1939

At the General Meeting held at the beginning of this term, Bailey, the former Secretary, was elected Chairman, and Child was elected to the Committee. J.Harvey succeeds Bailey as Secretary.
Since the last issue of the Monovian appeared, the Society has held five debates, two senior and three junior. The motion at the first of the senior debates was " That in the opinion of this House, the existence of a wealthy, leisured class is not justified." The main arguments of the proposers, Child and Bailey, were that the leisured class inherits its fortunes and does not work for its existence; that the money it is accumulating to-day does not come from its own efforts but from the efforts of the working class. For the opposition Mr. Starbuck and Banks maintained that the wealthy, leisured class bears a large part of the country's expenditure, produces many of our leading politicians, while people like Lord Nuffield and the Cadbury family have furthered social advance by their generosity. Without the wealthy leisured class the real England would not exist, and the existence of the former was, therefore, fully justified.
Other speakers included Chittenden, Hart, Harvey, Gaskin, and D. Pettegree. The motion was carried by 53 votes to 29. The motion at the second senior debate was "That in the opinion of this House it is vital to the interests of democracy that arms should be supplied to the Spanish Government immediately." It was somewhat ironical that this debate should have taken place the day after the fall of Barcelona! Hull and Harvey, proposing the motion, maintained that the issue of the war in Spain affected the whole world; that Franco, by employing Moors and Italians, was not being as Spanish as his speeches suggested; and that Non-Intervention was an utter farce.
The opposers, D.Pettegree and Hart, were fully confident that the policy suggested by the proposition would lead to war. The Spanish Government they described as "red," its atrocities as numerous as those of the rebels. Other speakers included Gaskin, Sorensen, Bowen, and Russell. The motion was carried by 17 votes to 12. The low attendance was due to the fact that the day of the debate had been altered without proper notice.
At the time of going to press, another debate is being arranged at which we hope to see a much larger attendance. Ii is the wish of the Society to hear every type of opinion expressed at the debates, and members of the Senior School, particularly, are urged to take an active interest in the Society.
White and Chittenden have been elected Secretary and Chairman respectively of the junior Section of the Society.
At two of the junior meetings Balloon Debates have been held. At the third debate the motion "That in the opinion of this House American films are superior to British" was rejected. A junior debate concerning Air Raid Precautions is being arranged.