The standard of speaking was not as high as it has been in former years. The winning speech was excellent but not outstanding. With few exceptions the speeches were stiff, formal bogus-orations with an overdose of blah. In all cases save one, the style of speaking (as well as two of the characters) came from a period long past. The genuine oration of the twentieth century is not the pontifical utterances of a Pitt, a Sheridan, or a Burke; and as speaker succeeded speaker on Saturday night one couldn't help wishing that a compulsory course of dos Passos was a pre-requisite for Plunket Medal competitors. To read a thumbnail biography such as "William Randolph Hearst" in "The Big Money" gives a clear idea in prose of what a present-day oration can and should be. The aim of the orator is, of course, to stir the emotions of his audience. To do this today it is necessary to speak to the audience instead of across, or at, or in front of them. Ron Meek's speech was an object-lesson in how to do this.

Notes were, generally speaking, much too prominent. The speaker is free to use his own method of speaking, but large sheets of notepaper (especially blue notepaper) surely should be dispensed with.