"DEPLORABLY LOW."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 226, 24 September 1929, Page 20

"DEPLORABLY LOW."

ORATORY IN DOMINION

JUDGE'S FRANK OPINION,

ADVICE TO,PUBLIC SPEAKERS,

"The standard of public speaking in, New Zealand at present is deplorably low. Of the making of speeches there seems to be no end. Public speech in this Dominion may be rich in quantity, but it certainly is poor in quality. Until .at least one of our more talkative bores is (justifiably) shot on the public platform, I fear, however, that there is not much hope of improvement>. in this respect." In the "literal sense Mr. Justice MacGregor, who made the above utterance When delivering an address to the' Wadestown and Highland Park Men's Society, was not • advocating personal violence towards members of Parliament and others (says the "Post"), but he. was serious, during his address on "The Art of Public Speaking," in his advocacy that more attention should be paid to speech than is the case at the present time. After commending Pascal's definition of eloquence as "a pictorial representation of thought," Mr. Justice MacGregor went on to say that few public speakers learn so to produce their voices as to make themselves adequately heard by their entire audience. "Those who profess the kindred art of singing in public frequently devote years of patient study to what is termed 'vobe production/ while most of our would be orators appear to neglect almost entirely this indispensable training for public speech. Many a' good speech is ruined for lack of-a well-trained voice, while an inferior address may prove a success owing largely to its better 1 delivery." ."Use Simple, Sincere Words."

But a good voice alone was not enough. In order to make a successful speech in public it was necessary to have clear ideas to impart, and to clothe these ideas in appropriate language. "It is true," he said, "that the pleasing delivery of a speech is the first step towards success:, but what if there be little or nothing of substance to deliver? How often is one condemned to listen to a mere outpouring of words, without any effective arrangement of ideas, and perhaps disfigured by, slang and slipshod or ungrammatical English? Very few speakers appear to realise how necessary it is to select their topics carefully, to use clear and cogent language, and to

avoici cant and commonplace, if at all possible. It is not enough merely to repeat platitudes and generalities—however fluently. Language was not really given to us to conceal our thoughts, but to express them, to transfer our individual ideas" to the collective mind of our audience. This, can be effected only by the use of simple and sincere words, which are much more lucid and convincing than the grandiloquent language too often affected by those who seek to sway the multitude from public platforms. "As a rule speakers take too little trouble in selecting the words they use, and thereby rob their public utterances of much of their point and' effect. But, before choosing with care the words he intends to employ, the aspiring public speaker should be at pains to arrange in orderly sequence the.topics on which he-proposes : .to speak. Skill'in arrangement Js essential'-to successful public speaking. Until you first have clear in own view what you mean to say ■iWis hopeless to expect to make your transparent to other people. Mtfddled thinking in the mind of the speaker makes lucid speech on his part aft'hut impossible. Hence "the import-, ahce of a clear outline or framework, with the various topics so-arranged as to follow each other in orderly i se-

quence." /, It 1 was, comforting to reflect how few public speakers ever attained to anything approaching perfection. "True orators, indeed, are at least as rare as true poets. Speaking for myself, it has ibeen my lot for /nearly half a century .to- ; listen to numberless speeches in public,- but during that time I have heard only, two"; real orators—Gladstone and RoSebery. We common-place people cannot hope to emulate orators like Gladstone or Rosebery. That, of course,

is farfbeyond our" powers,. But if"we desire,'to;; become), even- passable public speakers,..*we* must /assiduously study and practice the rules of the game. Tersely< : aiid these rules?are frequehtlyY enunciated as -• 'Stand 1 up, speak up, and shut up'! The last of

theses rules ri&;not/ithe .least, important of them, but is, I think, the one most

commonly,..brok.enr'by. would-be j .orators. jHow* - : ''often "do we ./hear some prosy speaker meandering on long after he should have, come to a close, wearying his/ audience, and ruining the effort of

an < passable. It ig> a 'of. general-applicationi/always

to; stop. speaking while your hearers stiiiVisli/you'to continue. How much shorter,, and better, would many public speeches thus become! * - : Wireless and Talkies. :■ ! "For more than one reason it appears to me. to":'b'e of -importance that' the art of speaking in public should be carefully cultivated at the present time. The

advent, of wireless has vastly extended

the range and influence of the human

voice. Before the. days of broadcasting

an orator could address at most a few

thousand people. Now his jhearers may be millions. Broadcasting may-; indeed; %,". great influence' for good or evil in the community. Curiously enough, too, many an indifferent speaking voice- sounds well on the wireless, and the" microphone appears to

have a capricious .'.influence in this respect, which' mayuperchance transform a pc<>r,speaker;itttoian'.efficient broadcaster. ';■') It is -all- the;mp'r;e important,:

thoughts and ideas thus ■•■■'■'. transmitted'-'to.U;tho. multitude

should/:beHgbod in,-thCmseives> and should I also- be .^couched;'in ;'piire' and scholarly : Eriglish, : '^not,: v, ilisfig ; ured by faults in style. ;6r;';-pronunciation. . We have already 1 * in this Dominion, too much slovenly language, too much slang, and too much-twangs' 'The public speaker

of the, future coul d do a great deal to

correet these faults, to'teach the rising, generation to think clearly, to enunciate

properly and to speak, h '. "That, recent commonly known as the 'talkies,' must also inevit-

ably produce some effect, on our public

speech—for weal or for woe. It is too

early- as yet to foretell with confidence what the final, result may .be, whether it. may do : good,or harm.,lf -th^:.*me'ghanichl = ;process; becomes;'- perfected, and the factors fspeak. dearly and vtßStfffiP 1 'g?°d:-English, it .'may be S$M$ a J^; to :improve,' S£J. "»' the Public speakers of yoWs£ i if .persistently booming d i. ra ? cous voices Uang, I fear Sflt +I ? oßC^ at6 Am erican U» o the^risim, e J„ UbI^ and P rivate irrupted &Ja£$HSE?*T mUSt *