Elderly ‘cat fight’

Press, 22 February 1977, Page 6

Elderly ‘cat fight’

Threats of resignation and;, votes of no confidence ini; both the president and com-!; mittee punctuated a heated!' special meeting of the!; I Christchurch Beneficiaries !i /Association yesterday. |i Both votes of no confl-i .Idence were proposed and!' /seconded, but neither wasp J put to the vote in an ex-/ change about which of two i ■ constitutions could legally be! l ; used in forming an incorpor-;! ■ ated society. I 1 > The meeting was called top j determine the association’s! future, whether to become'; incorporated and whether toll affiliate itself with rhe Fede-j I >; ration of Beneficiaries. Mem-il .ibers decided in favour ofjl ■ 'both. J At times several speakers!! 'were shouting at once as; I the president (Mr A. G.li 'O’Cain) tried to restore h

iorder. Finally the treasurer! [('Mr R. Gooding) and a corn-i 'mittee member (Mr A. I [Wylie) resigned . “on the| spot,” although Mr Cain re-; 'minded that any resignation: [must be in writing. : Mr O’Cain said the dispute! jwas about which constitujtion to send to the Justice (Department — one adopted at a general meeting in I October, or one drafted by a 'lawyer who was visited in-1 'dependently by a group of [committee members. j According to Mr Wylie, 'the first was not legally aciceptable, and according to iMr O’Cain, another special i meeting would be needed for [the drafted constitution to be adopted by the association. A proposal to send the official constitution for approval was deadlocked. 13 votes!:

Ito 13, but Mr O’Cain did not use his casting vote — I there was a dispute as to [whether he was entitled to. It was decided to carry on [with the official constitution [until another special meeting [was called. The president of the Federation of Beneficiaries (Mr F. McComish), who att ended the meeting, attacked the members’ attitude. i “I didn’t come down to listen to a cat fight. It is a deplorable situation here — the discord sticks out like a sore thumb,” he said. "Let’s get our heads together for the benefit of members and the elderly; it should not be a cause of friction. Old people need a strong organisation to fight such things as the new superannuation.” Mr McComish said. Speaking in favour of affiljiation. Mr O’Cain said there jwas an increasing need for 'the association. Beneficiaries, 'were a big sector of the com-' [munity, but they were not ■organised like other sectors,: Iso did not always get fair' [treatment. Affiliation would [give them a more powerful ) voice.