Sports : Hockey for Schools—J. T. Hankinson. Hockey—D. S. Milford. Science : The Atom and its Energy—Andrade. Fiction : The Small House at Allington—Trollope. The Warden—Trollope. The American publication "Time", "Chess", and "Yorkshire Life" have been added to the periodicals taken.
THE DEBATING SOCIETY The Society has been more popular than ever this term and many people, including junior members of the School, have taken an active part in the meetings. These were again held in the Big Hall, which has proved to be a far more suitable place than VC form-room. The first meeting was held on Saturday, 24th January. The motion before the house was "That this House considers compulsory military service at the present time undesirable." The proposition, Mr. Piers, seconded by Wilson, said that conscription produced a less than half-trained body of men which soon became out of date, that one lost individuality in the Army and that conscription came at the most critical time in one's career. The proposition therefore considered conscription neither necessary nor desirable and suggested instead that voluntary reserve organisations should be encouraged. The opposition, Newdick, seconded by Jackson, had little faith in voluntary reserves and argued that discipline, leadership, fitness, and a broader outlook were gained from conscription, and that many of the terrible losses suffered in 1939 would have been saved by a large reserve trained under conscription. Speeches from the floor of the house were made by Messrs. Le Tocq, Berg, Addy, Radford, Stuart, Mason, Kelsey, Cobham and Markus. The motion was carried by 53 votes to 15. The Society met again on Saturday, 7th February, and it was decided to hold a series of short discussions instead of a full debate. The first of these was "That perversions of the truth are sometimes justifiable." Mr. Le Tocq, the only speaker, made an amusing speech in which he came to the very remarkable conclusion that lies to avoid trouble or to excuse oneself were entirely justifiable. The motion was carried by 46 votes to 53. The next subject under discussion was "That the decline in British sport refleots the decline in Britain generally." Speeches were made by Messrs. Radford, Speight, Markus, Harrison, Burgess, Newdick, Le Tocq, Kelsey, Jackson, Hilton, Holmes, Addy, Stuart, and Mortimer. .
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