SCOPE OF ORATORY

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 27, 1 August 1932, Page 8

SCOPE OF ORATORY

PLAGE IX DEMOCRACY

OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH

(By S. R. Quivis.)

The little controversy, about "AVliat is Oratory," the publication in "The Post" of the 1932 Pluuket Medal oration, and the popular broadcast of the address by its authoress, Miss C. S. Forde, may, one hopes,, bo taken as evidence of a' growing revival of interest in what some of the older people are apt to look upon as a lost art. It is perhaps. true that recent developments, social and political have led to a decay of oratory in its traditional sense of impassioned eloquence. Hard facts .of economics, questions of exchange, nionetary'policy unemployment, tariffs, the quota, and the rest of the intricate -and puzzling problems of. the depression do not seem to appeal to our orators; at any rate out of the wilderness of a world distraught there comes not even "the still, small voice" of a prophet with a message. Yet in Teality there never was a greater need and a greater opportunity for oratory. If democracy is to survive the open' or insidious attacks of hosts of foes, if the very liberties of mankind are to be saved from capitulation to the forces of the Left and -the Bight struggling for the mastery, there is need of leaders, and the only way mon may lead a democracy peacefully is by. persuasian through "existing institutions—the platform, the Press the pulpit, Parliament—and now the great amplifying instrument of all of them—the radio broadcast. FUTURE OR FUNERAL? Youth may perhaps justly blame the generation that is now passing for the events of tho" last- twenty years and tho mess into which they have landed the world, but it will be for the youth of this generation to find a way out, if they can, or only too truly, in the cant phrase, it may be their funeral. Therefore the young people of to-day who aspire to-be the leaders of to-mor-row should neglect no means whereby they may qualify for leadership; above all, they should train themselves in oratory—tho art of presenting a case to the public. The importance of oratory in its widest connotation will best be realised by recalling the immense growth of the truly democratic auxiliary to'government—the conference. From the Peace Conference of 1919—-from which we date all out woes-r-to the Lausanne, Geneva, and Ottawa Conferences of to-day or yesterday it has been one long series of-talk's between the statesmen and henchmen of different'natipns in an effort to solve common problems and adjust conflicting interests. Tho League of Nations is designed for that very purpose. It is open to anybody to ridicule the methods and results of conferences, great and small; ,but what is the alternative? Simply the arbitrament of arms, the appeal *to forcewar, political, social, industrial, economic. If war were a complete solution, it might be tolerated, cost what it might, but tho late war proved that it solves nothing and makes everything immeasurably worse. It remains, therefore, for our leaders to make the best use of the means ready to hand, and only if that fails, to think, even for a moment, of more desperate measures. UNIVERSITY AND PUBLIC; Just as college debates and freo discussions may servo as a school' for future conferences^ so formal occasions like the Plunkct Oratory contest should give valuable practice for full-dress platform speaking; but it is pertinent lo point out that all this training is not of much use to the community if it docs not lead to some sort of public service iii-democratic institutions. In. Parliamentary life, for example, the University in. New Zealand has been mainly conspicuous by its absence, to the very serious detriment of both Parliament and University. Mr. Atmoro's appeal to the University colleges to furnish leaders is a perfectly just ono in the opinion of tho general public. It is futile for university men to jibe at the shortcomings of politicians, unless the University man is prepared to do the job himself, or' at least assist in doing it. Happily there arc all the signs of a much keener interest in polities and a disposition to sacrifice much of. the precious leisure of a strenuous student life in the pursuit of a working knowledge of-the questions of the day, to gain facility in debating them and thus qualify for a career in public service. It is as a sincere admirer of the youth of to-day of both sexes that one offers a few suggestions as to oratory— again in its widest sense—not as from a -technical expert or a practical exponent, but rather from the point of view of one of the audience, for it is his hearers generally an orator has to move, not the minority of mere critics. In Plunket Medal oratory competitors are apt to disregard this fact and aim their shafts at the trio of judges to the exclusion of the rest of the audience. This has led in the long run to a sameness in the style of oration which seems to be based on an imitation of successful medal-winning efforts of the past. .Whether this actually pays is open to argument; there is nd doubt at all that it is bad art. A stock oration for all the heroes of history is like a stock suit of one size and pattern for all mankind. Of course, this,stock suit, like Joseph's coat, is' of many colours, full indeed of purple patches, with .embroidery and embellishments, and it may fit one personage, or with a little

dexterous tailoring, a few others, but at the best it disguises tho real man, and at the worst it is a gross offence against intellectual honesty and a fraud on the public. Success with a tour do force of this kind is worse than failure, for it is liable to affect the future career of the "orator" so far as his public usefulness is concerned, for he will find that he cannot "fool the people all the time." As a distinguished critic has said:— Without fundamental brainwork there can be no greatness. Tricks of the surf ace may be learned by any poodle, but without knowledge, sincerity, and a hearty spiritual commitment to'public causes tho crown of oratory, such as it is, is not to be won. . . . The ruling law is that a man must be true to his nature, his facts, and his emotion. ... It may be said in passing that it is the insincerity of Cicero that disfigures his orations, in spite of his prodigious eloquence and mastery of technique, while thn speeches of. the greater Demosthenes ring true to this day. THE ORATOR'S TASK. The point is that the subject should inspire the orator and the orator's task is to convey that inspiration to his audience. The method of approach is important in speech as it is in writing To open with a cloud of words is to leave the audience in a cloud as to what it is all about. With a time limit on a speech this is sheer waste. One good method,, especially where tho chosen character is little known to the general public, is to create a picture in the minds of the audience of the times in which he lived and then to let him emerge as a living figure. Otherwise unreality will prevail throughout. It is in the difficult art of structure that most Plunket orators fall short of the ideal. Probably this is due to lack of practice in this style of composition and intending competitors would find it profitable to try their hand out in several model orations in the interim between contests. After all there is still, after twenty odd years of oraS tions, a choice of fresh characters in history and the scope for treatment is boundless. The thing to do is to break away from standardised methods.

The part played by radio broadcasting in modern life puts a premium on two things:7(l) The necessity for a meticulous preparation of the matter to be put :'' on the air,'' for time. is precious and explanations out of the question; and (2) thorough training in voice-production via the microphone. Only the listener knows how few of thoso who broadcast to-day come near tho'mark in these respects. The leader of to-morrow will know how to ■ make proper use of the broadcast, when he wants his message to reach the homes of the people; his will be the quintessence of oratory, distilled clear, yet fiery in spirit, free alike of the froth and lees of platform rhetoric. There is no short cut to attainment of the mastery of these means of guiding democracy; it is a long and arduous task, but the reward is great." As our authority says:—

It remains to reconstruct the fabric of civilisation on a basis of economic justice and wisdom. That is the task of the twentieth century. ' In approaching it we are in greater peril from littleness than from bigness. We may welt regard with tolerance any evangel, whichj however it may miss the centre of supreme accomplishment, helps to /keep alive the guttered and flickering candles of idealism. . ■ L "'. '