STUDENT MOVEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 48, 26 February 1929, Page 5

STUDENT MOVEMENT.

FEDERATION WORKER RETURNS.

FOUR YEARS ABROAD.

COLLEAGUE OF DR. MOTT,

Few men are more generally known ! among students m New Zealand and ! Australia than Mr. T. M. Haslett, of 5 the World Student Christian Federation, i an o.d boy of Auckland Grammar School. | who returned this morning after four i years' abroad. ; ILr. Haslett, who is accompanied bv his wife, a _ Swiss-French lady, has | returned to visit his mother and re- ! latives in Auckland. Three of his four j years abroad have been spent at Geneva. ' which is the headquarters of the World j Student Christian Federation. The other year was spent in China and other ! countries, Mr. Haslett was in Shanghai j when that city was attacked by Nation- ! alist troops. In the interest- of the ! federation he travelled across Russia to Moscow. After a month's say in New Zealand Mr. Haslett will return to Shanghai to take up Y.M.C.A work in that city. Prior to his departure from New Zealand, four years ago, Mr. Haslett was director of Boys' Gordon Hall, the junior department of the Y.M.C.A, Christchurch. He was a man of wide interests, and held the position of national general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation m Australia and New Zealand. During a visit to Geneva he met the celebrated Dr. John R. Mott —who visited Auckland in 19-26—and the fact that ilr. Haslett was a specialist in work of the kind carried, on by the federation prompted the doctor to" offer him a position on the headquarters staff. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Haslett was entrusted with the task of organising an international conference of j students. 1 It was proposed to hold this conference in China. Mr. Haslett made arrangements up to a point, when it was decided for international reasons it would not be, expedient to hold the conference in China. The venue was altered to Honolulu, and Mr. Haslett set himself to rearrange the plans. Unhappily, international relationships intervened again, making it to hold the conference at the world-famous American tourist resort, and the great gathering was further postponed. Mr. Haslett was educated at Auckland Grammar School, and later went to Otago University, where he obtained his Master of Arts degree. Later he went to the United States, and studied at Oberlin University College. Ohio. During his stay there war was declared, and Mr. Haslett made all speed for England, where he joined' an artillery unit. After service as an officer in France, Mr. Haslett was transferred to the Royal Air Force. He did a good deal of flying in Franc© till a bad crash put an end to his career in the air. On his return to New Zealand, Mr. Haslett joined the . national staff of the Y.M.C.A. movement.