, both this and the traditional brass spittoons were ruled out of order.