17 FEBRUARY 1912, Page 3

At the first annual dinner of the Agenda Club on

Monday Mr. Owen Seaman, who presided, made a speech which greatly impressed his audience. Mr. Enjiro Yamaza, the Japanese Chargé d'Affaires, spoke of the chivalry of the Samurai. He explained that this chivalry was not confined to the military class, but was displayed in the self-denial, during the Russo-Japanese War, of the civil servants and professors, who accepted half their ordinary salary. Civic heroism and social service are the aims of the Agenda Club, and as an emblem of these things Mr. Yamaza presented to the Club a valuable old Samurai sword of the ninth century. The Head Master of Rugby gave as an example of the spirit which the Club tries to encourage the applause of an under- graduate audience at the suggestion that the finest opportunity for public service was not in the House of Commons but on county, town, and district councils. We sincerely wish the Club good fortune in its attempt to make its practice worthy of the splendid vision to which it owes its existence.