The Debating Society

The Headmaster announced at the beginning of the term that it had been decided to inaugurate a School Debating Society, and a General Meeting was held on Monday, October 11th, at which the following officers were appointed:— President: The Headmaster. Chairman : L. C. be Tocq, Esq. Resolutions were passed that the Committee for the term consist of P. B. Cockburn, J. T. Harding, A. C. Ping and T. D. Ambler, and that the Committee perform the duties of Secretary by arrangement among its members.

The first meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, October 16th, the subject of the debate being that " The Practical Joke is the Highest Form of Humour." The motion was proposed by J. M. Rucklidge, whose main points were that to be successful a practical joke must have ingenuity, and, furthermore, the victim must have a sense of humour.

R. S. Dixon, opposing the motion, deprecated the practical joke as the product of a childish mind, and stressed the fact that they are dangerous in that they may cause permanent harm to the victim. The motion was seconded by Mr. J. S. Cooper, and the opposition by M. S. Douglas, after which the motion was thrown open to the house. The Rev. F. H. Barnby, in his speech, pointed out that to be successful, a practical joke must not play upon the weaknesses of the victim, for in that there is an element of cruelty, but rather upon the weaknesses of the perpetrator.

After the summing up by the opposer and the proposer, the motion was put to the vote and was defeated by 4 votes. to 14.

The next meeting, which was very well attended, was held on Saturday, 13th November. The chairman called on the Headmaster to propose that " The German claim to the restoration of her colonies should receive sympathetic consideration." The Headmaster pointed out that there were two ways of governing a colony; that which gets what it can from the colony, and that which does what it can for the colony. Though the German type might be the former, that was irrelevant, for unless at least a partial restoration was carried out, the injustice of punishing a younger generation of Germans for the mistakes of their ancestors, would inevitably lead to war.