The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 230, 28 September 1929, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that nqeds resistance. For the future in the distance, And the good that toe can do.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1929. A NATIONAL FAILING.

Periodically there are complaints abou the low standard of speaking in New Zealand but for more than one reason Mr. Justici MacGregor's recent remarks on the subject ii Wellington have a special interest.- Mr Justice MacGregor spoke more frankly than ii usual, and he is a judge of the Supreme Court The Bench has had judges who were far froir models of clear enunciation or lucidity oi expression. One judge—and a good judge too— who presided over a Southern Court witl distinction for many years, was noted for tht discursiveness of his judgments. But judges as a class belong to a profession that is trained to express itself with more than average clarity—can we add brevity?—and they practise frequently the' art of exposition to bodies of averagely intelligent men. When, therefore, Mr. Justice MacGregor says that our standard of public speaking is deplorably low, we must listen to him with respect. Nor is there any use in questioning his judgment. The standard is low, and, if anything, it is sinking. The level of speaking in Parliament is not what it was. In the whole of our public life there is hardly one orator. The absence of real oratory, however, is much less regrettable than the scarcity of competent speakers. Not for nothing has oratory been called the harlot of the arts. We can dispense with the "spellbinder," but the amount of slipshod, slovenly speaking, of wrapping up of nothing much or nothing at all in a vast envelope of dull words, is a trial to the patience of the public and a brake on the development of intellectual life. It is curious that this low standard of public speech should go with a passion for public speaking. Most meetings and functions ai'e overloaded with speeches, and many a gathering has started on a high note and sunk to a low one simply because the audience has been bored with talk. Ministers and members of Parliament set a bad example by talking too much and too often, and by giving deputations too much latitude. All over the country this example is followed, until one begins to think that after all people really do like listening to a dozen speeches at the opening of a school, or twenty toasts at a breeders' dinner. Tho great speeches of history are the product of genius, and all the teaching in the world will not raise talent to that level. Lincoln wrote his Gettysburg address on a sheet of paper as he drove to the ceremony, and it occupied but a few minutes. The chief orator that day delivered a carefully prepared oration lasting a couple of hours, and it has been quite forgotten. But Lincoln's immortal address illustrates the rules that Mr. Justice MacGregor laid down: Have something to say, say it clearly and briefly, and then stop. That is the foundation of good speaking; the graces can be added. How seldom, however, d.o we find graces in the speeches of our public men; how infrequent is the felicitous phrase, the telling allusion! As for pleasantness of tone ind. ease in phrasing, speakers of Maori blood are noticeably superior to their white neighbours. The pakeha seems to be just as fond is the Maori of interminable debating, but low less interesting he makes it! Can anything 3e done? The public has the remedy in its )\vn hands; it can politely refuse.to be bored. Fhat, however, is a counsel of perfection. \luch could be done by definite encouragement )f the speaking art at the schools and iniversity colleges. The university centres ispecially should set the standard of accent, ucidity and brevity, and it has already been iuggested that the proposed Fine Arts estabishment at the Auckland University College hould provide instruction in speech. This is io unimportant extra. It is part of education, )art of the national culture which the whole iducational system is supposed to serve.