ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDATION

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27592, 24 February 1955, Page 14

ANNIVERSARY OF FOUNDATION

.WELLINGTON CLUB’S

I CELEBRATION x ’ (New Zealand Free, Association) WELLINGTON, February 23. Speaking at the Wellington Rotary Club*, luncheon to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Rotary Foundation today, the Minister of Education (Mr R. M. Algie) said that Rotary was one of the greatest organisations ever evolved by man for the advancement of human liberty .Special guestsincluded the' Mayor of Wellington (Mr R. L. Macalister) and Mrs Macalister. and members of the diplomatic corps. Sir Alexander Roberts, flint president of the Wellington Rotary Club, which was formed 34 years ago. wore the chain of office Presi ‘ dent (Mr Frank Drewitt). Sir David Ewen, a well-known Wellington businessman, traced the history of Rotary from its foundation in 1805 by Paul Harris, a Chicago lawyer. Since then Rotary had spread to 89 counties, with 400.000 members belonging to 8400 clubs, he said. “Rotary maintains that service is the basis of all worthy enterprise,'* Sir David Ewen said. “That an institution has gone on for 50 years and is still expanding is a mark that it is success“Will there be a hundredth birthday?” asked Mr Algie. • "Will mankind have destroyed itself in the intervening years? We have the power. We had the power in World War II with the germs and poisons we had then. The nations declined to use that power because they were afraid. Will they be afraid to use this new power?”