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Hokitika Guardian, 20 August 1927, Page 2

The Competitions now in progress provide the opportunity for excelling in elocution, and in to-day’s and tonight’* programmes there are special sections for examples of oratory. It is as interesting as it is necessary to maintain English, and New Zealanders are credited with speaking good English, pure and hut weakly adulterated. Just now Mr Alexander AYntson is in this country. He is a cultured elocutionist, and is naturally a sound thinker on the subject. For his part, AH Watson, who is a broadminded man. does not find the Australian accent so very dreadful. “T do not object,” he says, ‘-to it any more than T object to the dialect of Yorkshire or Lancashire. What T do object to is. not a national dialect, but a certain casual and slovenly method of speech, in which one word is run into

another, tho vowels sounds are unfinished, and words are slurred. These faults can lie dealt with in the schools; but I think tho schools arc clearing with them in the wrong way, here and in England, in teaching phonetics for the sounds of words, because of its effects upon the spoiling. As a matter of fact, we should l>e bi-lin-gual,” says Mr Watson, “speaking our dialect and our cultured English with equal fluency. I do not see why it should be thought necessary to emphasise the “K” in English either to he thought cultured. One does not pronounce to “on” in Louden as the single words “on” is pronounced. I think that as the years go by people will take a greater interest in speech, and the time may come when as much attention will he paid to the development of file speaking tone as of the singing voice. There is no reason why this should not be done, and a hundred reasons why if should. It would make daily life a groat deal more tolerable for one thing, and rob the loud speaker of half its terrors. The appeal to the eye is before us from the time we are infants, hut the ear could he trained to as delicate a sensibility as the eye. At present all tbc training of tlie ear is from a purely musical .standpoint. There are. for instance. few gramophone records apart from the musical ones, and yet the gramophone could he made a great means of dissemination of education in this matter. The public taste, however, is not in that direction at present, though with the growth of wireless. the value of the trained ear, and with it the trained voice, will he more and more apparent.” He looks forward to the day when voice culture will he as much -a part of the school curriculum as arithmetic. The massive beauty of the vowel sounds are the foundation of tho language in its strength, and tenseness comes from the expression a.s required. During tho present Competitions there will be opportunity to study (Mr Wat son's theory hv those disposed to watch the speakers closely. At all events the opportunity is being afforded for those who care to .study more along lines which must be for t-lieir own improvement as well as their own pleasure. In that direction the Competitions will be uplifting and be. of present and future value to the community. Tho Competitions have now toon launched under very favorable auspices and promise to he very successful from th" histrionic noiiit of view, as well as in other directions 1o lie demonstrated as th.- programmes -are carried out.