CONFERENCE AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 63

CONFERENCE AT CHRISTCHURCH.

NEW COUNCDL FORMED. CHRISTCHURCH, December 5. The action of the council of the New Zealand A.A. A. in respect to nominations for positions on the council and its refusal to forward the protests of dissatisfied oentres to the Australasian Union resulted in a conference being held this morning to dis- . •use the situation. i

| The following delegates were present : — Messrs A. A. Paape, J. H. Pollock, and A. Marryatt <Sou&land), J. R. Wilson, R. G. Anderson, and W. Willet (Otago), A. Davi««, W. Coffey, and B. A. Guise (Wellington). Mr Paape was voted to the chair, and Mr Guise acted as secretary. j The Chairman said be was not going 1 into the Trhoie history of tho dispute, but, epeaking on behalf of the Southland Centre, he said that they felt fhey jould not tolerate the position created by the council in Christchurch. The position was that the whole of the centres were disfranchised. It wa3 absolutely necessary that something should be done, and the Southland Centre realised thi6 fact. Whatever course the conference took to get over the difficulty, it would meet with tbe ?»pprovai of the csntre whkii he represented. The delegates came with a free hand to do their , beet in the iit crests of the sport. He | thought it was well that Wellington had I grappled with the question, and their > action had not only met with the approval j of the Southland Centre, but with other centres throughout the Dominion. He was astounded at the position taken- up by Mr Atack. They were not in Russia, but if they vzere Mr Ata'ck would make a very good Czar. i Mr Pollock said he thought that, as the* I Wellington Centre was practically the convener of me conference, it should move J sovofi resolution and give some reason for j ita action. Some unanimous course would j have to be adopted in order to get over ) the present deadlock. I Mr Davies said that the position required I very careful consideration, but the Wei- ! lington Centre had decided to submit the following resolution : — "Whereas no constitutional governing body controlling amatov.r athletics at present exiete in New Zea- . ia-nd, and as euch a body is imperative for j the maintenance and furtherance of the bime, this conference of delegates representing 37 clubs forthwith proceed to establish an executive, and adopt such other meesures as may be deemed expedient for tbe welfare of amateur athletics in the Dominion." Mr Coffey, who seconded the motion, said he thought it was to be regretted that the meeting of delegates was necessary. It I wa«^ detrimental to the sport, as well as | to tho various athletic bodies throughout the Dominion. He wae against the action of the body of gentlemen who formerly comprised the council. They could not call those gentlemen the council, for at present no council existed. Auckland was not represented that day, but h e thought that centre was in sympathy wit<h the objects of the oonfererjee. The previous council had dono a great amount ot good, but what tiw centres objected to was the dictatorial attitude shown by it towards the majority of tba centres. wae no parochial feeling on. the part of the tdministrators of ihe sport m Wellington. They were not at oil tietirous of having tho headquarieis in tL» cap;t«l city, but if the conference agrec-d that Wellington should govern Lbe sj>ort, t'he-re were geiii:ioiuea there who' were quit« vAUir.g to undertake that rerfponHbilir^. A grcas rieal of good, ho thought, eou-Id i>3 obtained from cuch a. stop. They proKssted against tie unconstitutional metLn<J3 c£ the ccrancil, and the council h&d not tho confidence or tlie oentres. In reply to Mr WiJlet. tlie Chairman stated that at the present time 2io governing body existed. . The gentlemen -who comprised tho council had forfeited their claim to be eonsidfeicd if council. Mr Andsrc-OJi poiiu-c-d out that t'-ie council rr.iglit havv Ihxti ic:ii.g v.ithin its juxisciciion. Under Eulo 6 power was given to the council to ceoide anatDers not specially plorided by the rules. Tho Secretary pointed out tliat the New Zealand Council had to forward th>& appeal to the Australasian Union when requested by the Wciliugron CVnkre. Mr Anders, epe&kiug O n behalf of tho Otago Oentro, said ihat Otago .bed ioughc tue council on previous occasions. Hi-3 centra would like to dee the various clubs given an opportunity of expreswin-g an opinion. There were two gentl-erifen who would hke to get in, ami it they did not have th o clubs behind tnem, where were the\ ? '•the Chairman said he thought that tho various cluba must abide by the action of their delegates. • Mr Pollock said that there was no legally constituted ccuncil in existence now, and it seemed to hhn that whatever was don© would have to be unanimous. Meesrs Willet and Anderson seemed to bo oonwidering what might happen in the future were tho drastic resolution moved by Wellington, and which had the support of Southland, carried. The next step to be taken would be to appoint an interim executive to take steps as the eonfereneo might direct — viz., in fchape of placing th'i %vholo matter before th-& Australasian UrtK.n. They v.-ere already aware that tho oour.< 'l absolutely lefu&ed to -.tml forwaid :;>s statement of the case in r.'-gard to t'no ati-.tju of fho prvJdent ami ofiic^io of t'ue council It absolutely I'efuitd to allow that to hs sent to a higher tody, lie -.vould *u£g.osc that the executive T ie f'.inicd a-nd tlw cue 111 1 tubmitted to trie Australasian Un.on. end recognition ."".-•I K*r sut :.» .' ar:d=. Ti.e appointed could oo\uuet t:ie \>!-o!-& cf tho '-Uiiaess f:.&t •sra'S being earned on by ti,c council. The oxeeuti\e would be perfect^ safe, and thero would be absolutely r.o fvar of tiouble or disqualification evemuatinjr in connecticfn with any of the clubs <ifhiia.'ed to the centres represented at the conference. If tho co-.ri.cii did d'sqr^iilfy t:« cer.txes ic»pr^.s^r.ted ;:<=> <l.d jiot liiir.k :,n the ciirurncian<:«is that tlie union would ci-ucusj it. r f:^ey had worked on constitutioiwii grcanos throughout. After further cdi-scusaion the motion was carried. The Chairman then moved the following resolution: — "That it having been unanimously confirmed by th>& conference of centres' delegates that no amateur athletic council exists, this conference by resolution appoints Messrs F. W. Larkin, W. Coffey, A. Davies, A. Marryatt, Dawson, F. Rose, W. H. Pollock, R. W. M'Viily, and Dr Newman, and the presidents of the various centres. The executive to hold office until the next conference of delegates from oentres, and to act as a governing body, and that the delegates present pledge the clube affiliated to the centres they represent to acknowledge such executive as the sole governing- body exking in New Zealand." The motion was carri-ed. On the motion of Mr Marryatt the executive was instructed to solicit tho opinion of the centres as to the wisdom of anwrndiP£ iho ruLas -a£ the .X.Z-A-A.A.. and that

it take the necessary steps in that direction forthv. ith. Mr Coifey moved — " That the newlyappointed executive be requested to furnish the Australasian A.A. Union with a report detailing tlie present administration of amateur athletics in New Zealand, and that the Australasian A.A. Union be requested to officially recognise the newly-appointed executive as th& governing body of amateur athletics in New Zealand. The motion was carried. • All the powers conferred on the N.Z.A.A.A. Council were, by resolution, given to the executive. Southland was awarded the championships for 1907. They will probably be held in Gore. After epseefces had been made, in which ifc was shown that no malice was intended towards the members of the council, the meeting terminated. . December 7. In connection with the New Zealand amateur athletic squabble, the Star to-night has an article dealing severely with what it t<srHS3 the "self-elected council." Alter reviewing the circumstances leading up to the trouble, the v-riter goes on to say: — "The three disaffected ' centr-es — j Welling con, Otago, and Southland — then j met in conference, appointed a ' new council, and with extraordinary rashness and shortsightedness, "proceeded to- put the hallmark on their stupidity by allotting the i championeehip meeting to Southland. The ' ruling of the president and the council on the subject in dispute may be open to ] question. That is a matter with which we I are not directly concerned, but it is obvious i that a constitutional remedy lay in the I hands of tne centres themselves. The rules , of the council provide for alterations in the constitution at the decision of the J majority of two-thirds of the centres affi- i liated, and as there are five such centres, till the Wclljngto*n centre had to do to gain its end was to secure the allegiance of either the Auckland or the Canterbury centre, wirb that of Otapo and Southland, and it could then have proceeded in a perfectly proper manner to remove the headquarters to Antarctia, and appoint a council from the inmates of the Samaritan Home, an extreme step, which would prob- ! ably have been better in the interests of , the 6port than the one contemplated. In j any event, the new administration seems i likely _to suffer from cold feet. The self- [ •piected council, having admitted that the j secre.tarr and treasurer of the old council ' still to constitutionally repr-eeont j that body, proceed to loose tho gentleman in the process of reconstruction, and it would be interesting to have its explanation of what has become of him. JHis position ;« more parlous than that of Mahomet's <• -.fTia. When the Auckland and Christt h'irel> centres have announced their attit'liVi on the action of the remaining centres •i.pjv- will probably be some interesting developments, and the championship meet- | ing will be properly allotted. In the meantime, whatever the position of the old council, there can be no question whatever ihat the- self -elected one has been illegally"!" constituted, svnd holds no status whatever i in the aihletie world." I