Five Years A Rotarian: Survey By District Head

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23196, 7 March 1950, Page 4

Five Years A Rotarian: Survey By District Head

'X’HE impressions of a Rotarian who rose from the ranks in five years to the district governor were told to members of the Gisborne Rotary Club at their luncheon yesterday by Dr. W. Gordon, Hawera, the district governor. Dr. Gordon was introduced to members by the president of the Gisborne club, Mr. R. McGlashen.

Dealing with Rotary from its international aspect, Dr. Gordon said there were 7000 Rotary clubs throughout the world in 81 areas, and there were 330,044 Rotarians. He had paid a visit to the headquarters of Rotary International in Chicago, and had found the same set-up there as in the clubs. Many had said, not only in New Zealand, that the magazine Rotarian was too American and, in answer to that, Dr. Gordon told Gisborne Rotarians he had met the editor of that magazine. That man, he said, was trying to produce a magazine to please 60 different areas in the world and 90 per cent, of his revenue came from America.

Because of the trend of international events and the importance of America’s help in the Pacific. Dr. Gordon suggested it would not be a bad thing for folk in the southern hemisphere to get to know and appreciate the American point of view. Went to "School” For Eight Days Rotary International conducted the assembly at Lake Placid, New York State, where 186 district governors were taken to school for eight days. The organisation took over the Lake Placid Club and 500 people connected with Rotary slept there during the course of the assembly. Dr. Gordon explained that the assembly was conducted in three languages, with one unofficial language, Australian. The majority of the speeches were in English but, there as in the United Nations, they had a service of instantaneous translation. When a man was giving an address in Spanish, Dr. Gordon found he had only to pick up a set of headphones with a battery attached, twist an appropriate dial and listen to the speech in English. He found two visual demonstrations most interesting. The first was entitled "informing a new member.” Dr. Gordon impressed on members the need for informing a new member so that he did not enter the ranks of Rotary blindfolded. A member had to know it was necessary to have an attenadnce record, that it would cost him something and that it was a movement whose motto was service. There were four channels of service into which he could direct his efforts, and if he was not prepared to give that service there was no place for him in Rotary.

The second visual demonstration concerned the Rotary foundation fellowship. He was pleased to learn that Gisborne Rotarians were 100 per cent, contributors to the fund. In that demonstration there was a Dane, a Welshman, a New South Welshman and an American, and they gave their views on the importance of fellowship and how they had been hospitably treated by Rotarians in other lands than their own. District Governor’s Assembly Dr. Gordon stressed the importance of the district governor’s assembly, during which the district governor attempted in one and a half days to impart to presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries all he had been taught in eight days at the international assembly. It was obligatory for the senior officers of clubs to attend, he said. The convention had been conducted in Madison Square Gardens, he continued, and there were 16,000 registrations. It was similar in form to the annual conference at Rotorua on April 11, 12, and 13 of this year. Rotarians and their wives attended. It was a convention where all classifications were given an opportunity to meet.

For instance, he said, 50 or 60 doctors met at the Waldorf Astoria. As soon as they found he was a New Zealander, Dr. Gordon was asked to give an impromptu talk on “socialised medicine in New Zealand.”

Speaking as a New Zealand-born Rotarian who had now visited 41 clubs, Dr. Gordon referred to the area he presided over as being essentially a rural community. Two-thirds of the Rotarians in the district lived in the country, and New Zealand was “the most Rotarised district in the world.” The Dominion had more Rotarians per head of population than any other country, he explained. Service Through Fellowship

It was difficult to say what was the effect of Rotary in New Zealand. He believed it was filling a real place in providing a channel for individual service that was not there before. There was a channel for businessmen and professional men to do service through fellowship. There was a medium for the exchange of business relations and international problems, and Rotary did give an opportunity to individuals and groups to do community service. “I seem to see an organisation endeavouring, however imperfectly, to carry out the real functions of democracy, that is, the individual accepting freely, not by compulsion, his responsibilities to the community,” continued Dr. Gordon. “We are all proud of our privileges: are we so keen on our responsibilities? It all comes back to the individual. Its effectiveness depends on the individual Rotarian.” The thanks of Gisborne Rotarians for an interesting and inspiring address were voiced by Mr. McGlashan.