Rugby Constitution

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 111, 23 April 1936, Page 6

Rugby Constitution

TO BE INVESTIGATED Committee to Report on Management OVERHAUL OF SYSTEM? <Bv T»l««r»uh-Pi-eM Association > WELLINGTON, April 22. A notice of motion by the Manawatu union to amend the constitution of the New Zealand Rugby Union by altering the management committee sa that it should, as far as practicable, be representative of all parts of the Dominion was discussed at length at the annual meeting of the major body to-day.

Mr M. A. Ongley (Manawatu) said that the motion was brought forward to give delegates the opportunity of say. ing whether the present constitution was the best that could be devised. In the past the real parliament of Rugby in New Zealand had been not the delegates ,of unions but the management committee. The dissatisfaction which widely existed was due to the fact that the whole of unions outside Wellington were dfstranchised. The fault was not of tjie management committee but of the system. If the national executive of twelve met six times • year it would cost only £3OO. Mr J. Prendeville (Wellington) said that if anything wa 6 wrong it was the manner in which delegates exercised their votes. The only way for unions to have closer contact with the management was to reduce the number of tha council,

Dr. Adams (Wanganui) moved an amendment that a committee be set up to consider the best means of reconstituting the management committee. Ihe committee could be under the chairmanship of the chairman of the management committee and could consist of three delegates from' each island, who could submit reports to the unions. Mr Ongley withdrew his motion, and Dr. Adams’s amendment was carried. Ihe election of officers resulted:— Patron, the Governor-General; president, Mr R. J. Smith (Bush Districts); vice-presidents, presidents of affiliated unions; management committee, Lieut.Colonel J. G. Roache, Messrs W. J. Wallace, S. S. Dean, A. T. A. Fletcher, F. T. Glasgow and the Hon. J. McLeod; appeal council, Sir James Hutchison and Mr F. H. Campbell and Mr F. H. Sincock, a)l o£ Dunedin (re-elected).