STUDY OF ESPERANTO

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 75, 21 December 1929, Page 13

STUDY OF ESPERANTO

NEW ZEALAND CONGRESS

The first New Zealand Congress of Esperantists will take place under the auspices of the New Zealand Esperanto Association, at Wellington, on January 17 and January 18 next. The congress will be attended by club representatives, Universal Esperanto Association delegates, and Esperantists from various parts of the Dominion, who will assemble for the purpose of discussing matters pertaining to the international language movement. The official programme includes business sessions, a public meeting, a sight-seeing tour, and social functions. Universally Esperanto has become firmly established and extremely popular, it is claimed, and the same position obtains in New Zealand, despite the fact that, through the insularity of our country, the language barrier, as existing between nations, is very little considered and rarely, if ever, met here. The language is now being used in interuational correspondence and literary study by many people in the Dominion, no difficulty whatever in communicat-x ing with Esperantists of any overseas country being experienced. The national organisation of Esperantists, the New Zealand Esperanto Association, of which the Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward), Sir Robert Stout, and Sir George FoWlds are patrons, was formed z in January last, and has since gained considerable strength, possessing as it does five affiliated clubs and a large membership enrolled from 72 towns.