JUNIOR DEBATING SOCIETY Someone once wrote that when you make your first speech, stand up so that your audience can see you, speak up so that your audience can hear you, then sit down so that your audience can enjoy themselves! Sound advice and perhaps something we should work towards next year, not just in debating but in delivering a speech as well. This year we had a variety of meetings: balloon debates, hat debates and "One Minute Please", as well as the usual contest for the Jacubowicz Trophy. The meetings are always very well attended and a great deal of enthusiasm is shown for the floor, but boys are still very reluctant to "get on the stage". Perhaps next year we should try and branch out to the odd debate with some of the local schools, interform debates and a junior inter-house competition. At the final meeting J. Burns, who spoke on "man's in ability to learn from his mistakes has led to his downfall", was adjudged the best speaker and won the Jacubowicz Trophy, and the Carter Cup for the most improved speaker of the year went to J. Pons. P.A.T. RATCLIFFE MOUNTAIN CLUB It has been disappointing this year that due to transport problems the number of trips to the Berg had to be re duced.Also,the areas which could be visited were restricted to those with good roads. Nevertheless, some 40 boys had the opportunity to experience the joy of being in some of the most scenic areas of South Africa. Apart from visual enjoyment the strenuous physical activity of hiking has been both exhilarating and recreative for the boys and myself. It is a great pity that more boys cannot enjoy this activity during the year. I thank the committee for their help in organising and running the Club during the year. M.E.M. PARLIAMENTARY REPORT 1983 This, the 43rd year of Parliament's existence,saw it main tain the high success of the society, brought about by last year's members, although, towards the end of the year, largely due to the exams,the enthusiasm petered out. At the end of 1982, short impromptu speeches were held to decide 1983's positions, and the following boys were elected as office bearers. The Speaker — Mr M. LEES(Staff member) Prime Minister-ANTON MAYBERY Leader of the Opposition — RICHARD CAZALET Deputy Prime Minister — JOHN WANNENBURGH Deputy Leader of the Opposition — DAVID TAYLOR Senior Clerk - RORY MACFARLANE Junior Clerk -ROBERT THORNHILL. It is customary, that those seven people form the Parlia mentary Committee,as they did. It was agreed that the object of Parliament this year would be to restore some of the dignity which has been lost over the past few years, and, also to improve the standard of public speaking in the school. Bearing this in mind, it was encouraging to see that this year there was a record number of boys in the ranks of Parliaments membership. A new position was created in Parliament this year, namely that of secretary. Mr Lees felt that there was no position in Parliament which catered for outside interest (inter-school debates) and its consequent administration. Thus, the post of secretary has the formidable task of organising external debates and other such items which he felt should appear on the agenda. This year, Mr Lees appointed the Deputy Prime Minister, John Wannenburgh as Secretary of Parliament, and he has handled this task well. This year, the Cabinet increased by one Minister to a total of eleven. This is so, as the Prime Minister created "Minister withoutPortfolio",and this position was occupied by D.Brown this year. Our first meeting for the year was that of "No Confi dence" in the Government. Proposed by the Leader of the Opposition, and seconded by his Deputy, the Government saw this motion being opposed by its Deputy Prime Minister and seconded by their Prime Minister. These four alone, offered a host of arguable and ambiguous points,and,after the matter wasthrown to the floor, where it is widely shared by members of the cross-bench, the vote was held. The Opposition succeeded in proposing this motion by 45 votes to 35 votes. The foilowing term, the two parties once again joined in battle in the Henderson Hall. The motion that "All Beaches should be Multi-racial" was proposed by the Opposition, yet, unfortunately, their argument was not of a very high standard, and this cannot be attributed to the fact that their leader was absent. The Government, on the other hand, was a pleasure to see and hear. They fought with well-prepared and well researched arguments,and it is little wonder that they swept their way to a landslide victory, with 36 votes to 25. This then, more than compensated for their previous narrow defeat. The third and last local debate of the year was by far the most numerous and enjoyable of all. It was, after all, the famed and coveted "School vs Staff" Debate! The Staff put forward what they thought was an incredib!y strong team, fo!!owing their victory !ast year. Their team consisted of Messrs Kenneth Fish (who e!se?), Rob Lamplough and Bryan Tucker. They seized the opportunity by choosing and proposing the motion that 'The South African Youth misuses its recreational time". Now, had they seen the School Team, which was not only going to oppose them, but shred them quite literaily during the course of the evening, I'm sure thesethree gentlemen would have quickly, and understandably, changed their views on the whole discussion. The School has never been better pre pared for a Staff debate, thanks to those who represented them, namely: The Leader of the Opposition, Richard Cazalet; The Deputy Prime Minister, John Wannenburgh and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luc Swanepoel. Their speeches tore those ofthe staff, much to the delight of their fellow school-boys and to the horror of the staff. Hence, it emerges as no surprise that the school won,38 votes to 34. Nevertheless, we thank the "Big Three" for their gallant efforts — it is the first time the staff have lost in just under a decade. It is hoped that despite their defeat, they will have the courage to put forward a team next year. Once again, for the first time in years, Kearsney partici pated in an inter-school debate. Here, the honours went to Wykeham School. They invited us to have a debate on the motion "Males are more lethal than Females" For the life of me, I still can't understand why they chose to propose it! Nevertheless, the Prime-Minister, Leader of the Opposi tion and his Deputy, namely Messrs Maybery, Cazalet and Taylor respectively, represented the schoolon this auspi cious occasion. As the debate was held at Wykeham,only a handful of the prominent Cabinet Ministers and M.P.'s attended. The flavouring of the evening was contributed by the light arguments from the floor, and it was due to this, that many Wykeham girls voted for us, thereby giving Kearsney a taste of victory. Since the Wykeham debate, the Secretary's undying attempts to organise another,of a similar nature, have never come through the pipeline. Thus, despite his formidable efforts, the Kearsney Parliament missed its fourth term meeting. Paul Senior, Minister of Manpower in the Government, represented Kearsney in the J.H. Hofmeyer Speech Contest, but, he was,sadly, knocked out in the first round. So, Parliament has added the 43rd year to its existence, and still flourishes as one of the school's favourite societies. 21
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