The Manawatu Rowing Club.
The five members of the Club who were fined at the last Committee meeting for having be. n guilty of infringements of the Club’s by-laws, have refused to pay the fine, and have therefore, in accordance with the rule provided for sucli cases, been notified of their dismissal from the Club and of the fact that they will not again be eligible for re-election unless the fine is first paid. It is often i’emarked that the Rowing Club is dead, but it is satisfactory to see that it has still sufficient life to enforce its own rules, and to resent any attempt on the part of its members to set it at defiance. If the Club is to be of any practical utility, and also something more than a mere laughing stock to the community, it must take a firm stand, and see that its rules are properly observed by its members, who by the fact of becoming members impliedly indicate an undertaking on their part to abide by them. It may with good reason be maintained that the refusal of the delinquents in this instance to pay the fine im* posed by the committee in accordance with the provisions laid down by the general body of the members, is much more objectionable than the breach of the rules itself. The latter admittedly was not an open defiance of the Club’s executive, but the latter obviously is The action of the members in question can receive no other possible construction. For any member to imagine that after having joined the institution he is at liberty to carry things with a high hand, and ride rough shod over the laws of the society and the executive, which he himself, in conjunction with the other members, has appointed, is to adopt a position, which if allowed, must inevitably result in the complete demoralisation of the society. It is to be hoped that this salutary example of the present committee’s determination to faithfully administer the laws of the institution will have the desired effect of strengthening the hands of the committee, and securing for the members as a whole a proper recognition of their right to expect that the rules will be duly observed, and we have no doubt that the members will not only have increased confidence in their executive, but will also have the satisfaction of knowing that they are represented by a body of men who are both able and willing to safeguard their interests and secure for the society the respect to which it is entitled.
While on the subject we may mention that part of the offence, to which however the fine did not apply, was using the boats for fishing, they not having been set apart for that purpose. It seems reasonable that if the rules place it in the power of the committee to set apart certain boats for this purpose, one at least should be so set apart, and we understand that at the next meeting of the committee a proposal will be submitted to allow one of the boats to be used for that purpose.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19040531.2.8
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Manawatu Herald, 31 May 1904, Page 2
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525The Manawatu Rowing Club. Manawatu Herald, 31 May 1904, Page 2
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