STRONG PROTEST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1942, Page 2

STRONG PROTEST

MADE BY ACTING=PRINCIPAL OF WAIRARAPA COLLEGE CONDUCT AT MILITARY DANCE MISUSE GF HALL & GROUNDS. DECISION OF THE BOARD CRITICISED. Following on a stronglyworded protest by the ActingPrincipal, Mr F. J. Gair, against what he called the misuse of the College grounds and Assembly Hall by those attending a military dance last Friday night, the Wairarapa College Board of Governors, at a meeting last night, passed a resolution which provided that after the Masterton. Squadron of the Air Training Corps and the Interhouse* Association had held their fiances and a Field Ambulance unit had held a band concert, the College Assembly Hall should not be let for entertainment purposes to outside organisations.

The resolution was moved by Mr A. Owen Jones and seconded by Mr A. J. Towns. An amendment, moved by Mr F. C. Daniell and seconded by Mr L. T. Daniell, that use of the hall for dances be refused to outside organisations, was lost.

The question was raised when an application was before the board from the Masterton Squadron of the Air Training Corps for the use of the hall for a dance on Saturday night, November 21. A long discussion followed.

At the outset Mr W. R. Nicol, chairman, said that the College Assembly Hall would never have been let but for the state of emergency which existed after the earthquake. Mrs J. L. Hair asked Mr Nicol if he had been satisfied with the conduct of a dance, held by an Armoured Fighting Vehicles unit last Friday night. Mr Nicol said he had felt it his responsibility to be present and he attended the dance as an onlooker from 9 o’clock to 2.15 a.m. He had not been satisfied with the dance, as the soldiers were a difficult lot to handle. The behaviour of the people on the whole was not altogether satisfactory. Mr J. D. O’Connor asked if any damage had been done to property. Mr Towns said that several chairs had been broken. Mr Nicol observed that the men members were condemning now might be called heroes in a few months' time. 1

“Did the dance do the school any harm?” asked Mr Towns. Mrs Hair: “That is what I want to know. Did the tone of the school suffer?” Mr Nicol: “No.” APPEAL TO DEPARTMENT. Mr Gair said that he had rung the Education Department that afternoon to see if the board could be overruled if it proposed to let the hall for further dances, as he felt so deeply in the matter. He would be extremely distressed if another dance were held at the College as its reputation had been dragged through the mud. Mr Gair said he felt very very bitter about it. He spoke in strong terms of things that were said to have occurred at the dance and in the grounds and added that he hoped it would be possible for the board to rescind its decision to let the hall for further dances. Mr Gair stated that he had obtained the opinion of the staff in the matter prior to the special meeting held by the board last week, but he had not been asked directly for his opinion. He was hampered in any case by the resolution passed by the staff which showed discrimination in the letting of the hall. The staff’s resolution was to the effect that the hall should not be let as a public dance hall, but that applications for concerts, drama, etc., should be considered on their merits. Mi* Gair said that if he had been puzzled by the resolution before the special meeting he had no doubts about it now. The teachers were emphatic that the hall should not be let for dancing. “People today do not go to dances to dance; they go to ‘neck’ and this place is absolutely ideal,” continued Mr Gair. “Unfortunately things come back to me. Regarding the Parents’ Association dances, I have been asked what sort of a show is the College becoming. I feel that I would be lacking in my duty if I did not express myself forcibly in the matter.” COLLECTION OF BOTTLES." Mr Gair said that as no power could express forcibly enough his feelings he asked the chair to grant him latitude. He said the boys from the hostel, last Saturday morning had collected 70 odd bottles, half of which were beer and some were cordial bottles. That was after the janitor had gathered a dozen or two beer bottles and after the military, at four o’clock in the morning, had gathered 104 dozen beer bottles. Mr Gair said "that he had had the fans going in the Assembly Hall for hours on Saturday. He had rung the officer in charge of the military unit concerned and told him that the dance had been far from satisfactory. Mr Gair said he asked why the dance had not been picketed, but the officer had said that it could not be done, nor could it be expected to be done. Mr Gair said that he remonstrated with a soldier who was going into the ladies’ convenience, but the soldier* said 0.K., O.K. and walked in. Mr Gair added that the hall was not meant to be a dance hall at all. A man had been sick in the hall porch, sandwiches had been ground into the floor. Finally. cigarette butts had been extinguished against the highly polished panelling along the front of the stage.