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Salient. The Newspaper of Victoria University College. Vol. 20, No. 4. May 3, 1956

The line must be drawn somewhere

The line must be drawn somewhere

Philosophy was the order of the day at the Debating Club on Friday, March 20. The subject was for this, the Staff-Student debate "That the line must be drawn somewhere" and the authority of Plato, Aquinas, Kant, Hobbes, and Professor Hughes was invoked during the course of the argument Simple souls frightened of "intellectual snobbery" might have wilted, but everyone else enjoyed it.

Walker spoke last. Accordingly Mr. Rowe opened for the staff. Drawing the line was practical, not merely abstract, he said. It was the essence of balanced life; only extremists refused to do so. Leading the students was Whitta, who criticised national boundaries as being barriers to the unity of mankind.

Things warmed up when Mr. Brookes moved on to weightier matters like fashion. There must be a line drawn somewhere between the ankle and the . . er . . . ; and again between the neck and ... a point he was not prepared to specify. If the student team did not draw the line he would be forced to conclude they were anarchists, nudists, libertins and gluttons, therefore quite beyond the pale.

Replying to the charge of nudism Miss Jackson was unfortunate enough to begin, "Now I'm going to show you . . ." Cheers drowned the rest. Hobbes, she said, was out of date, and to prove it she went on to quote Witgenstein, Ayer and Ryle. Mr. Braybrooke was a "blurred concept," she said, though "quite workable.

Degree for S.G.H ?

The inimitable Mr. Braybrooke began by disclaiming any relationship with a blurred concept or the Duke of Plaza Toro. He would have preferred to debate "that Aunt Daisy would make a better wife than Marilyn Monroe," but he had to make the best of the present subject The other morning he read a proposal to confer a degree on the Prime Minister. Realty, one had to draw the line . . .

Doogue argued that, after all, somewhere else was not somewhere, and he thought the lines should be drawn some whore else. His distillation of Kant (via Russell) was of pretty incomprehensible substance.

First from the floor, Larsen (aff.) said the proposition was a tautology, and must be accepted. Then Miss Mitcalfe (aff.) spoke of the line as the basis of form. ("It is also useful for drying clothes.")

Dawick (neg.) was conservative enough to ouote Shakespeare. But he redeemed himself when he told of people who "take Hob oca's Leviathan down." Wood (aff.) defended national boundaries when he got to the subject. He said there must be a definite time when the female's reproductive organs cease being the property of her parents and the State and become here own. The question is, when? ("And when Mrs. Ross speaks, who are we to object?")

Polygamy?

Gibbons had just seen the picture about Rex Harrison and his seven wives. Therefore he was very definitely on the negative side. Indeed, why stop at seven? Wiles (Aff.) contended that the staff might be authorities in their own way, but in the real matters of life (e.g., sex) they were really just on the borderline. Mc-Bride (aff.) thought he was pink . . . but not pink in that sense . . . rather green . . . but not the other green . . .

In the good Catholic tradition of Aquinas' Aristotle, Shaw (neg.) made attempts to come to grips with Jung. Jung is here to say, and he must be. Christianized as soon as possible.

At this stage chairman Cruden ruled tha the would accept only two more speakers. Mummery moved that this ruling be disagreed with. Whitta took the chair. Mummery moved that Whitta's ruling be disagred with. Dawick took the chair. Dawick refused to accent any more motions from Mummery. Dawick put Mummery's second motion. Whitta took the chair. Whitta put Mummery's first motion. Cruden took the chair. There were [unclear: on] two more speakers.

Miss Newcombe (aff.) stressed the line between Christians and non-Christiana, and Miss Blaiklock finished up for the negative.

Whitta rounded off his difficult ease with a well-reasoned speech, and Braybrooke added a brilliant coda. Replying to Thomas (neg.) who had said that Messrs. Brookes and Rowe said nothing at all, Braybrooke countered that admittedly they were the hors d'oeuvres, but that Thomas must not think this meant "out of work."

Dr. Williams, judging, commented on the high standard, and placed Robinson, Whitta and Doogue best speakers in that order. The motion was carried.