ESPERANTO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7936, 9 January 1906, Page 3

ESPERANTO.

The English universities have begun to show a favourable interest in Esperanto, the new language designed for international usage, and especially for commercial purposesProfessor Oscar Browning, one of the least conservative of the great English dons, writes the London correspondent of the Age,' is promoting its introduction at Cambridge, where he wields a very strong influence in modern movements of scholarship. In one of his latest lectures he states that Esperanto is the twenty-eighth language which he has attempted in the course of his long career, andj ho goes so far as to say that in his opinion it is the most useful of all. tie notes its simplicity of construction,and points out that relatively it cannot be said to have any difficulties of pronounciation. It is estimated that about 1,000,000 persons on the Continent and in Great Britain are able to converse and write more or lees accurately in the new language, and the number is increasing at a rate which piomises to assure its permanent success. Jft is now being taught in several commercial schools in this country. Many of the police are learning it voluntarily, and there is some talk of making its study compulsory in the principal city forces. A number of the hotelkeepers in Paris, Berlin and other European cities have Esperantists among their clerks and porlors, aud their example is being followed by some of the railway companies. English, Australian and American firms in their future trade with the East mav find in Esperanto a way of avoiding many of the difficulties of ordinary business intercourse with the Japanese and Chinese. The Japanese, at least, are not likely to overlook the practical advantages of the new language.