ANNUAL SPEECH CONTESTS AT HIGH SCHOOL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 54, 21 October 1949, Page 5

ANNUAL SPEECH CONTESTS AT HIGH SCHOOL

On Tuesday night the Whakatane District High School held its annual speech contest in the school buildings. This departure from the usual procedure of holding the contest in the afternoon proved eminently satisfactory. Finalists previously selected from junior forms' entrants and senior form speakers addressed a large audience of parents and others. In the Junior Section (Forms 3) Margaret Mahy gave a review of Blackmore's novel "Lorna Doone", Leon Ducker spoke on "Oxygen", Ora Ranby on "Why I would like to visit Canada", and K. Pakeha and Helen Lawson on "The Pauparaha."

In the Intermediate Section (Forms 4), Diarme Yates spoke on Jules Verne, J. Mason on Cecil Rhodes, Peter Stubbs on Leonardo da Vinci, and Jill Lockyer on Katherine Mansfield. In the Senior Section (Forms 5 and 6) N. Palmes spoke on "Alloys in Modern Industry", I. Breward on "World Food Supply", W. Kirk on "Geography Behind Japanese Expansion", Patsy Morice on "Life in Shakespeare's England", Vivienne Murphy on "Bacteria and Disease", H. Watarawi on "From British Empire to Commonwealth of Nations." Placings were:— Junior Section,|Ora Ranby 1, Margaret Mahy 2, Helen Lawson 3. Intermediate, P. Stubbs 1, J. Mason 2, Jill Lockyer and Dianne Yates equal, 3. Senior, H. Watarawi 1, W. Kirk 2, I. Breward 3. Mr B. S. Barry, who judged. the speeches, said that a fault in all sections was the tendency to speak too quickly, though enunciation was clear. Many of the speakers, particularly in the Intermediate Section, gave the impression of aiming primarily at delivering themselves in a minimum of time of something carefully learned by heart. Some, he said, gave good elocutionary items. Preparation of material had been excellent. But in judging the speeches he had tried to estimate the interest each would rouse in an average public audience. The senior section, in which the speeches were of uniformly high level, had been the most difficult to judge. Mr I. B. Hubbard, headmaster, thanked Mr Barry for acting as judge, and everyone present enjoyed the fine supper provided by women members of the staff.