CONDUCT OF STUDENT DANCES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 225, 19 June 1936, Page 10

CONDUCT OF STUDENT DANCES

Commissionaire Attends At Victoria College

PROFESSORIAL BOARD’S OFFICER

Having recently expressed its disapproval of an exhibit in the capping procession, fined one student, and banned the procession in future, the professorial board of Victoria University College, Wellington, has been devoting some attention lately to the conduct of student dances. A long-standing regulation prohibiting the consumption of liquor at dances has been reaffirmed, and a commissionaire has been appointed to attend the gatherings and pay particular attention to what goes on in motor-cars parked in the college grounds. The question arose, it is stated, after the functions of the annual New Zealand Inter-University College tournament at Easter. An official of the college is said to have recovered a considerable sum on bottles found about the grounds afterward. This was brought to the notice of the professorial board, which has decided to assume direct responsibility for the oversight of dances —a function formerly left in the hands of the students’ association.

The commissionaire appointed by the board has been at one dance to date, and as he was in uniform, he was a marked object of interest and curiosity among the students. Another part of his work is to superintend the parking of cars in the college grounds. At this dance, however, his dirties were not onerous as there were few cars present. He duly inspected them, flashing a torch in the dark. “Smad,” the organ of student opinion, publishes a humorous interview with a commissionaire, who states: “I have been a professional soldier for 24 years. I neither drink nor smoke.” “Smad” says: “As a compensation for a bottle in one’s pocket one may now wear a paper cap; in place of a glass at one’s lips, one has a squeaker.” The students are taking things in good part, however. “Anyway,” said one, “the chap is a good-natured returned soldier, and he wears a uniform.”