DISPUTE ENDS

Southland Times, Issue 20994, 29 January 1930, Page 6

DISPUTE ENDS

LOCAL CRICKETERS CONFERENCE PROVES FUTILE PRESIDENT RESIGNS. \ The dispute which was partly ventilated at the previous meeting of the Southland Cricket Association, and which arose out of certain allegations against Mr A. V. Keast in a letter written to the association by the president, Dr Stanley Brown, was continued at the conclusion of last night’s meeting of the association. Mr F. St. J. Loughnan, a vice-president of the association, took the chair at the conclusion of the ordinary business in order to enable the president to make a statement to the meeting. Permission had been granted at the previous meeting to the president to withdraw the letter containing the allegations in the hope that the principals involved might come to some amicable settlement, failing which the president could repeat his allegations verbally, if so desired, at the next meeting. The result of the conference between Dr Brown and Mr Keast, proving futile and the allegations not being repeated, Mr Keast was not called upon to reply and the T'-ult of last night’s discussion was the resignatinn of the president, which was accepted with regret. Doctor Brown said that delegates present were familiar with the position regarding certain charges made by him agaim* a certain member of the executive. He h:m made the charges for what was, in his opinion, the good of the association and for the interest of cricket in Southland. He considered that the member in question had acted detrimentally to the interests of the association and to the interests of cricket in Southland. The conclusion arrived at at the last meeting was that the member and he should meet in private, and if he was satisfied that he (Dr Brown) was wrong he was to let the matter drop. He had met the. member and they had discussed the matter for two hours, but they did not get much further forward. In one or two incurs the member’s explanation was reasonable. There were one or two things, where an outsider was mentioned, which he wanted to unreservedly withdr"'. for he realized that he had been wrong in bringing an outsider into the matter. It appeared to him, he continued, that his object in bringing the matter before the association was quite unattainable. The association had no power to force the resignation of any member, so he could not see the use of continuing the matter for by doing so he would only be bringing the affairs of the association more before the public. For that reason he wished to tender his resignation as president of the association. .It had been said that the allegations made in his letter were slanderous and actionable. He did not know whether those who had mentioned that side of the question had a copy of the letter or not, but' he was quite prepared to hand the letter to them to be copied. He wished to make it clear that he had no objection to the matter being gone on with. Mr Keast said that he was loth to speak at that stage of the meeting. They were all acquainted with the matter before them and he was not going to enlarge upon it. They were probably all taken unawares by their president’s action. He had rather clouded the issue by 'making no charge or naming no person. There was no doubt but that there was something wrong in the affairs of the association and that there had been dissatisfaction. He was pleased to see the present chairman present during the meeting for he had had an opportunity to see how the meeting had been properly conducted under the chairmanship of the president. He wished to appeal to the chairman to rule regarding his position if he resumed his seat on the grounds that no charge had been made. They were all aware that things had not been too well with the association, but the complaints had come from the doctor’s side. He had been requested to meet the president to try to patch the matter up. He had waited on the president as arranged and had been well received. They had discussed the matter of the allegations made for two hours, but he had failed to convince the president that, the allegations were unfounded. He had tried hard to patch the matter up, but the- president had remained adamant and would not be moved. He considered that the meeting had been futile. He did not suggest that he had always been in the right, but he felt that many of the allegations were trivial and that they were all personal. He expressed regret at the president’s action in tendering his resignation. Mr Loughnan said that the matter appeared to be the outcome of a disagreement between the president and Mr Keast. The matter had reached a deadlock where the president found it incompatible with the interest of cricket to remain in the chair. Unless the president saw fit to withdraw his resignation they would have to accept it and that would mean the appointment of a new president for the remainder of the term.

Mr P. Gilfedder said that he would like to move that the president be asked to retain his position, but Dr Brown said that he would not do so. The chairman said that in accepting Dr Brown’s resignation they would have to do so with regret and they should place on record the good work done by him for cricket in Southland. A motion was framed accordingly and on putting it to the meeting, the chairman said that he did so with extreme regret. Many years had passed since he had taken an active part in cricket but he still took an active interest in the game and knew the amount of good Dr Brown had done for cricket in Southland. The resignation was accepted. Dr Brown thanked the executive for the flattering resolution recorded and also for the support given to him during the past season. He regretted the step he had to take for he had the interest of cricket at heart. He could only wish the association a more peaceful life than it had had during the past two weeks and he hoped the Hawke Cup trip would take place and the trophy be brought back to be placed with the other sporting trophies held by Southland.

The election of another president was held over for a week.