1935

Since the last notes were written the Society has held five meetings, ranging from a Junior School debate, at which the chairman was obliged to request certain over-active members to cease fighting, to a twopenny tea (and debate) at the County High School for Girls.
The first of the five meetings was held in the School Hall on Thursday, November 22nd, when the motion that " Mathe-matics should be an optional subject in the Entrance and Matriculation Examinations " was proposed by Mr. Durrant-, whose speech surprised us by not being humorous, and seconded by F.A.C.Judd. Mr. Morgan, together with D.A.L.Payne, put forward a very strong case for the opposition. The chief difficulty at this debate was the glottal stop, the con-tinual omission of which caused the genesis of a new word, "noptional." Amongst other speakers at this meeting were F C.Carpenter, K.Pettegree, P.A.Timberlake, and the Head-master. When the House divided, the motion was carried by a majority of 20 votes.
The first meeting of the Spring term took place in Room 12 on January 17th, and since a religious topic was under dis-cussion, attendance was limited to members of the Senior School. The motion that " England is not a Christian Country" was proposed by E.E.W.S. Thompson, who, together with the opposer, D.C. Ellis, set a remarkably high standard of speak-ing. This was maintained by P.A.C. McDermott, B.C. Clough, G.T. Jefferson, F.A.C. Judd, E.H. Smith, and M.G. Thomp-son, who supported the motion, and by K. Lloyd and the Rev. J.C. Ellis, who opposed it. The Headmaster proposed that "No vote be taken," and this motion was adopted by 28 votes to three. Special mention must here be made of the remark-able self-control shown by the chairman, E.V. Hills, who, to-wards the end of the meeting, when the Headmaster, Second -Master, and Secretary of the Society were engaged in heated argument, declared the meeting closed in a manner one could not but admire.
On January 24th, a select party of Monoux boys boldly en-tered the respected precincts of the Girls' High School, where a twopenny tea soon convinced them that the girls had at least learnt one thing, the way to a man's heart! The motion be-fore the House was that "Action taken as a result of affirmative answers to all the questions in the Peace Ballot would not prove an effective contribution to Peace." The proposer, Eleanor Stokes, was seconded by E.E.W.S. Thompson, while F. C. Carpenter, opposing, was seconded by Joan Craddock. As soon as the motion was open for discussion, P.A. Timberlake proposed an amendment, and it was just as well that this task had been given to our most powerful speaker. The chairman, the Rev. R.W. Sorensen, immediately ruled the amendment out of order, whereupon R.A.Dubock sprang from his seat and, in a manner suggestive of the "Wild Man of Borneo," proceeded to propose a vote of no confidence in the Chair. Through the din which followed, E.V. Hills could be heard seconding him in a piercing falsetto. The vote was taken, and it is still a mys-tery why every Monovian supported Dubock, and every girl opposed him. During the rest of the debate it became more and more obvious that the proposition was representing the Monoux School, and the opposition the High School. Although the amendment was not adopted, the secretary for reasons un-named, spoke on the amended motion proposed by P. A. Timber-lake. G.H.W. Bramhall, B.C. Clough, E.G.W. Lewis, E.V. Hills, and K. Pettegree maintained the Monoux tradition by speaking audibly and well.
This report would not be complete without a word of thanks to the Rev. Sorensen, who was good enough to give up several hours of his time to take the chair at this highly explosive debate, and who, we are sure, does not cherish one iota of ill-feeling towards the over-zealous democrats who frequently converted his meeting into the most democratic uproar in the history of Walthamstow, and seemed to consider it their first duty to depose the chairman, no matter what the cost.
At the 121st meeting of the Society K. Pettegree proposed that "Boys should be taught cookery in schools." He was seconded by A. F. Coles, and opposed by Peter Ellis and R. Houseman. When the house divided, 95 votes were recorded for the motion while only 34 people supported the opposition. W.E.Fitt, seconded by E.J.Catmull, proposed (at the last of the five meetings) that "Mr. Hore-Belisha be removed from his office as Minister of Transport." The opposers, R.H.Watson and D. Pettegree, and their supporters defeated the motion by 59 votes to 11.