The Debating Society

than the mute reception of Friday. Some have, no doubt, been musically seduced by Siren wails to the bones on the pop-microphonises shore, but let us be frank and own that this had nothing to do with tittering at distractions in a rather splendid song. At the end we can say that pleasure was had by many, by laughter spontaneous or by intended quips, and heartily thank all those who gave us our pleasure.

C.P.M.D.

This term D. G. Cummin, Esq., has again become Master-in-Charge of the Society, after an absence of four years. At the first meeting of the term it was agreed to send a letter of thanks to the previous Master-inCharge, G. D. Field, Esq.

As usual the first meeting of the term was open to the whole School. The motion was, "This House thinks that there is too much law", which was proposed by Mr. C. E. M. Atkinson. Mr. J. It W. Thirlwell was the opposer, and Messrs. Head and Burnell were the seconders. Many examples were given in favour of both sides, but the speeches from the floor became rather involved in discussing the penalty for stealing flowers.

The second meeting was held in the Stephenson Room. Mr. N. E. Furey proposed that "This House thinks that a teacher's lot is not a happy one". The motion was opposed by Mr. J. R. Gibson, with Messrs. Donnelly and C. W. Clegg as seconders. A somewhat lively debate ensued, the motion eventually being carried by 17 votes to 16 with 7 abstentions.

For the third meeting Messrs. K. J. T. Pakenham and T. D. I. Fenwick came from Ampleforth to propose the motion : "This House thinks that advertising is a social menace". They were opposed by Messrs. H. Biddle and N. J. Smith. This was an open meeting, and was the first in which full use was made of the rules for interrupting and questioning speakers. When put to the vote the motion was rejected. We thank the visiting speakers for giving us such an interesting debate.

The alternative constitution, only two platform speakers, was used for the fourth meeting, the speakers being Messrs. J. E. Perks and R. H. Hall. The motion: "This House thinks that the man who walks in the middle of the road should be knocked down", was intended as a political motion, but the Society took it in general terms. Members were apparently opposed to violence, for the motion was defeated by a large majority.

The final meeting of the term was rather more light-hearted. The motion was: "This House would rather be a contented pig than an unhappy philosopher". Proposed by P. J. Wells, Esq., and opposed by P. M. Nixon, Esq., with Messrs Biddle and Thirlwell as seconders, the motion gave certain agriculturists a chance to enlighten the Society on the habits of pigs. One only had to look at the audience during the platform speeches to know that the motion would be carried.

A most noticeable feature of the debates this term has been the large number of younger members who have spoken, and, in some cases surprised the Society by the high quality of their speeches. A correspondingly large number of older members seem unable to put their ideas into words. This 15