12.07.2015 Views

TESTING TOP PEOPLE - Trinity News Archive

TESTING TOP PEOPLE - Trinity News Archive

TESTING TOP PEOPLE - Trinity News Archive

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS
  • No tags were found...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

2 TRINITY NEWS February 13, 1958TRINITY NEWS3 <strong>Trinity</strong> CollegeChairman :J. T. KILLENVice-Chairman :J. KAMINSKIEditors:T. D. ROSE, N. TOLSTOY, C, KERRBusiness Managers:g. A. LUTTON, P. VAUGHAN, M. RIGGSP. J. CHAUVEAU, R. KENNEDYSecretary: MISS H. LASKEYVol. V TRINITY NEWS No. 8THURSDAY, lSTH FEBRUARY, 1958Money Maketh ManALTHOUGH statistics aregenerally regarded as the bestfriend of the politician in dimculties,they frequently, nevertheless,serve to throw into sharp reliefsome problem which previouslywas enshrouded in billowing mistsof vagueness. When the questionof, for example, the extent of Stateaid for higher education in Irelandis discussed, it is comforting tofind refuge in some generalisationabout Ireland being a poor country,but .despite that she is leaving nostone unturned . . . and so on foras long as one cares to continuethis wretched sort of stuff. If oneturns, however, to statistics, oneis likely to undergo the salutaryexperience of being shocked out ofone’s complacency on this matter.Latest available figures, for instance,show that of 6,917 Irishmen and women being educated atuniversities in this country, only327, or four per cent., receive Stateor local government aid. Apartfrom the appalling fact that onlyten per cent. of the populationobtain even a secondary education,it seems quite ludicrous that thebest educational facilities in thecountry should be available verylargely to those with sufficientwealth to allow them to avail ofthese facilities.In other European countries,notably Sweden and Great Britain,the able boy who comes from apoor family has at least a fairchance of gaining a universityeducation. Critics may comparethe resources of this country withthose of the countries mentionedabove, and claim that not:hingfurther could be done. But whatefforts have been made recently bypublic figures to even examine thisquestion ? With a few honourableexceptions, apathy seems to be therecurrent theme as far as this par-mticular problem is concerned.<strong>Trinity</strong> has recently made awelcome step in the right directionby enlarging the number and valueof entrance scholarships; yetdespite the generosity of <strong>Trinity</strong>’sawards, it would be virtually impossiblefor any except the firstfew scholars each year to exist onthem alone. State and local governmentaid should supplementuniversity awards. Even if one isnot a rabid Socialist, one cannotavoid being angered that thepresent situation should be allowedto continue. It is almost impossibleto imagine how real progress cancome to Ireland as long as men ofhigh intellectual ability are forced,through lack of education, to seekmanual labour in Britain and elsewhere.The Editorial Board do not accept ally responsibilityfor views expressed by correspondents.All copy intended for publication must beaccompanied by the name of the contributor evenif this is not for publication.<strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>News</strong> welcomes news items, correspondenceand articles, which should be sent toTRINITY NEWS, 8 TRINITY COLLEGE, Allsuch items should be typed, or written legibly, onone side of the paper only.For advertising space in this newspaper applythe Advertising" Manager, TRINITY NEWS, 3TRINITY COLLEGE.Photographs taken by the Staff Photographermay be obtained post free from T H EPHOTOGRAPHER. T R I N I T Y NEWS, STRINITY COLLEGE.Profile :J. O. OLADITAN, Captain of AthleticsJohn Oladipo Oladitan was born in it is on the athletics’ field that he has]llbadan, Nigeria, in 1930, and finished bee~. c~asistently outstandi}~g., ......mls nrs~ year in Ene 2A_LilleElC LAUD,I] college there 19 years later. For the four~competing in+the 100 yards, long jumpyears which he spent in Nigeria afterthis, he held the job of a GovernmentCo-op. Inspector, after which he came toIreland, and entered <strong>Trinity</strong> in 1955,and high jump, he set such a highstandard that next season he wasawarded his "pink." He was Collegechampion in the high and long jumps in1954 and 1955; was third in the Universities’Athletic Union Championships in1955, and also a member of <strong>Trinity</strong>’steam which won the Eire 4 x 110 yardsrelay championship in that year. Lastyear, coming back on to the scene again,his great triumph was winning theUniversities’ A.U. long jump championshipheld at Reading. His genial persenalityand gift for organisation hasalready made him a very popular andefficient captain of the Athletic Club for1958. It is hoped that he may competein the long jump for Nigeria in thisyear’s Empire Games in Cardiff.Oladipo, often seen traversing FrontSquare between No. 30 and Front Gate,is noted for his immaculate and colourfuldress, from bow-tie and Londontailoredsports jacket to his brownsuede shoes. He appreciates classicalmusic, but is particularly fond of jazzand calypso, as is evident by the gramophonepick-up and records in his roams;he also enjoys dancing as a relaxation.His flair for organisation appearsagain in his having been Secretary of the, Nigerian Social Union in Ireland in 1955.But his main interest is in politics, whichembarking upon an Honors course in may well turn out to be his futureHistory. Excepting a year’s inter- career. T.o cap all his previous achieveruptionon account of illness, he has ments in College, he became engaged income through to this, his final year, December of last year to Miss Franceswithout faltering. For his first two Akinsete, a second year Natural Scienceyears he was an active and successful student. We wish him the best of luckme’tuber of the Philosophical Society, but for a most promising future.I was There--I,t was with some trepidation that Iarrived at No. 6 on Monday afternoon toreport o.n the Liz. debate on the motion" That to-day women are cats and menare mice." Apart from the difficultiesinvolved in arriving at suitable criteriafor judging an all-female debate, theprospect of being held up to scorn asbeing the mouse par excellence was notexactly inviting.Having been plied liberally with teaand buns by anxious committeemembers, I made my way to the roomwhere the debate was to take place.The decor and furniture here combinedto create a pleasant drawing-roomatmosphere, which, while possiblytaking form the cut and thrust of debate,evidently seemed to encourage some ofthe best impromptu speeches from" thefloor that I have heard for some time.Miss S. Butler led for the proposith~n,and despite the somewhat unfortunateinitial impression give,n by her formidablelooking script, she did contriveto be suitably frivolous, and displayedconsiderable erudition on the subject ofartificial finger-nails. She was followedby Miss J. Phelps, whose speech againstthe motion was in many ways a curiousperfor’mance. Her description of middleagedladies in beauty parlours, and herdevastating analysis of the reasons for"cattiness " in elderly people were forme quite spine-chilling; on the otherhand, her examples of men who werenot mice ranged from breathtakinghilarity from President Eisenhower toTommy Steele.Miss P. Minshull was next to Speak,and turned in what was p.ossibly the bestperformance of the afternoon. I foundher descriptions of woman’s methods ofensnaring man quite fascinating, and herability in presenting her facts was quiteoutstanding. Possibly here again therewas a little too much reliance on thescript, especially in the early stages, butgenerally this was a highly creditableeffort.WITCHCRAFT ?The Auditor, Mr. F. C. Young (Sch.),in his paper to the MetaphysicalSociety, said that Radiaesthesia waspractised as early as 2000 B.C. It was,he maintained, a latent faculty possessedby most people and capable of developmentin approximately 80 per cent. ofmankind. It consists of the ability toreceive rays and waves, which are transmittedthrough one’s muscles to aninstrument known as a pendulum. Thependulum can be of any size and shapeand of any material, provided it is a n.onconductorof electricity, black being themost suitable colour, and it should besuspended by a thread of gut or nylon.Practice is essential, and one’s mentalcondition and attitude to the experimentare very important. Since all objects,animate and inanimate, give off radiations,one should imagine oneself asbeing super sensitive. It was, therefore,most important for the operator to bein symuathy with the idea, and for theexperiments to be carried out in a quiet,uncluttered room.He made a plea to his audience totreat Radiaesthesia as a serious subject.Although it cann.ot tell the future, it canMiss R. Plunkett, despite being a lastminutesubstitute, contrived to make oneor two interesting remarks before thedebate was thrown open to the house.The quality of the floor speeches hasalready been .noted. The orators of theHist. and Phil. could have benefitedconsiderably fr.om the example providedhere: G.M.B. speakers as a rule seemto me unwilling to stand up, make asingle point, and sit down again. Thisis understanable in one way, of course.The formulae for address at Hist. andPhil. meetings are so extended that itmight appear ludicrous that more thanhalf of one’s speech should be devotedto preliminary invocations.Miss E. Howe was the first of thespeakers on the floor. Her faintlyaggressive manner leant force to herconvincing tirade against male cowardicewhen faced with the interesting task ofdismissing a.n alcoholic gardener.Miss V. Cole and Miss C. Challen alsoprovided creditable speeches; again, bothperformed without the aid of notes.Miss Watchuku, too, must be mentionedfor her interesting description ofwoman’s status in Africa. For me, however,the gem of the afternoon camein Miss D. Skerrett’s .oration in whichshe gave a colourful vignette of malesin dance halls.Miss J. Lloyd, the Liz. President, whohad handled the debate effectively,summed up before putting the motionto the house. The final result was thatthe motion was defeated by 17 votes to14. Although no world-shaking complicationsare expected to result from thisdebate, it was at least entertaining. Itis refreshing to see that in one ,majorsociety the vast majority of speakers donot take either themselves or the motiontoo seriously. There is always a danger,one feels, that the accusation may belevelled against the Hist. and Phil. that,as has been said about the CambridgeUnion, they are among the finest collectionsin the country of old men undertwenty-five.give ,much useful information concerningthe past and present--informationoften inaccessible by more orthodoxmeans. In recent years it has beenapplied with great success to food, forthe testing of whether a certain food issuitable for a particular person; to agriculture,for testing whether a harmonyexists between various plants anddifferent types of soil, and betweenvarious plants and different types offertilisers; in medicine, for testingwhether a particular organ is healthy ornot.He also spoke of Teleradiaesthesia.This, he said, was the receiving ofanswers to various questions, but it wasnot infallible since an experiencedoperator can will the pendulum to actaccording to his will.He finished by stating that precognition,clairvoyance and telepathy do infact exist, basing his claim partly onteleradiaesthesia and partly on the newtheory of the universe, which is in turnbased on the new theory of atoms. Hisaudience appeared somewhat bewilderedby all they had heard, although a fewof them seemed prepared to accept thatthere might be something in it!I Lettersto the Editor IJABUSES MUST S<strong>TOP</strong>Dear Sir,--It is heartening to read, inthe current issue of " <strong>Trinity</strong> <strong>News</strong>," ofyour efforts to assist in the hunt for,and eventual liquidation of, " guests "~invited and otherwise--who flatter theBuffet with their presence.Surely this .necessity to take stepsto eliminate these under-nourished" foreigners " is but another illustrationof the greater necessity for a form ofpersonal identification of each genuine,living specimen of the type of organismnormally pr.owling in <strong>Trinity</strong> i.n the pursuitof the Arts and/or the opposite sex.The suggestion that the production,upon demand, of the receipt for the £5capitation levy should be the acceptedform of self-identification in the Buffetis wholly unacceptable, if for no otherreason than that it conjures up visionsof vast fili~g-cabinets and portablesecretaries built into un-subdued waistcoatsso as to stock and deliver up themultitudinous receipts, forms, declarations,certificates and sworn testimoniesthat will surely become necessary if thisembryonic Orwellism is permitted totake root; in time it will have becomenecessary to possess Honors privileges inorder to take dessert.A far less painful--and long overdue~expedient would be to issue eachundergrad with a personal card bearinghis or her name, address, pursuit(academic, that is!), College standing,signature and photograph. Not onlywould such a system make it imnossibhfor alien elements to feast at <strong>Trinity</strong>,but it would also fulfill the real need forsome form of student-card which ariseswhen one has to deal with bodies, toquote one examMe, such as the ItalianMinistry of l.nstruction ~nd Fine Arts inconnection with visits to art galleries,museums, etc. The inroduction of suchcards with their many uses woulclamount to nothing short of massacrewith one stone !--Yours truly,P. P. Mannion.College Historical Society.10th February, 1958.Dear Sir, -- Regarding the Buffetservice and its abuse by students notregistered at this University, it hasoccurred to me that a system ofadmission cards should be used with adefinite advantage to the studentsbelonging to <strong>Trinity</strong>.With this I propose that one card foreach term, like a season ticket, be issuedto students who have their names on theCollege books. This card should be indicatedwith a dated space for everyweek-day in the term. Before admissionto the Dining Hall the valid datedportion should be punched or cut awayby a person so entitled. By thismethod only one " Trixdty student meal"per day is possible, and would thusautomatically exclude personae nongratae. When enforced clipping ispractical till 2 p.m. only, or earlier, noinconvenience would be caused to paststudents or others, and at that timethere is no rush anyway.Thor Dahl.February 10, 1958.Archaeology and theScientistix ~1Itli01:h1]t:t~C.O:tlI,bcdcf~fre~Hhitrfi.WlpaSI~paexL:TrgroldeptLast week’s meeting of D.U.E.SA.namhighlighted the " artistic science " dclas~archaeology, when Mr. J. R. a~ actbGoulden read his most instructiveMit(absorbing paper to the Association. ~ actiThe archaeologist or detective of prehistory attempted to throw light on themysteries of man’s life in the unrecorddpast. To this end he relies implicitlythe specialised knowledge of scientistsin various fields--the geologist for thediagn.osis of the original site of a clayfound in a fragment of nottery, thechemist for an analysis, for’example, ofa bronze vessel; the physicist for datinga site, using the rate of decay of theradioactive carbon isotope C14; this iscarried out in conjunction with thebota.nist who can correlate sites bYexamining the carbon containing polle~grains present, since these do not decompose with age as do the softer partsof the flora. There is interest for thezoologist and anatomist in the study o~bones. In the particular case of thewell-preserved Egyptian mummies, signshave been found of diseases in the boneS.--for instances, some of the E~:vptia~were found to have suffered badly fro~ Varthritis. In other cases, vario~surgical operations have been formwhich indicate the amazing advan,emenof medicine in Egypt at that time ~. T/asonly hindering scientists, Mr. Gould.e~observed, are the agriculturalists wl~0succeed in destroying much valuablearchaeological evidence und e rpl~ughlaat it relies so much on science,headhfact,archaeology c an be clasmfied ~ only" scientific deduction Theresense of the word, ioweIv nr. thet an.n0!st~ as ev~be termed a science, alt oand laymen alike find h°l~eghlnatlonSmentl~’~g~t"Cn~’S~a garenjoyment in the subject as a pastir~’:

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!