ESPERANTO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 December 1940, Page 9

ESPERANTO

AN ANNIVERSARY PARTY. A very enjoyable garden parly, attended by members of the Masterton and Palmerston North Esparanto clubs, was held yesterday afternoon at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. N. Lamont, Masterton. An eminent and worldtravelled Esperantist, Dr. F. J. Williams. Director of Medical Services in Papua, who is on furlough, was also present. The gathering was arranged to celebrate the anniversaries of the birthday of the creator of Esparanto, the late Dr. L. L. Zamenhof, of Warsaw, and of the presentation of Esperanto as an international language to the world on December 17, 1878. The president of the Masterton Club, Mr. A. G. Wiltshire, extended a hearty welcome to the visitors and referred to the activities of the local body which had just concluded a very successful year’s operations. Although small, the club was one of the vast number which comprises the movement today. Mr. H. E. Facer, Palmerston North club president, replied on behalf of the visitors.

In a most illuminating and interesting address, Dr. Williams related at length many of his personal experiences as an Esperantist in Australia, North Borneo, China, Papua, Egypt, U.S.A., and in a number of European countries, notably England, Germany, Poland and Finland. Fie had found Esperanto to be of tremendous value and advantage, as Esperantists had been met in all places he had visited. As he invariably wore the Esperanto emblem (a green star), many nationals had approached him during his visits to their respective countries. Dr. Williams said he had attended several medical conferences and had been early impressed with the prodigious waste of time as a result of the use of several national languages, but :.t the jubilee congress of Esperanto at Warsaw (1937), with Esperantists from over 40 nations assembled, he saw clearly, by practical demonstration, how the language barrier could be ab sohitely broken down by the employment of Esperanto. He stressed the value of the tongue as a medium for all forms of international contacts and stated that during his seven years’ sojourn on the isolated island of Samari —with an area of only 68 acres —Esperanto correspondence nad proved a Godsend to him. Dr. Williams waruiiy congratulated New Zealand Esperantists on the great progress made in the dissemination of the tongue in the Dominion. New Zealand achievements he had on numerous occasions, cited abroad as an example to others of what can be done when men and women worked with a heart and will for the international language. He hoped to meet many Dominion Esperantists at the 11th New Zealand Congress to be held at Wanganui at the New Year. A photographic record of the gathering was made by Mr. Lamont; and afternoon tea was served by a ladies’ committee, a special vote of thanks being extended to the vice-president, Mrs. J. McNab, who had made and donated a Christmas cake specially decorated for the occasion.