“I REFUSE!"

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 119, 17 February 1928, Page 10

“I REFUSE!"

FIREWORKS AT UNIVERSITY COUNCIL TROUBLE OVER SPECIAL MEETING MEMBER DECLINES TO WITHDRAW STATEMENT Dominion Special Service. Christchurch, February 16. That’s unparliamentary language. You used the word dishonourable,” said the Chancellor (Professor Macmillan Brown) in checking Mr. F. A. de la Mare in the course of a lively, debate at the meeting of the New Zealand University to-day. The minutes of the previous gathering were hardly read before the fireworks started. Business at Wellington Meeting. A sharp debate among members of the council arose through a motion by Mr. T. K. -Sidey, M.P.: “That a committee be set up to consider and report to the council as to what resolutions if any passed at the meeting of the council held at Wellington on October 21, 1927, were ultra vires or unconstitutional; the committee to consist of the Chancellor, the Hon. G. Fowlds, the Hon. J. A. Hanan, Professors T. A. Hunter, and W. 11. Segar, and Messrs. F. J. Morrell, H. D. Acland, and the mover.”

The Hon. J. A. Hanan said that there had been no notice given of a special meeting of the council, or that business other than that set down, or that which was definitely formal, was going to be dealt with. An assurance was given to those members who were absent that a quorum was present, and that was all that was desired. In reality the meeting had gone into the question of the appointment of a principal for the university, and had negatived a motion passed” by a full meeting of the council held previously in Auckland. The speaker asked for production of the notice calling the meeting. Professor T. A. Hunter: We have passed the minutes, which confirm the “holding of a special meeting,” and you cannot raise the question now. Member 'Called to Order. This put the match to the powder, Mr. F. A. De La Mare being called to . order for saying that the words of the Hon. J. A. Hanan made the meeting appear to have been called for dishonourable motives. The Chancellor (to Mr. De La Mare) . I should have checked you yesterday for the language you used. You must withdraw your statements. A motion that the matter be considered in committee was rejected. “Dishonourable.” The Hon. G. Fowlds said that the purpose of the Wellington Committee was to see that the resolutions of the Auckland meeting were carried out. The business was not done with the deliberate knowledge or consent of the whole council. It would have been dishonourable had the council known about it. Sir Robert Stout: Say underhand, not dishonourable. The Chancellor (to Mr. Fowlds) : I don’t think you should say such a word. Mr. Fowlds indignantly denied saying anything out of place. “I will not have Sir Robert Stout or anyone else dictating what lam to say. I withdraw no words at all.” Mr. Hanan: It is a reflection on the public spirti of the council. Mr. Fowlds: I’ll withdraw nothing, and I won’t hav Sir Robert Stout saying it was underhand. Some members here can’t say what they like. “You will have to Withdraw!” The Chancellor- Order! You will have to withdraw that statement. Mr. Fowlds: I refuse! Mr. Hanan: I am very sorry that any member of this council should disregard the rulings of the chair. Mr. F. Bakewell: Mr. Fowlds used the word in a Pickwickian sense and withdrew it in a Pickwickian sense. “Well, I didn’t see it in a Pickwickian sense,” remarked the Chancellor. Professor E. W. Thomas, pleading fot another start, asked that that celebrated meeting be dropped. The motion should be passed and the matter placed on a more satisfactory basis. Sir Robert Stout was the only dissentient to the motion, which was carried.

Mr. Fowlds and Professor Hunter declined to be included in the committee.