Freeman's Fierce Harangue.

Without in any way disagreeing with the judges' decision, it is yet true to say that Mr. Wah's speech was neither the most impressive nor the most outstanding of the evening. Derek Freeman gave a brilliant and a beautiful oration in defense of the Spanish people. It had many faults, and he ought not to have given it at all in a Plunket Medal contest. It was dramatic; at the end it was almost theatrical, but it had a vitality and a brilliance that Mr. Wah's speech lacked.

Derek was not placed by the judges, who considered, quite truly, that he had used John [unclear: Cornford] as an excuse for propaganda. His sincerity they could scarcely have doubted, but his naturalness they may have done, for at times the rich poetry of his prose, and the fluency of his delivery, made his speech more like elocution than oratory. It was marred, too, by his [unclear: similes,] made to an old familiar formula and superficial as a civic [unclear: tribute.] [unclear: But] despite all this he attained a standard far above that of the other speakers. He spoke to the audience instead of in front of them, and, with a fierceness that was almost passionate, he told them of a man, [unclear: scarcely] more than a boy, who died for liberty and justice. John Cornford was a poet and a student, and there may never be a more fitting tribute to his memory than that, a thousand miles from Spain, another man, scarcely more than a boy, a poet and a student, should move an audience with ideals that they both shared.