Plunket Medal Competition.

"The man who hopes to obtain the promised cup,
Must in one posture stand, and ne'er look up,
Nor stop, but rattle over every word—
No matter what, so it can not be heard—
Thus let him hurry on, nor think to rest;
Who speaks the fastest's sure to speak the best;
Who utters most within the shortest space
May safely hope to win the wordy race."

—Byron.

The third Annual Competition for the Plunket. Medal was held in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall on Saturday, 7th September, in the presence of His Excellency the Governor and a large and distinguished gathering of students, graduates, the general public, and aide-de-camps. The effect of the alteration made in the rules, which reduced the number of competitors from ten to eight, and increased the time allowance from ten to twelve minutes, has been wholly a good one. Not one speech was marred by lack of time for giving a full sketch of the hero's career.

On this occasion, too, each competitor realised the true purpose of his speech, namely, to reproduce to the audience a living picture of a noble character or a masterly genius, something the study of which will stir the student to emulsion, page 25 and the delivery of which will draw forth the sympathy and admiration of his audience. The truest success in a competition of this kind is to bring the audience into actual contact with the hero, and this success was attained by several competitors this year.

If ever any competitors have thought that the system of learning a speech entirely, or almost entirely, by heart was not the intention of His Excellency when endowing the medal, that impression will been finally dismissed by His Excellency's remarked at the conclusion of the evening. The object of the competition is to present, in a manner befitting a true orator, a character sketch possessing high literary merit, and that object can best be effected by the means which, at one time or another, all the greatest orators have adopted. We feel sure that the student who leaves too much to his own power of clothing his ideas in extempore elevated language will most certainly regret that he left anything more to the evening itself than the actual delivery of matter long before prepared and polished.

We are especially pleased to note that every speaker received, as usual, a fair and attentive hearing from the students, and that the witticisms did not begin to come from the gallery until all the competitors had unburdened themselves. The example of the Victoria College students in this respect might well be borne in mind at the Easter Tournament Debate, where the competitors are speaking, not only for their own credit, but also (and chiefly) for the honour of their respective Colleges.

The first speech was delivered by W. Perry on Henry Grattan. He was in full sympathy with his hero, his enunciation was clear, and his matter excellent. The two features of his speech were the opening, which led up by successive steps of eloquence to the utterance of the name of the patriot, and the description of the speech delivered by the sick man upon the proposal for the Act of Union. The peroration was almost as good as the opening, but hardly as spirited in delivery.

G. H. Gibb, too, had chosen a character with whom he was in full sympathy : the stern, the rugged, and fearless Cromwell. He made a good opening, but his speech was delivered with a force which appeared to do more than represent his own enthusiasm. The speech which impresses most is always that in which the feeling is ever striving break the bounds of expression. His attitude while speaking was better than that of any other competitor.

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D. S. Smith well deserved the place which the members awarded to him. His hero was General Gordon, a true soldier and a true gentleman. The speech was in excellent language, and delivered, as to a large part, in a tone of pathos which was very effective, and took away the disadvantage of the impression of youth which his natural voice conveys. His opening description of Gordon on the ramparts of Khartoum was the best literary effort of the evening.

T. Boyce shewed a very great improvement on all his previous efforts, and overcame as far as possible the difficulties of enunciation which have probably been induced by over-rapid speaking. He spoke, however, too loudly and too slowly, and the language of his speech was not as that of most of the others. He gave a very clear impression of the great esteem in which Edmund Burke was held by his contemporaries.

J. M. Hogben and chosen Garibaldi, a little known to Englishmen, but he performed well the task of leading the audience through the various stages of the career of the liberator of Italy. He shewed us. Garibaldi as a soldier able to frustrate the great armies of Central Europe, a man beloved by all his became consolidated under one government.

C. H. Taylor spoke on Sir William Wallace, but his speech this year was not as good as that delivered by him upon Burke in 1906. The character was rather less suited to his style, but the story of the trial and execution of Wallace was as good as his best. The peroration, too, was fine, and well delivered, and force which come from a really thorough preparation.

A. MacDougall chose Willliam III. In point of matter his speech was one of the best of the evening, and it was not deficient in the power of calling forth sympathy towards a character little appreciated and often maligned. The fact that the speaker was nervous of course took much of the force from the speech, but an enunciation louder but not language, longer preparation, and an enunciation louder but not otherwise changed, he would be a most attractive speaker.

F. P. Kelly spoke on the Duke of Wellington. Hitherto misfortune has dogged his attempts to win the Medal, and this time also it followed him until at least halfway through his speech. For the first five minutes his voice was noticeably affected by a cold, but as he got into his speech this became less page 27 noticeable, and as he led up to the story of the final overthrow of Europe's enemy at Waterloo, he was at his best. He had chosen a well-known and a well-loved hero, and the interest was sustained throughout.

The voting resulted in the Medal being awarded to F. P. Kelly, with D. S. Smith second, and W. Perry third.

Lord Plunket then presented the Medal, and gave a short speech, in which he recommended the Committee to add to the rules of the competition one to the effect that "No Irish need apply."

The Chancellor (Sir Robert Stout) also addressed the meeting, but broken faith with the audience by delivering himself of two distinct "points " after having said "one word more before I conclude."

The Mayor made an excellent attempt to point out the advantages to be derives from such "exhibitions "as had been made that evening.