Petty Politics Says Cornwall

Executive was not financially responsible and had blatantly disregarded association regulations when spending money, resigning social controller Andrew Cornwall told last Wednesday's executive meeting.

He accused Executive members of indulging in degrading personal attacks on other members and of putting forward personal views as those of the association.

The Executive expressed regret at Mr. Cornwall's resignation and at the conduct of the meeting which had precipitated it.

Mr. Cornwall said he was subjected to personal and unjustified interruptions at the last meeting of the executive. At the previous meeting he considered Executive showed a lack of confidence in him when he was not elected to a subcommittee for which he had nominated himself.

He believed this indicated he was not wanted on the executive.

He had been asked to reconsider his decision but felt that to withdraw his resignation would be to indicate acquiescence to personal attacks on him.

The personal attacks of some members on others during the past nine months had been degrading and not in the interests of the executive.

Mr. Cornwall could not reconcile himself with some executive actions. Some of these had been passed unanimously in his absence and it had unfortunately looked as though he acquiesced.

"This executive holds responsibility financially. But as an accountant I know that no organisation handling £30,000 a year can function adequately and responsibly when it is not financially responsible," he said.

Too much unbudgeted expenditure had been made

"People have blatantly disregarded the regulations of the association as regards spending money. This money is not yours to spend, it is the association's.

"Also, when on policy matters we put forward personal views, we are not fulfilling our duties as members of Executive," Mr. Cornwall said.

One man's private views were not sufficient, were sometimes selfish, sometimes misaligned and sometimes irrelevant.

"This executive has been rather lax in some ways and subject to procrastination and petty politics. I would suggest there is a great deal of room for improvement," Mr. Cornwall said.

Public relations officer David Shand said that Mr. Cornwall had expressed certain views on North and South Vietnam and was duly rubbished. Mr. Shand said he was among those doing the rubbishing and that he reserved the right to disagree with a motion.

House committee chairman Nick Bullock felt Executive owed Mr. Cornwall an apology for continuous interruptions when he had attempted to speak on the matter of the boycott.

President Tom Robins agreed. "Rubbishing by interjection over the chair is not the best form of disagreeing," he said.

Mr. Shand abstained from an otherwise unanimous motion of apology to Mr. Cornwall.

Dirty Linen

Resident executive members should not wash their dirty linen in public, NZUSA Vice President William Falconer hastily told his fellow executive members at Easter Council.

Mr. Falconer's attempt to forstall a public power squabble between NZUSA resident executive members was unsuccessful. Discussion of Vice - President Roger Pitchforth's controversial report on the internal power structure of NZUSA blew up into a major argument.

Vice-President Pitchforth presented the meeting with a report which claimed that actual decisions of NZUSA were being made outside of official constitutional channels. His report outlined a "basis of power" chart which suggested that major decisions were being made by a clique of the Executive.

Speaking to his report Roger Pitchforth maintained that this was unconstitutional. "All decisions should be made at formal meetings after full discussion by all the executive," he said.

VUW delegate Tim Bertram asked if correct, confirmed and signed minutes were kept of Mr. Moriarty's meetings in Parsons Coffee Bar.

Angry Auckland delegates at first refused to accept Mr. Pitchforth's report. They later allowed it to pass to keep business flowing.