WORLD SECRETARY OF ROTARY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26198, 23 August 1950, Page 5

WORLD SECRETARY OF ROTARY

ADDRESS TO CONFERENCE IN TIMARU From Our Own Reporter

TIMARU, August 22. No other organisation in the world had been so successful in maintaining voluntary membership with such an easy exit privilege as had the Rotary Movement, said Mr Philip Lovejoy, secretary of Rotary International, in an address to delegates to the annual district assembly of the 4Cth (New Zealand) Rotary District in Timaru last evening. Mr Lovejoy is on a short visit to New Zealand during a world tour. Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, di4 not conceive that ihe organisation would be international, otherwise it would have spread more quickly, said Mr Lovejoy. Rotary v/as now in all parts of the world, with 7139 clubs in 82 countries, and 342,000 memlers. ‘‘With such a record of voluntary membership, I have often asked myself what is the secret of the appeal of the movement,” he continued. “I was asked this question on two occasions, and I think that the answer is summed up by an old lady wrio said: ‘When Rotary goes into a community. it brings a finer and higher type 'of life to it.’

“With one Rotarian to every 500 head of population, New Zealand has the highest rate of membership in the world, x This membership in Rotary is a - true reflection of the high standard of life enjoyed in New Zealand.”

After the meeting, Mr Lovejoy left for Christchurch. He flew to Wellington early this morning. He will visit Australia, Indonesia, Siam, Egypt. India and several European countries before returning to the United States. The conference of the 40th District of Rotary was held yesterday, and members returned to their homes today.