1929

Attempts to recover the former glory of this Society have proved very successful. Up to the time of going to press three debates have been held. The first of these was held on September 24th, when forty-eight members were present. The motion before the House was that "Gentlemen prefer Blondes." E.R.H. Timms, proposing the motion in a very able and witty speech, drew upon the great writers in support of his contention. Brunettes he compared with Hottentots. In a spirited reply D.Thomson showed remarkable skill in the manufacture of puns in such remarks as "a new and alarming gold rush, a veritable 'Blondylle' in fact." In the subsequent discussion, K.E.Robinson attempted to disprove the existence of either blondes or gentlemen. The motion was lost by seventeen votes to eleven.
At the next debate, held on October 14th, fifty-two members were present. The motion before the House was that "Modern Dress is ugly, unhealthy, and unsatisfactory." M. F. Sheehan, the proposer, dilated, obviously from personal experience, on the atrocious discomfort of the boiled shirt. In reply, the opposer, K.E.Robinson, ridiculed dress reform and the dress reformers, and deprecated any attempted break from centuries of tradition. In the discussion E.R.H.Timms demonstrated that the introduction of "shorts" must result in the break-up of the economic system, of the British Empire, and of Christianity. The motion was carried by twenty-eight votes to twenty-three.
The third debate was held on October 29th. The subject was "The Ideal of Peter Pan." The proposer, D.Thomson, began by showing how the ideal of Peter Pan could not be taken literally as 'never growing up,' but must mean the 'retaining of the spirit of imagination and romance, the essential characteristics of the spirit of the child.' The opposer. S.O.Speahman, repudiated this interpretation, and, in a charming speech, pointed out the glories of progress and maturity, and the fact that man must progress if he is to live. The debate was noteworthy for the number of members who joined in the subsequent discussion, a hopeful sign. Those in favour of the ideal of Peter Pan were twenty, those against, sixteen.
K.E.R. (VI. Lit.).