YOUNG FARMERS' DEBATE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 20, 5 June 1939, Page 6

YOUNG FARMERS' DEBATE

o w aim ax a and pakxgaroa The public hall at Paengaroa was packed on Wednesday, May 21 with an intere-ted audience to hear the represenlat ives of the AN runinna. an 'l Paengaroa Young Fai mers' Clubs debate the question "Democracy is 'a 4 Failure" Tor the shield which is annually competed for by tile winning debuting team in this area and in the Whakatane area. Mr E. Blackmore occupied Llic; chair and briefly introduced tnc two teams, which were: — Waimana: Messrs 11. Woollie'.d (leader), L. McDonald, H. C. Whit" and It. 'White. Paengaroa: Messrs P. Hicksoo (leader), H. Pinker, A". !>erner and A. Mr W. 11. Gilford was tlio judge and Mr Gawtc acted a.-; timekeeper. Tlie affirmative was taken by the Paengaroa team and the negative by Waimana. ■Both teams handled their subject admirably and the debate throughout was surprisingly good. The team work in the opinion of the judge was excellent, and lie found himself nnable to separate the two teams in this respect. Both leaders made very good closing .speeches and got in some ven* effective criticism. Any weakness lay i' l the tendency to quote at the expense of personal reasoning. Points which must not be lost sight, ol' were the value of a sense of humour, judging time by the bell, and the absolute necessity of keeping to the subject. After reviewing the efforts of the i.ndiv : dua,l speakers and commenting generally on the debate, Mr Gifford announced a very close finish —an aggregate of •>">•"> marks for Waimana and :>•">_ for Paengaroa. All the speakers throughout were warmly applauded by the audience jor their efforts, a M d the result was as warmly received, despite what must have been a'' keen disappointment .to the Paengaroa train, who have now been runners_up "for the shield on three successive occasions. PRESENTING THE SHIELD In presenting the shield to the Waimana representatives, Mr D. S. Boss said lie felt sure everyone would agree that the debate had been mo t nteresting and of a high standard. He pointed out that there were sonic -11 Young Farmers' Clubs in the Auc-l; land area with a membership of about <)(>(), and nearly the whole of those members were practically as good in debate as the eight representatives who hrd met that evening. The value of the movement would be thus appre eiated. He felt certain that "before long members of the Young Farmc's Clubs would play no small part ie public affairs'. Had the movement done nothing more than encourage debate among the members ifc had done something worth wh'le. A further step had been taken this year in ■connection with, the debating in that the winners would have an opportunity of debating with other teams in the Auckland province for the Auckland Provincial Championship and the winner of that championship would have an opportunity of debating with i Wellington team for a North Island championship. He hoped to find the Waimana team w r ir. its \vay through to that position. Mr Boss then made a special ap_ peal for farmers and others to get behind the movement and do every, thing possible to foster it. Manv had already taken an active part ir assisting the young farmers, but still more help was needed. He then presented the shield to Mr Wool field, leader of the winning" Waimana team. .Mr Woolfield in thanking Mr Ross for his congratulations, said hi & team would enter for the further debates'; he had indicated, in the full hope that they would meet With the success he predicted. Mr Woolfiekl con' luded by offering his congratulations to the Paengaroa team. Mr Hickson, leader of the Paengaroa team, then congratulated the Waimana team on its victory. The whole of t'>o audience was ! r;n entertained at mipper by the aergmoa Young Farmers' Club, al't-_-r which the hall was cleared for dancing. >UALITY PRINT NG OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS EXECEUTJED PROM. 'TLY. THE BAY OF PLENTY BEACON. PHONE 10.