Shaky start for promotion body

Press, 29 March 1979, Page 4

Shaky start for promotion body

The Canterbury Promotion Council got off to a shaky start last evening when four organisations refused to pay a $5OO subscription.

The organisations assured a public, meeting that they were still keen on participating in the council’s activities, but they were not prepared, could not afford, or were not allowed to pay the subscription. Automatic membership of the council’s executive committee was forfeited by the refusal to pay. But if the organisations are reclassified at a lower subscription, they will be eligible to stand for election to the committee.

The organisations are: the North Canterbury provincial district of Federated Farmers, the Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers’ Association and the Employers’ Association. The formation of the council, which replaces the Canterbury Progress League and the Christchurch Convention Bureau, was accepted unanimously and without debate by members of the league and the bureau and of the public. Before the prepared rules of association were amended, the council seemed likely to proceed for two years without a president or a vicepresident. A motion for their election

originally stipulated that these two officers would have to have been members of the society for at least two years. A plea by the chairman (Mr T. M. Inch) for common sense to prevail in ignoring the rule for the first two years, was overruled by the meeting. A rider, “save for the first two years of the existence of the society,” solved the problem. The meeting, attended by 43 persons, was called to wind up the Progress League and to form the promotion council. The new society will fulfil the functions of the league and the bureau in promoting Canterbury, particularly for visitors, tourists and conventions.

Mr Inch said that the council had been encouraged even before its institution by the promise of substantial, initial financial support from the Christchurch City Council.

If local authorities had failed to offer support then companies and private persons would be wary of Joining and supporting, he said. The meeting voted that the society apply for immediate registration with the Registrar of Friendly Societies. An interim committee of 10 persons was elected from those present, with power to coopt.