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Story: Manners and social behaviour

Meeting procedure

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Meeting procedure

L. W. Swan addresses members of the Auckland Aero Club at a meeting in 1946, while fellow club officials listen attentively. The strict way that New Zealanders ran meetings was something that American David Ausubel observed in his 1960 book, The fern and the tiki. He suggested that this custom, along with the use of titles and formal manner of introducing people, provided evidence that New Zealanders were not as informal and relaxed as they liked to think they were.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Whites Aviation Collection

Reference: WA-02743-F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Manners and social behaviour – Changing manners, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/39840/meeting-procedure (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 3 December 2012.