LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY President, the Headmaster; Vice-President, Mr. J. F. Reece; Secretary, C. C. Bazley; Executive Committee, R. Mark, L. Jordan, J. Clayton, C. j. Beningfield, D. Beckett. After a year of two's dormancy this society has been resuscitated by Mr. Reece. Attendance has been made optional, instead of compulsory, as before, and meetings are held fortnightly instead of weekly. Yet why is it that a society such as this has to fight for its existence? The meetings have been most spirited, and those few who have regularly attended have spent an enjoyable and profitable hour together; yet the majority of seniors prefer to go to bed at 8 p.m., rather than attend meetings of a society that has a cultural basis. This sounds unbelievable, but it is true. Cultural education is -the crying need in South Africa; it is in this respect that the South African boy falls very short of his Engish cousin. Instead, the sunshine calls him to the open air. But there is not much sunshine at 8 p.m.! The first three or four meetings were devoted to the election of officers and the preparation of the Rules and Constitution of the Society. The first debate was on the motion,"That civilisation based on machinery is a mistake." It was introduced by E. Lowe and opposed by D. Crowder. This debate produced the best speeches of the term. Lowe emphasised the fact that culture and refinement are lost owing to the amount of time devoted to mechanical pursuits, and that initiative is lessened. Crowder pointed out that greater production of necessities enabled all to enjoy more material benefits, and that general improvement of conditions was due to scientific research based upon mechanical progress. After quite a scintillating debate, the motion was narrowly lost. For the next meeting, Mr. F. 0. Blagg, a widelytravelled psychologist, lectured on,"The Practical Side of Psychology." Mr. Blagg unfortunately made the mistake of trying to explain the whole meaning of Psychology in an address of one hour; the result was that he was unable to tell the meeting much about anything, and, although much that he said was very interesting, the boys felt by the end that they did not know much more of the subject than when he began. He stimulated the greatest interest when trying to show the close relationship between Mind and Matter (a relationship that many psychologists will not admit!). Then followed a debate, "Democracy vs. Dictatorship," with R. Lund and C. Beningfield championing the respective 13
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