ESPERANTO

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 272, 7 February 1928, Page 12

ESPERANTO

A WORLD CONGRESS INTERESTED IN AUSTRALIA That the world is moving towards a definite acceptance of Esperanto as the international language, is the view of Mr. J. G. Pyke, president of the Melbourne Esperanto Club. Mr. Pyke has just returned from the International Esperanto Congress, which was held in Danzig during August. It was a jubilee congress and commemorated the publication, 40 years ago, of the first book on Esperanto. Over 1,000 delegates, representing 35 nations, were present, and the proceedings were conducted entirely in Esperanto. Mr. Pyke stated that a summer university, in conjunction with the congress, was also held, and lectures, dealing mainly with international con\munication, were given by university professors from various countries. Not the least outstanding was one by a Japanese professor on “Air Research.” Danzig, which is a free city under the League of Nations, made special preparations to receive the delegates, and leading newspapers printed a special section of international news in Esperanto. Delegates were entertained in the historic Senate of the city. “Everywhere I went in Europe, I found people intensely interested in Australia,” said Mr. Pyke. “I met Dr. Van Hamel, the representative of the League of Nations, at a garden party given to the congress representatives. He was very interested in our country, and said that he had intended coming here, but had been prevented from doing so by the war. At Lamenhof's Tomb “After congress a pilgrimage was made to Warsaw, Poland, to visit the tomb of Lamenhof, the author of Esperanto. I placed a wreath in the shape of th© Australian continent on his tomb, and was the first of a number of speakers to address the crowd assembled around the graveside* “At a cottage in Braliptok, the township in which he was born, a special tablet was unveiled, and people flocked from all parts of the countryside for the ceremony.” Esperanto was spreading rapidly throughout Europe, Mr. Pyke stated. Remarkably large numbers of peasantry were speaking the international language quite fluently. In Rumania more than six languages were in daily use, and the people generally were seeking th© establishment of a sal language. Turkish Girls’ Liberty “The old European countries are moving with the times,” said Mr. Pyke. “In Constantinople women are no longer relegated to obscurity. The girls I saw in the streets might have come from Melbourne, with their bobbed hair, short skirts, and their free uneonventiality. At Athens I was shown th© Acropolis by a handsome young Greek in Oxford bags! “I could not manage to get into Russia, but met a very interesting personage—a Japanese professor, Ha-Zine Asada, of the University of Nagasaki —who did. He told me that Moscow is very advanced in matters pertaining to medicine and health. At Leningrad criminal and penal reform have reached very high standards of efficiency,” he added. “The Northern European countries —Norway, Sweden and Finland—are vastly different from the southern. There the people appear to be quieter and restrained. Poverty and misery are the characteristics of Poland and Turkey. In Rumania wages are very small and the working hours very long.”