First Editor Looks Back

Salient was born on the night of 8-9 March, 1938. Fathered by a progressive Executive, its mother was the tense uncertainty of the years 1937-1939. A group of students, of whom I was one, acted as a collective midwife.

For many years SMAD had been the official Student Association fortnightly publication and had fulfilled its function well; but in the middle thirties the mental climate at VUC changed. It was, of course, the result of happenings in international affairs. As the invasion of Manchuria was succeeded by Mussolini's Ethiopian escape, and the cynical mockery of the Spanish War was followed by the rape of Austria, it was inevitable that a more serious mood should appear at VUC. The change from SMAD to SALIENT was one symptom of the changed outlook, shown elsewhere in the passing of more radical motions at debates, in the formation of new clubs, and in a widespread doubt regarding the honesty of the prewar political set-up in Europe.

"The change was made," said the first editorial, "because it was felt that the spirit of the times demanded that any suggestion of Olympian grandeur or academic isolation from the affairs of the world should be dropped and should be replaced by a policy which aims firstly to link the University more closely to the realities of the world."

At the beginning of 1938 the Executive of the Students Association offered me the job of editing SMAD. No tags were attached. I went into a huddle with "Derek Freeman (now at Oxford or Cambridge. I believe, but I'm not sure—he may have fallen even further) and the result of an hour's talking was that we agreed that it was necessary to change the name the layout and the purpose of the paper, and on the team we thought could make a success of it. It was a strong team. As Assistant Editor, Morrie Boyd's quiet thorough-ness saw that no small details between staff and printer went astray, and gave us some stimulating leaders and articles. Derek Freeman might have been specially designed for his position as Literary Editor. He turned out material of a uniformly high standard and acted as a spur and a model to would-be contributors. Salient owed its name, its original format and layout to no small extent to Derek. Ron Meak Mary Brisco (now Mary Dowrick) and Vesta Emmanuel, as News Editors, were charged with the task of bringing us blood plasma from the daily life of Wellington and the great world outside for transfusion to students through our columns. They produced some lively material, and a squall or two frequently followed one of their efforts. The biggest and brightest I think was Ron's effort in interviewing Count von Luckner visiting New Zealand allegedly for pleasure, but as we thought (and wanted to prove) really to spread the Nazi gospel. Ron put the Count so much at his case that the visitor confidentially murmured to him, "You just wait until Mr. Chamberlain and Hitler get together. Then things will hum." That was some time before Munich, and we came in for some censure from a number of people who insisted that we treated the Count badly. Harold Gretton did well with a roving commission as Liaison Officer watching for gaps in our staff work and turning his hand to whatever he felt needed it most. Eddie Robertson saw the paper was delivered and distributed promptly: John Bullock, our Business Manager, assured us of a reasonable source of revenue from advertisments while Ruth Singleton and Barabara Sandford catered for all sports fans.