ROTARY’S GROWTH

Evening Star, Issue 21965, 27 February 1935, Page 5

ROTARY’S GROWTH

FRIENDSHIP AND GOODWILL CREATED DISTRICT CONFERENCE OPENED [Per United Press Association.] TIMARU, February 27. At the opening of the Rotary Conference this morning, the district governor (Mr J. M. A. Ilott) extended a cordial welcome to delegates from all parts of the dominion. He said that during the year the membership of twenty-two clubs had increased from 1.131 to 1,193. “ Rotary has not discovered new formulas or new principles or ideals for governing men and their relations—its dominant ideals and principles have animated men of goodwill since the beginning of time—but it has given them a new setting," he said. Many Rotarians thought that the famous formula setting out the objects'of Rotary should be restated and, during the conference, the matter would be considered. The conference would also consider . the needs of crippled children. The district governor proceeded to give an account of his stewardship, stating that his long illness had prevented him from carrying out many plans and resolutions. He had found it possible to visit only a limited number of chibs but he hoped to visit most of the others before the new district governor returned from the international conference. He looked back with pleasure on the great experience he had had in meeting Rotary executives at the International Assembly at Vancouver and at the District Convention. He was delighted to find that New Zealand stood so high in the Rotary world and in the esteem of its officers. The visit had brought him many new friends ■ and had extended his views of Rotary’s possibilities, internationally. He paid a, tribute to the assistance given by District Governor Cecil Buchanan, c’f South Africa, officers of Rotary International, and the district Rotarians, during his illness. He also referred to the loss suffered by Rotary in New

I Zealand by the deaths of Sir Georg* Fowlds (first honary commissioner) and District Governor T. C. List, whose memories would long remain. . Referring to the progress of Rotary International, Mr Ilott said that in July, 1924, it had 153,173 members To-day the membership was 155,000. There were 3,726 clubs, of which 2,577 were in North America, The speaker then gave a resume of operations during the past year and expressed pleasure at the growth of inter-city meetings.,. “It is but fifteen years on June 7, since Layton Ralston launched the first Rotary Club in New Zealand, and a day later the late Jim Davidson inaugurated the Auckland Club. From its foundation Rotary has grown and appreciated the efforts of its membership _ and their willingness to help. in service. Let this be our aim and our determination in the years to come. We can only get out of Rotary what we put into it. Rotary’s job is not to reform the world and not to solve th* social problems, but to create friendship and the spirit of goodwill and to help all those of those organisation! that have that end in view.’ POLICE AS SANTA GLAUS " NO CHILD WITHOUT A GUT " German children “ have always admired and respected policemen, but Hamburg ii the first city to dress up the most paternal members of the local force as Santa Claus and send them into the poorest homes laden with gifts for the very poorest of the child population. “No child without a present and- no child without a Christmas tree ” was the national device which was to make “ Folic* Day ” throughout Germany, on December 18,' one of the most memorable in the long list of special efforts in the Winter Help campaign. There was still money needed to make Christmas of 1934 a bigger and better festival for the needy than was th* Christmas of 1933, and’the police, besides collecting very large sums within their own by no means well-paid ranks, demonstrate with their brass bands, their monstrated with their brass bands, their horses. ••• " ■•' v: ■ v -■■ , : In some cities the special effort took the, fom of free seats for a Christmas fairy play, the German ' form of pantomime., for children who had never had the; chance of any s\ioh pleasure in their lives.