May 1941

THE DEBATING SOCIETY. President : THE HEADMASTER. Chairman : L. BURGESS, Esq. Committee : F. F. STEELE, G. LONG, A. A. SHORT, R. R. L. PRYER. This term the society has continued a flourishing existence, in spite of losing a very able chairman in Mr. Le Tocq. Mr. Burgess has filled the breach, and we have to thank him for the large amount of work and thought he has given to the society, and for the excellent results obtained.

Under pressure of other events, only three meetings were held this term, but these were well attended, and some very good speeches were delive red.

The first meeting of the term was held on Saturday, 1st February.

Before the debate began, Mr. Burgess made a short speech on his succession as chairman to Mr. Le Tocq, in which he announced some changes in procedure, Following this, G. Long proposed the motion, " That the society wishes to record its gratitude to Mr. be Tocq for his services as chairman, and its appreciation of his success in reviving the Debating Society and promoting it to its present flourishing condition." The proposition was carried nem. con., and duly recorded in the minutes.

The House then proceeded to public business.

The motion before the House was : " That this House would welcome a return from petrol to oats."

In proposing the motion, R. S. F. Webber looked at the horse more from the romantic and pleasurable point of view than from the practical aspect. He compared fox-hunting to high-speed motoring, and ended up by discussing the state of the world to-day if there was no petrol, saying that there would be no air forces or tanks, and wars would therefore be far less horrible.

R. R. L. Pryer then rose to oppose the motion. He enumerated the advantages of petrol and the internal combustion engine, and then pointed out that the present day world could not exist without petrol, food transport and communication services having reached such a high state of development that any breakdown, or even a drastic slowing down, would produce chaos.

J. A. Denison, speaking third, made a very amusing, if rather irrelevant speech, saying he had been reading up 20