BLEDISLOE MEDAL

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 12, 13 July 1935, Page 13

BLEDISLOE MEDAL

CONTEST NEXT WEEK

VICTORIA COLLEGE ENTRANTS

Two women students, Miss D. Souter and Miss C. S. Forde, were selected at a trial last night as the representatives of Victoria University College in the oratory contest for the Bledisloc Medal, which will be held in Dunedin next week. The Bledisloe Medal was presented by Lord Bledisloe for competition amongst the .four university colleges of the Dominion every three years. (This will be the second contest, and the subject this year is: "Some Man, Woman, or Event in New Zealand History, Maori or Pakeha." There were only three candidates last night. Miss Souter, Miss Forde, and Mr. K. Tahiwj. There were five entrants originally, but Mr. A. Katz and Miss M. Shortall were unable to compete owing to illness. The judges were Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., and Mr. T. Kane. Mr. A. H. Scptney presided. ..:■;•. "Personality," said : Miss Souter, speaking on Te Kooti, "is the- moving spirit of history." Especially was tins so in a young country. Although Te Kooti had been regarded as a murderer, recent historical research had shown him to be as great .'a man as any in our island's history. He might have been a villain, but it was quite possible that he was the victim of injustice. . ■ Edward Fitzgerald, said Miss Forde, was a pioneer statesman, and Wellington, the capital, was his true memorial. Animated with all the fire of an adventurer, he was an inspiration to' the early colonists. Into politics he carried his own lofty principles of action. The genius of Te Rauparaha, said Mr. Tahiwi, was an infinite capacity for taking pains. The son of an inferior chief, he had to prove himself in warfare and negotiation, and although, judged by today's standards, he was treacherous and full of guile, he belonged to a- community whose standard was set by the harshness of its environment;