Protest Over Swim Tour

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30980, 9 February 1966, Page 14

Protest Over Swim Tour

A tale a muddlement and mystery that brought distress and inconvenience to several officials and swimmers in Christchurch was unfolded at a meeting of the management committee of the Canterbury Swimming Centre last night.

The matter wa s raised by a letter from t h e St Albans Club, protesting at the treatment of Miss Margaret Slade in connexion with a proposed educational tour in Manawatu.

Miss Slade. had been selected by the New Zealand association in mid-January to make the tour, said the secretary (Mr E. D. Kwok). But no information about the tour had come to hand so he had telephoned one of the Manawatu centre’s joint secretaries.

It was only then that it was discovered that the tour was of three days' duration, not 14 as had been thought.

Asked where the tour I would start, the Manawatu [secretary had said. “Oh, Palmerston North, I suppose.” In the meantime, Miss Slade’s parents had said their daughter would not be going on the tour because of the lack of information and because she had been selected to represent Canterbury at the national championships, said Mr Kwok. This Information was con-1 veyed to the secretary of the' national body (Mr E. H. Williams), who said Miss Slade would be held to the original arrangement, but that a replacement would be considered. Mrs W. S. Yorston said Miss Slade and others had spent hours searching for a replacement, and eventually a girl was found who was eminently suitable for the tour. The next day she had been told that the trip was cancelled and she felt “badly let down.” ‘The New Zealand council had no information on the tour from the Manawatu Centre,” said the chairman (Mr S. Williams). Mrs Yorston: Well, that shows a lack of organisation. Mr Williams: Yes, in the Manawatu centre. “The blame lies at the door of the Manawatu centre,” said Miss Doreen Brown. “How do you get information from a centre that just flatly refuses to give it? “This is in line with a few other funny bits and pieces

that have been going on in the Manawatu centre lately,” she added. The committee resolved to write to the New Zealand council expressing disatisfaction at the manner in which the Manawatu centre had handled arrangements for the tour. Selector Apologizes The committee received a letter from NJr D. W. Cain apologising for any embarrassment or inconvenience caused by his forwarding of the Canterbury team list to Dunedin without reference to the centre. Mr Cain said he made the apology after “very careful thought" and consultations with a number of people, including his fellow selectors. The apology was accepted.