have some budding new lawyers in the ranks of its students.

The final debate was held yesterday on the tenth day of the tournament.

The debate centred around a hot topic of great interest to the students themselves with the motion "This House believes that the age for riding auxiliary cycles should be lowered.'' The proposition team, consisting of O'Neil Lindsey, Jennifer Stovell, and Masante Maryam, put forth a convincing -- and ultimately successful -- argument for lowering the age.

O'Neil, speaker for the proposition, argued that lowering the riding age would decrease the number of buses and cars going to schools, thus decreasing traffic jams.

His colleague, Jennifer, suggested that children have faster reflexes that can help them escape accidents.

And Masante said the railway trails should be utilised for the additional bikes, since "no one is really using them for jogging anyway''.

The opposition team, consisting of Shannon Budhu, Kiundal Zuill, and Keilo Govia, offered a persuasive rebuttal.

As speaker for the opposition Shannon argued that "immaturity leads to a lot of accidents'' and he said parents would have less knowledge of their children's whereabouts.

National High School Debate coach Gladstone Thompson pointed out that the rebuttals given by Kiundal and Keilo were particularly noteworthy, since they were both first-year students.

Mr. Thompson said the debates helped to build the self-esteem of the students.

"I am concerned with many Bermudian students who have difficulty in expressing themselves orally, and debating helps them to develop this skill,'' he said.

The students were judged on their content, style and strategy.