Orchestra meeting ‘without president’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33676, 28 October 1974, Page 14

Orchestra meeting ‘without president’

A meeting of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra s board of management would be held on Wednesday whether the president (Mr N. G. Pickering) was able to be present or not, two members of the board said yesterday.

If the meeting could | not be held at the Christchurch City Council offices, another place would be found. On Saturday it was reported that Mr Pickering had arranged a meeting for Tuesday. but this day did not suit some members of the board. Mr Pickering then said he had had a “gutsful” of the objecting members of the board and he was "sick and tired of their infantile behaviour.” On Wednesday night he and Mrs Pickering; had a long-standing engagement and the meeting could wait until he was ready, he said. A board member, Mr P. D.! Barton, said last evening that eight members of the board were calling the meeting. He said that nothing in the orchestra’s constitution required that only Mr Pickering. as president, could call a board meeting Mr Barton could not see why the meeting should not be held without Mr Pickering if he chose not to attend. Apart from two meetings with the director of the : Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council (Mr M. A. Rickard); a proper board meeting had not been held since July 17, and a lot of matters were outstanding, said Mr Barton. Another board member, Mr M. J. Hailstone, said that the agenda intended for a meeting on October 16 would be used on Wednesday. This included “considera- - tion of minutes, if any, of all; board meetings held from and including June 27, matters arising from the minutes;' offices of president and chairman; proposals from thei Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and local bodies; management posts; musical director’s contract; special general meeting of subscribers — date, time and place.” "Mr Pickering’s abuse of 1 members of the board is yet another smokescreen in his) endeavours to disguise his own shortcomings as president.” said Mr Barton. “The recent court proceedings established that it was the duty of the board to call a special general meeting of

subscribers.” Since then, as before, Mr Pickering had thwarted any attempt to call this meeting. "At the last special meeting of the board, on September 25, I raised the matter of the S.G.M. called for by 200 subscribers the previous Friday — as. under the rules, the board shall call such a meeting within 14 days. “Mr Pickering then said he was not interested in such a meeting, and Mr Rickard, w'ho was in the chair, said that he had a plane to catch. I then moved that the S.G.M. be held at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, whereupon Mr Rickard declared the meeting closed and Messrs, Pickering Rickard, and R. D. Monk [the board’s chairman] got up to go, Mr Monk declaring that the meeting could not continue without the, chairman.” Mr Barton said that Mr; Pickering was given more than a fortnight to call; 1 another meeting of the board. When he failed to do so, one was called for October 16,

the third Wednesday of the month, as resolved by the board. “The day before this meet- • ing was due to take place,! Mr Pickering telephoned Mr G. A. Hay [a board member] and asked for a postponement, promising to call a meeting the following Wednesday at 5.15 p.m. and to send out notices,” said Mr Barton. “No notices were received, and at 4.40 p.m. on the day of the meeting I received a telephone call from Mr Pickering’s secretary to say that he had cancelled the meeting. So once agin Mr Pickering has gone back on his promise. t “His assertions about board members not accepting a democratic decision are laughable, to say the least. There could scarcely be anything , less democratic than the highhanded disregard for the ' rules of the society shown by Messrs Pickering and Monk ! in the face of opposition from the majority of the board, the orchestra, and members of the society.” said Mr Barton.