ESPERANTO PARTY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 104, 26 January 1939, Page 4

ESPERANTO PARTY

■ i Many Distinguished Guests

A cosmopolitan atmosphere was a feature of an evening given by Mr. and Mrs. Edgar A. Hornblow at their home in Hataltai, to welcome Professor Ferenc Hugai, of Gyongos, Hungary, and Mr. Erwin Bernfeld, of Vienna, Austria, both of whom have just arrived, in New Zealand. Six nationalities were represented, and the guests were warned as they arrived that Esperanto only must be used in conversation, not a difficult rule to observe as all present were experts in the use of the international auxiliary language.

In welcoming the guests, Mr. Hornblow said that the occasion was unique, in that gathered under one roof were such famous Esperantists as Sro. E. Lanti, France, author, lexicographer and founder of the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, numbering many thousands of members; Sro. J. Major, Hungary, ■ editor of several Esperanto newspapers in Japan, grammarian, and lecturer in Esperanto, Japanese, French and English; ’Prof.' Hugai, director of a school of languages in Hungary, lecturer in ethnology, and for many years Esperanto consul for Gyongyos; >Sro. E. Bernfeld, Vienne, for twelve years chief consul for Esperanto in Austria; Sro. B. Potts, president of the Miramar Esperanto Society; and Sro. V. Leek, chief Esperanto consul for New Zealand. In replying, the overseas visitors all expressed their satisfaction at the progress the’ movement had made in this most remote country from the Esperanto centre in London, more particularly as New Zealand had not experienced the friction and distrust engendered between neighbouring countries over the frontiers owing to the lack of a common tongue. Novelty competitions in Esperanto and games ended a most interesting and successful evening.