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Debating Society.

Before the debate on the 10th June it was announced that Lord Plunket had forwarded several medals to the society, in addition to his endowment.

The motion for debate was, "That the Immigration of Chinese and Japanese into New Zealand should be prohibited," moved by Messrs. Caddick and O'Shea, and opposed by Mr. Butcher and Miss Nicholls. The speakers had a decided objection to the yellow man, so also did the audience, which rejected the motion by 15 to 4. But racial prejudice will appeal to an audience more than the cold scientific investigation of economic facts. Hence the rejection. The judge, Mr. T. Neave, a former member of the Society, played the first five speakers in the following order: Messrs. Watson, Hogg, Butcher, Miss Nicholls. Mr. Strack.

On the 24th of June, the motion for debate was, "That it is advisable for New Zealand to remove the tariff on all necessaries of life imported from the British Empire. Messrs. Leary and Maekersey opened a debate on Free- trade. Messrs. Evans and Taylor opposing. New Zealand and the Empire were occasionally brought into the debate. The audience pronounced in favour of the motion by a small majority. Dr. lizard placed the following speakers: Messrs. McEldowney, Fair, Butcher, Leary and Taylor.

On the 8th July the advisability of continuing the duration of one's life was judicially considered in the debate. "Is Life Worth Living." J. McL. Hogben thought it was; Miss Currie thought otherwise. Any-how, the question was thoroughly threshed out. There is no record how the audience voted. but from the fact that College people live up to their principles and that there have been no suicides at V.C. since the debate there is is at least a presumption that the question was decided in the affirmative. Perhaps examination time will tell another tale.

Of the next debate the less said the better. Perhaps a good audience in the holidays is an impossibility; certainly the audience excelled itself in its attempt to keep page 50 away. The Common-room was called into requisition, lint speaking from the steps of the Common Room would damp even the perfervid oratory of Professor Mills. Messrs. McEldowney and Stevenson moved that "The Administration of the New Zealand Govt. Departments should be conducted by a Board of Commissioners." Messrs. Hall-Jones and Broad opposed. The debate was a quibble. Mr. von Haast placed the following:—Messrs. Broad, McEldowney. Hall-Jones. Fair and Stevenson.

August 5th was the occasion of Professor Garrow's presidential address. The professor touched on some old questions in a rather novel way, and the audience chuckled hugely at his denunciations of examinations and hard work. At the conclusion, impromptu speeches were delivered, but after the first few speeches they fell as flat as McDowall 's re-fills."

A huge audience came up to hear the Women's Oratorical Contest, and were well rewarded for their trip. Certainly the enthusiasm of the audience awakened an eloquence in the speakers, and the Minket Medal Com- petition will have to look to its laurels. The competitors and their subjects were:—Miss Marshall. Mary of Scotland; Miss North. Queen Elizabeth; Miss Casey, Marie Antoinette; Miss Nicholls. Joan of Arc; Miss Palmer: Charlotte Corday; Miss Dowling. Lady Jane Grey; Miss Currie, Florence Nightingale; Miss Hursthouse, Margaret of Anjou.

The speeches were all of a high order, that of Miss Nicholls being particularly fine. The vote of the audience placed Miss Nicholls first, Miss Palmer second, and Miss Dowling third. An impromptu debate by the men while the votes were being counted lent a humorous touch to the evening.

The debate that the stage exercises a greater influence than the novel was from almost every point of view the best of the year. Some of the older debaters were in top form. Smith and Oram waxed eloquent moving and opposing. Fair, pleading for the stage, acted his part, to the huge delight of the audience, and one of his repartees silenced even Julius himself. The judge, Mr. A. B. Atkinson. placed the following, Alosts. Oram and Hoghen not competing:—Messrs. MeEldowney. Smith. Butcher, Fair and Hall-Johes.