White—Colour Or Not?

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30094, 30 March 1963, Page 10

White—Colour Or Not?

“Would you say that whiteness is colour or a colour?” According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary that question was posed by Jowett Apparently it has not been satisfactorily answered yet, judging by the responses to inquirie. by “The Press.” The point was raised by a correspondent in a letter to the editor questioning the award of first prize at a show to a bowl of white flowers in a decorative class for flowers of any one colour. A spokesman for the women's decorative committee of the Canterbury Horticultural Society said none of the authorities seemed to agree on whether white was a colour. Few flowers were pure white for they often had tints such as pink, green, or

cream in the throat or petal and so might qualify to be passed as coloured. At times the society had classes for white arrangements. Mr W. A. Sutton, a senior lecturer at the School of Fine Arts, Canterbury University, said white definitely was a colour, though others disagreed. The correspondent. “Interested,” wrote:— “As a visitor to the Malvern show at Sheffield on Saturday and interested in the usual decorative display at this show, I was surprised to see in the class for a bowl or container of flowers of any one colour, that the judge (Mrs J. Moffitt, of Christchurch) had given first prize tc a bowl of white flowers. I have always thought white was not a colour—could you tell me?”