THE DEBATING SOCIETY It was, to say the least, with some trepidation that the Society embarked upon what in retrospect may be described as a most successful term. For, at the start of the new school year, prospects indeed looked gloomy, and the scales seemed weighted against us. At the last meeting of the Society, in March, the attendance had sunk to a mere thirty; although, of this number, many were fine speakers, and the standard of debating was high. Now, many of this nucleus had left, and practically all of the more eloquent had resumed their seats for the last time, at any rate in our Society. So it will be agreed that our fears were justified, and we were not, therefore, anticipating a particularly good term, although if the proverb "silence is golden" were accepted, it promised to be a most prosperous one. It is most gratifying, therefore, to be able to report that the Society is flourishing and enjoying a popularity, perhaps unique in its history. We have discovered many members from all sections of the School, who are willing to stand up and voice their own humble (and occasionally irrelevant) opinions, and if their philosophy is not as abstruse or their oratory as eloquent as some might hope, it does show that the Society is in a very healthy state and can look forward to a rosy future. In the coming term, it must be our policy to try to raise the standard of debating as high as it was last year, and even higher; and with the considerable talent at our disposal that lies dormant or barely roused in so many members, this objective does not seem wholly unattainable. The Secretary has calculated, after much mathematical manipulation and many sleepless nights, that the average attendance this term has been about 125. One has not far to look for the reason for this phenomenal increase over last year's figure, and we realise that many flock to our meeting rather than attend the counter-attraction of another gathering, held simultaneously—preparation. We have no objection to harbouring these fugitives if they wish to shelter beneath the benign countenance of our Chairman rather than expose themselves to the harsh glare emanating from the duty monitor's steely eye—that is, so long as they sit quietly, and listen intelligently : we do not expect them to appear completely enraptured by the proceedings. The Committee, however, after considering the matter at great length, have decided to take an unprecedented step and limit our membership. Any member, however, who has attended our meetings with any sincerity will find no difficulty in obtaining membership—far be it from us to convert the Society into a "closed shop", and "open" meetings will be held at least once a term. Let us pass now to our activities during the past term. For the opening debate it was felt that a popular topic was essential to induce as many as possible to attend. M. E. Kershaw therefore rose to
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