COLLEGE DEBATE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 27, 31 July 1936, Page 18

COLLEGE DEBATE

WIN FOR SILVERSTREAM JUDGE'S COMMENTS One of the most important problems of the day was debated last night by teams from Wellington CoUege and St. Patrick's College; Silverstream, St. p^"ck's winning by 283 points to 269. That Collective Security is Not Incompatible with National Defence" was the-subject chosen, St. Patrick's taking the affirmative line of argument, ■ and Wellington the negative. The debate took place at a meeting oi the Wellington branch of the New Zealand League of Nations Union, which body was naturally keenly interested in the subject under discussion. Dr. J. H. Beaumont,. vice-pre-sident of the branch, presided. Arguments for and against the motion were propounded by the members of the two teams, special reference being msde by both sides to the recent subjection of Abyssinia by Italy, and the intrusion of Japan into Manchuria. . Mr. W. Appleton, who, with Mr. H McCormick, acted as judge of the contest, remarked that the best speakers had not been the leaders of the teams, but the second speakers. . He awarded highest marks of 93 to J. Bergin, of St. Patrick's, and second marks of 86 to B. K. Berg, of Wellington College. He was surprised at the calibre of the speeches, and stated that it was an indication of the interest that the boys took in the work of the League of Nations and the affairs of the world as a whole. TEAM WORK. Mr. McCormick congratulated the speakers on their showing, but remarked that some constructive criticism might be useful to them in the future. One of the most important things to remember in a debate of the kind

contested was to make the most of team work With the limited time at the disposal of each speaker there was not sufficient time for each member of the team to deal with the whole subject, and a "plan of attack" should be worked out so that each speaker's contribution would fit into the general scheme. With only four or five minutes at his disposal a speaker was inclined to speak too fast. This was wrong If a debater spoke too quickly the audience could not follow his speech with ease and lost the force of his arguments. There had been some inconsistency of argument between members of the same team, and that could have been eliminated by careful co-operation beforehand. One criticism which Mr. McCormick wished to make was that in only a few cases were the speakers' remarks supported by some authority. Many glib assertions were made, but he was very much afraid that many of them would not bear close scrutiny in the light of day. The idea of a speaker in a debate should be to convince his audience of his side of the question and to do this he must appear convinced himself. There had been too much reference to notes, and also too many memorised high-sounding phrases which smacked of midnight oil. The boys should try to cultivate variety of tone in their speaking, which made it much easier to listen to. There had been very little, use made of gestures, a certain amount of which was well worth while. However, he congratulated the speakers' on both sides on the correctness of the grammar used. The teams were:—Wellington: J R McCreary, B. K. Berg, and C. J. Treadwell. St. Patrick's: M. Cleary, J. Bergin, and R. Dwyer. Which is the oldest continent? Geologists assert that, according to rock and other evidence in Australia, that land antedates both Europe and America. They hold that it was once linked to Asia and Africa.