TRUE RECORD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 April 1943, Page 2

TRUE RECORD

COLLEGE BOARD MINUTES UPHELD AGAINST CHALLENGE BY MEMBER DISCUSSION REGARDING USE OF GROUNDS. Alleghtions that the “Times'-Age” report of a discussion regarding the use of the College grounds by girls of the Interhouse Association was distorted and that the minutes of the meeting relating to the discussion were not a true record were made by Mrs J. L. Hair at last night’s meeting in Masterton of the Wairarapa College Board of Governors. Other board members, with the exception of Mr A. O. Jones, agreed that the minutes were a true record and a motion that the minutes be adopted was carried by four votes to two. Mrs Hair questioned the accuracy of the last paragraph in the minutes of the last meeting in which it was stated that she had raised the matter of girls drilling on the grounds. She asserted that she had not raised the matter nor did she know that the girls were drilling on the grounds. Hei- original; question regarding girls on the grounds concerned girls attending the College. OPINIONS AT ODDS. Mr Jones said that Mrs Hair was correct. It was someone else who brought in the name of the Interhouse girls. The minutes would be more correct if the word “drilling” were left out. Mr T. Hanley: “The minutes are correct.” Mrs Hair: “I did not raise the question at all.” Mr L. T. Daniell: “Mrs Hair mentioned Interhouse girls.” Mr Daniell added that the matter started with a question asked by Mrs Hair. Later, in reply to a question by Mrs Hair, Mr Gair (acting Principal) and Mr Nicol (chairman) had told her that they had given permission for the Interhouse girls to use the grounds. ' Mr Nicol said that he had taken it that Mrs Hair was referring to the Interhouse girls. Mr Jones denied that Mrs Hair had referred to Interhouse girls. Mrs Hair had asked Mr Gail’ about girls using the grounds, when someone said that they were Interhouse girls. Mrs Hair's reply to that was that the Interhouse girls had finished. Mr Nicol said that the minutes were a true record of what had been said. Mr F. C. Daniell: “That is so.” AN EXPLANATION. By way of explanation Mrs Hair said that in the first place she was primarily concerned with the interests of the College girls. She had no idea that the Interhouse girls used the grounds. Mrs Hair said that to wind up a discussion at the last meeting she had said that Interhouse or other girls should be off the grounds before dusk. Voices could be heard in the shrubberies at any time of the night and if there were any people who said that “it could not happen here” she would quote for them a case brought to her notice recently. A boy going home from the College heard a girl scream from the shrubberies. When he arrived home he informed his parents who came to the grounds and saw one of our own men disappearing across the lawn, and another man manhand-

ling a girl who was 15 years of age and who did not have a mother. None could say that our own men were better, morally, than the visiting service men at present in the district. It was a gross injustice for anyone to say that she had implied that the voices of Interhouse girls could- be heard from the shrubbery. Mr Nicol said that if was particularly unfortunate that there was a possible reflection on the Interhouse girls. He paid a tribute to the work that the Interhouse Association was doing and said that if he was a parent of an Interhouse girl he would certainly want an inquiry. ALLEGED DISTORTION. Mrs Hair alleged that the report in the “Times-Age” was distorted and that if any apology should be given the Interhouse Association it should come from the paper. “I believe the minutes to be correct as they stand,” observed Mr Nicol. Mrs Hair: “I don’t.” Messrs Hanley, L. T. Daniell and F. C. Daniell agreed with the chairman that the minutes were a correct record. Mr J. G. MacFarlane, who was absent from the last board meeting rose to a point of order and said that a discussion was taking place about the Press and the Interhouse Association when there was no reference to either of them in the minutes. The motion that the minutes be adopted was then ptit to the meeting and was carried, . Mrs Hair and Mr Jones voting in the negative. “I have nothing to say,” said Mrs Hair when the matter was further referred to later in the meeting when a letter was read from solicitors acting for the Interhouse Association. The letter asked that an inference made by a member of the board be corrected by way of an apology or that it be substantiated. The letter was formally received without discussion. REPORT ACCURATE TESTIMONY OF CHAIRMAN & OTHER MEMBERS. The chairman and other members of the Wairarapa College Board were asked today whether they considered that the report challenged by Mrs Hair was or was not fair and accurate. “To the best of my memory the report was a fair and accurate one,” said the chairman, Mr W. R. Nicol, today. Mr Nicol said it would be recalled that at last night’s meeting of the board Mr A. O. Jones denied that Mrs Hair had referred to the Interhouse girls using the grounds, yet the report stated, regarding the discussion at the meeting on March 16, that: “Mr A. Owen Jones said that what Mrs Hair really wanted was for the Interhouse people to be asked that their girls get away from the grounds before dusk. As soon as it became dusk they could not drill.”

“The report was not distorted. It was fair in every way and in fact it was very lenient,” said Mr T. Hanley. Messrs J. D. O’Connor and A. J. Towns, in a joint statement, said the report was accurate with the exception that Mrs Hair did not refer to the Interhouse girls at the start of the discussion but that it cropped up in a general discussion. Messrs F. C. Daniell and L. T. Daniell agreed that the report was accurate. Mr A. O. Jones said that at the beginning of the discussion Mrs Hair had never referred to any particular girls. The report was distorted to that extent. Some other members of the board brought in the name of the Interhouse girls and Mrs Hair stated “I thought they were finished.” The board did decide to write and draw the attention of the Interhouse Association to the time the girls left the grounds and the board agreed on the good work that was being done by the association. The report was accurate as regards that. Mr Jones said that he understood that the Interhouse Association had never been written to and he said he would like to know why the chairman had not seen that (he letter was written.