The Debating Society

The Chapel Committee met on the 24th March and decided to make donations from the Collections Fund to St. Dunstan's, The S.S.M.'s Missionary work in South Africa, Dr. Barnardo's Homes, The York Boys' Club, and The R.S.P.C.A.

THE LIBRARY

Librarian : L. BURGESS, Esq. Library Monitors : E. A. K. DENISON, P. GARBETT, W. J. CLARK, K. A. BOYES, D. HARDISTY, J. F. BLACKBURN.

The following books have been added to the Library this term :— Presented by J. C. Lyth, Esq. History of York, 3 vols. (Victoria County History Series)—Page. History of North Riding, 2 vols. (Victoria County History Series) —Page. Presented by the Rev. J. A. Easton. Picturesque Palestine, 3 vols.—Wilson. Presented by the Venerable Archdeacon England. History of Cambridge, 2 vols.—Dyer. Poverty and Progress—Seebohm Rowntree. History of the Jews, 3 vols.—Milman. Juveral—Ed. by Mayor. Aeneid of Virgil—Ed. by Conington. History of the Church of England—H. W. Patterson. The Church in the Roman Empire—Prof. Ramsay. Also : Science at Your Service—Ed. by Bullard. Science Broadcasts—Intr. by G. I. Smith. Avril—Hillaire Belloc. Science of Everyday Life—Buskirk and Smith. The Mediterranean Lands—M. I. Newbigin. Whitaker's Almanac. 1946. The Fanaticks—W. S. Scott. British History in the 19th Century and After—Trevelyan. Imperial Commonwealth—Lord Elton.

THE DEBATING SOCIETY

President : THE HEADMASTER. Chairman : Mr. R. CALDER, M.A. Secretary : E. A. K. DENISON. Committee :

C. S. SHEPHERD, P. R. SYKES, J. D. SWALE,

W. S. SAMUELS, R. L. HUTCHINSON, R. T. W. McDERMID.

Owing to the many and varied activities of the Easter term, the meeting, of the Society were once again curtailed to three.

The first meeting of the term was held on Saturday, 26th January, when R. T. W. McDermid proposed that " This House believes that there is a deterioration in the fine arts owing to a lack of appreciation by the public." Appreciation of the arts was controlled, he said, by leisure, wealth, talent, security and taste. The speaker went on to illustrate, with appropriate examples, how much the public were now lacking in those controlling factors. He ended by showing how the war had speeded the decline of the arts. 14

R. Calder, Esq., opposing the motion, compared the arts to a person, and said that there was no deterioration but that the arts were suffering from a slight illness. He stated, with examples, that the arts had never been dependent on popularity, and claimed that even though there might be a certain lack of appreciation, it remained for the test of time to say whether or not there is any deterioration in the actual work.

A. C. Rodger, speaking third, used all his time in attempting to contradict some of the opposer's statements. The arts, he claimed, were dependent on popularity, and any arts were dependent on public appreciation for their very survival.

C. P. Lascelles, seconding the opposition, pointed out the difficulties of judging the value of the fine arts until a considerable time had elapsed. Taking what modern-day examples he could, he showed that classical books, classical concerts and art exhibitions were sought after as never before.

When put to the vote, the motion was easily defeated.

The second meeting of the term was held on Saturday, 23rd February, and took the form of a Brains Trust. The Trust consisted of C. S. Shepherd, W. J. Clark, P. W. Weighill, J. McD. L. Dook and J. F. Blackburn, with E. A. K. Denison, who also took the chair, as question-master. The meeting ran its full length of an hour and a half, and even then it was unable to deal with all the questions which had been selected from the many sent in. The question-master dosed a pleasant evening's entertainment by calling for a well-deserved round of applause for the members of the Brains Trust.

The third and last meeting of the term took place on Saturday, 9th March, when the speakers were restricted to people below the Sixth Form.

D. J. Pallant opened the debate by proposing that " This House believes the newspapers to have a bad influence on the public." He contended that newspapers were harmful in that they were party-biased concerns revolving round politics. Propaganda and crime were too dominant, and the only remedy was a strong control of the press by a committee of all parties concerned.

C. D. Ryder, opposing the motion, pointed out the beneficial side of the newspaper, such as speech-reporting and advertising. A newspaper existed, he said, for the free expression of views, and it was not the newspaper's fault that reports and articles were misjudged, but rather the reader's fault for not hearing all the views before forming an opinion.

M. Speight, seconding the proposition, said that the danger of the newspaper came from political propaganda, and said that international situations had arisen in which Britain had had to explain the statements of the press. He claimed that newspaper scandal was harmful in that it gave rise to much bad feeling.

J. C. Varley, speaking fourth, pointed out the great use made of the newspaper by both the police and the government. He then went on to illustrate the great pleasure and enjoyment, without any harm being done, which the majority of people derived from reading the accounts of sporting events.

After being thrown open to the House, the motion was put to the vote and defeated by eight votes to seven.

THE MUSIC SOCIETY

There has been a noticeable increase of interest in the activities of the Music Society this term which augurs well for the future, and which may in part be attributed to the growing enthusiasm of monitors and senior members of the School. The Society offered a fuller programme this term than it has done hitherto and aimed chiefly at variety in order to please as many people as possible.