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Correspondence.

(To the Editor.)

Now that the Plunket Medal debate is here again, one's mind naturally turns towards the Debating Society. As an occasional listener at the said Society, I should like to suggest that its activities should be extended so as to cover an elocution class. If this were done it might be possible to separate the true debater from the mere reciter.

Now there is a mixture of fairly good original work opposed to long perorations from Macaulay, Burke, and others, recited with slight alterations to meet the circumstances. As Messrs. Macaulay and Co. are recognised authorities on the subjects on which they write, and as they have, moreover, the knack of using good English, the speakers using these writers have a distinct advantage.

This same habit of reciting is apparent at the Plunket Medal Competition, but it is difficult to see how this can be remedied.—Yours, etc.,