WORLD ROTARY CONVENTION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28936, 2 July 1959, Page 12

WORLD ROTARY CONVENTION

Impressions Of Mr A.E Cottrell

Mr A. I. Cottrell, the new governor of the South Island district of Rotary, has returned to Christchurch after attending the annual Rotary assembly at Lake Placid in the United States and the Rotary convention in New York: The assembly was attended by about 300 district governors from 110 countries and communities, said Mr Cottrell yesterday. “We were instructed on the aims and functions of Rotary,” he said, “and there were speakers on every aspect of the organisation’s work. There was a wonderful feeling of friendship and cooperation. “The world convention in Madison Square Garden was attended by 1600 Rotarians, and Mr Charles Taylor, of Christchurch, a director of Rotary International, played a leading part. “Some of the leading speakers in the United States were heard at the convention. We heard the authoress. Pearl Buck, the missile expert, Wernher von Braun, Dag Hammarskjold, Rockefeljer and Nixon—all of them wonderful speakers. “Harold Thomas, of Auckland, the first New Zealander to become president of Rotary International, made a great impression there—in fact, I found that New Zealanders are held in high regard in America. That is probably because their troops were here during the war.”

Mr Cottrell was impressed by the friendly atmosphere at the convention.

“It seemed that all international barriers disappeared in that atmosphere of friendship—even among representatives of countries which are not at all friendly to each other. I feel that if more people could get together in this way more often some of the international tensions might disappear.”