Girl refuses to give tip beauty title

Press, 31 March 1980, Page 6

Girl refuses to give tip beauty title

PA Auckland ; The--.New.' Zealand representativeinthe /Miss - /Asia [ beauty, quest, Cara Pollock, >■ aged 17, of Auckland, is de- . termined to hold fast to the . title bestowed on her last week. '.;/ . ' - • '. - i Miss Pollock was asked to r resign after it was discovered . that one of the four judges , who declarea her winner at a glittering evening at -Tril- . los last Wednesday was her . stepmother. • . ? I Happy and relaxed at her . Paritai Drive home in Orakei - last night, Miss Pollock said ! she had enjoyed the experi- . ence of the Miss Asia quest . and the Miss Universe contest earlier this year. , . But she admitted that the thrill of the Wednesday night triumph had been dulled by the call for her to resign. The contest’s franchiseholder and organiser, Mrs , Ada Tucker, asked the attractive blonde to relinquish the title on Friday after she had sought legal advice on the ■ matter. ~ ■■"■ ;■/// “It was not until after the contest that I discovered one of the judges, Mrs Penny Maich, was her stepmother?’ she said. - Mrs Tucker was trying to get; in touch with the president /and vice-chairman?.: of the - : Miss Asia quest /.in Manila to. find out if the issue was a moral one orif Miss Pollock was / legally unable to hold, the title. . "If - it is a moral issue. it would be pp to Cara to .withdraw. ButVl would-be quite happy for her to continue. If it is a legal matter?! will have no- ? optiprj.-’but>'to. take‘-legal advice,./with ’the possibility of disqualifying her.

“In that case the runnerup, Malia Macleod, would have to go to Manila.” .. Miss Pollock’s father, Mr G. R. Pollock, said his daughter. had worked extremely hard for the contest. “I do/'not think it is a moral.. issue,” he said. “She has won it fairly and squarely and I will do everything in my power to help her retain the title.”

An obviously upset Mrs Maich said last night she had been subjected to unpleasant telephone calls from strangers throughout the week-end on the matter. “Cara won the contest fairly on her merits? I really believe that,” she said. Mrs./ Match; who is :the manageress of an Auckland boutique, said she/had ' had very; little contact with Miss Pollock, in the last 17 years. “I would, see her perhaps once a year when she occa-sionally-came into the shop.” . She had [first realised that Miss Pollock was in the contest when the girl had

walked on stage at a show at the Manukau shopping centre a week before the final contest , '. . '■'<•

“I was there to do a job and I never thought anything more about it. F just did not think for one minute it mattered. I judged her the same as all the other girls.”

Mrs Maich said that although the judges had initially all picked a different girl as winner, all of them had picked Miss Pollock in the top three. After discussing each girl the judges had all agreed.that Miss Pollock was the winner.