MEETINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 206, 29 August 1916, Page 7

MEETINGS.

PONSONBY LITERARY AND DEBATING SOCIETY. Tbe usual meeting held on Monday night, Mx. Ckas. S. Lees presiding, was again set aside for "impromptu speeches," subjects, chosen by the executive, being announced lat the outset. Speeches were delivered by i the following:—Misses Bennett, Stubbs and Woods, Messrs. J. Stebbing, G. ii. Grant, E. White. J. Johnson. W. iMcMatb, S. W. I l'itzpatrlck, E. Smith and the chairman, tlie j epeeches being followed by." gcnerai_crlti-t-ism. During the evening the rcsuUfof tlia I annual essay competition was announced, i the adjudicator. Mr. T. U. Wells, M.A., deJ ciding as follows:—First, the essay ou "Comradeship" (submitted by Mr. G. G. Grant), "is well worked out, aud thougnt and language are alike good—the chief weak points are the writer s neglect of the paragraph and a tendency to quote too freely." In support of the judge's dictum it • might be mentioned that, in illustrating the friendship of man for man. Mr. Grant wandered from David and Jonathan to Tennyson and Ilallani, and roamed from Milton's "Lycidas" to "Tennessee's Partner." The judge placed Miss Furey's "well-planned and carefully worked out" efsuy on. "Fiction" a close second, it being marred by a technical defect. The essays of MessrSv- w - McMath and J. Johnson also received special mention. The decision of >Mr. Wells met with the hearty approval of the meeting.