Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Spike: or, Victoria College Review June 1902

The Debating Society

page 17

The Debating Society.

A Debating Society is a necessary adjunct to every University, and this fact seems to have been realised when our College was opened early in 1899. The Students' Society, founded almost as soon as the work of the College commenced, immediately set up a Committee "to consider the formation of a Debating Society." Rules and standing orders were drawn up, and a report was prepared, which was read and adopted at the first meeting of the Society, held on 3rd June, 1899. Officers of the Society were elected as follows :—President, Professor McKenzie; Vice-President and Chairman, Professor Maclaurin; Secretary, Mr. A. W. Blair; Treasurer, Miss M. Ross; Committee, Misses A. H. Tasker, M. Hitchcock, and Messrs. F. D. Thomson and S. W. Fitzherbert. Professor Maclaurin then took the chair as Chairman of the Society. A debate had already been arranged, and Mr. Fitzherbert proceeded to move, "That any system of control of the drink traffic is inimical to the highest development of civilization." The motion was opposed by Mr. Thomson. Six other members of the newly formed Society took part in the debate, and the motion was eventually lost by 16 votes to 5.

Since the inception of this Society, as above described, meetings have been held regularly every year during the College session. A syllabus has been printed annually, and many and various interesting subjects have been discussed. In 1899 eight debates were held, including an impromptu debate and a speaking competition. On the 7th September of that year, Miss Marchant, M.A., Lady Principal of the Girls' High School, Dunedin, read an interesting paper on "Jane Austen."

The following extract from the first annual report shows the satisfactory progress made during the first year :—" The Committee is pleased to note the fact that many members have given evidence of speaking powers of a very fair order, and, with practice, promise to become effective speakers. The debates were all of them interesting, and of a spirited nature. The-attendance was uniformly large, the average been about 40 for the whole session, whilst the highest attendance recorded was 59." Financially the position of the Society was good at the end of 1899, the credit balance being £3 5s. 8d. The membership for that year was 45.

page 18

The second, and now annual general meeting, was held on the 7th April, 1900. The election of officers resulted as follows :— President, Professor Brown; Vice-President and Chairman, Professor Maclaurin; Secretary, Mr. F. D. Thomson; Treasurer, Miss Reid; Committee, Misses Richmond and Tasker, and Messrs. Graham and Richmond. During 1900 eleven meetings in all were held, at which the attendance, though not so large as in the previous year, was fairly high, the average being about 30. A lecture by the President, on "Mediæval Universities" attracted a large audience of members and the public, and a successful session was ended by the impeachment of a member, which caused great amusement, and by a mock Parliamentary election at which half a dozen candidates sought the suffrage of the electors.

Two prizes—the Literary Prize and the Essay Prize—each of the value of £2 were instituted during the year, the former being awarded to Miss Blair for a composition on "Characteristics of New Zealand Bush." It is regrettable that, owing to a delay (which was unavoidable) in announcing the subject for the essay prize, there were no papers sent in for this competition.

The membership for 1900 was 39, and the credit balance carried forward at the end of the session £3 18s.

The officers of the Society for 1901 were :—President, Professor Easterfield; Vice-President and Chairman, Mr. H. P. Richmond; Secretary, Miss A. H. Tasker; Treasurer, Mr. R. Deere; Committee, Misses Edwards and Jenkins and Messrs. de la Mare and Fitzherbert. During that year eleven meetings were held, including seven ordinary debates and a successful tournament debate with the Wesleyan Literary and Debating Society. On June 29th Mr. M. Richmond read a paper entitled "The Specialist and All-round Man," and on the 31st of August Professor Easterfield delivered a presidential lecture on "Some Aspects of University Life in Germany."

As in 1900 the Literary Prize was again offered, the subject decided upon being "The Greatest Need of the Age," and the successful competitor, Mr. F. A. de la Mare. The Essay Prize was again abandoned, and a Rhetorical Competition substituted, the form of speech for the latter being a "Parliamentary Electioneering Speech." The prize was allotted to Mr. P. S. Foley.

The average attendance during the session of 1901 was 39, and the number of students who paid the half-a-crown subscription was 40. The Society's financial position at the close of that year was still a very sound one.

An account of the part taken by the College at the Inter University-College Tournament will be found in another place.