ROTARY FOUNDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22099, 3 May 1935, Page 13

ROTARY FOUNDER

VISIT OF MR. HABRIS WELCOMED TO AUCKLAND V INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL > SCOPE FOR PROMOTION A memorable occasion in the historv of the Rotary movement in Auckland was provided yesterday by the visit of " the founder of Rotary and president emeritus of Rotary International, Mr. Paul P. Harris, of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Harris, who arrived from the South on Wednesday evening, were the guests of honour at a well-attended civic reception in the City Council chamber at noon, 'and Mr. Harris was afterwards entertained at a Rotary CIul: luncheon, at which he was the principal speaker. He met a number of Rotarians individually and tvas taken for a drive later ir. the afternoon. In tho evening Mr.' and Mrs. Harris were the guests of the Dickens Fellowship. They have long been associated with the Chicago branch of the fellowship. . Among the large number at the luncheon were II members of the Whangdrei Rotary Club, who had made the journey specially to be present, and 28 past Rotarians. When Mr. Harris rose to announce himself he was greeted with the singing of "Hullo, you are a friend of mine." The president, Mr. G. Ji- Taylor, took occasion to fine him

half-a-crown ' for having allowed 14 .years to pass before visiting the Auckland Rotary Club. It was stated that the coin would be embedded in the mere wielded by the sergeant-at-arms, with similar coins obtained on past occasions from Lord Nuffield, Lord Jcllicoe, Lord' Bledisloe, Sir Charles Fergusson and Mr. Sydney Paseall. Rotary's Sixth Object Mr. Harris took as the subject of his address the sixth object of .Rotary—the promotion of international goodwill, which he described as the greatest of all problems in Rotary. He had recently seen the view expressed by an Australian writer, he said, that the sixth object was impracticable as far 'as the individual member was concerned unless he happened to be a man who travelled to other countries. Admittedly men who constantly travelled had superlative opportunities to be ambassadors of goodwill. That obligation lay upon every Rotarian, but just how to bring it about was the serious question. Mr. Harris recalled hearing Sir . Norman Angel 1 bid his hearers remember that nations did not go to war with the idea on one side that they were working for the right, and on the other that they were working for the wrong. - Both belligerents felt at all times that they were crusaders in the interests of pence, and they were not conscious of any possible guilt at all. 1 There could be no such thing as goodwill of any particular value unless it was based on understanding. Politicians admitted that they were entirely helpless in cases of emergency unless they had the backing of the people. So it might be fairly concluded that permanent peace must be based on general understanding. That gave Kotarians a- wonderful opportunity to educate along those lines. One-sided Histories Most histories of the past were, entirely ex parte and one-sided, and always tended to glorify the home country, although he thought they were becoming a little different now. Super education in - nationalism had its part in bringing about this attitude of superiority to foreign countries. Mr. Harris told of an American traveller in China who was particularly disgusted by the Chinese custom of placing offerings of food <in the tombs" of ancestors. When he asked an educated Chinese how long he thought it would take a dead Chinese to come up from the grave and eat that food, the Chinese responded, after some thought, that it would probably be about as long as it. would take a dead American to come up and smell the flowers on his grave. In his yoyth the speaker had always regarded the Mexicans as a desperate, murderous, treacherous crowd, and that idea had never quite been dispelled. until his ivife and he had travelled 2000 miles in their country, attended, with delightful hospitality and finding them a kindly, lovable, cultured people. Wherj he expressed disapproval of their bull fighting hg was told that the Mexicans had nothing to compare in brutality with the pugilism of the Americans. It might interest them to know that there was a very definite movement in Mexico at the present time to abolish bull fighting, and a similar movement in Spain, where a Rotarian had bought a huge arena that had been used for centuries for bull fighting and had turned it into an athletic stadium. . Mission of Reconciliation

There were certain .well-intentioned people going about,the world as ambassadors of ill-will without intending it, and there were others who were just natural ambassadors of good-will. This Mr. Harris illustrated by relating several striking incidents of his travels. Throughout its entire history, he said, the Hotarv movement had been reconciling, and bringing together people of diverse faiths and diverse political views, and doing it so successfully that they had not failed anywhere yet. Perhaps the supreme test had been met in India, where the clubs in Calcutta and Bombay were just as successful as those in any other part of the world. In a membership of 20 in Cairo there were 31> different races and eight different religions, and when the char.tc-r was presented to it speeches of acceptance were made in 12 different languages.

ill thanking Mr.. Harris for his addross, for coming to them, and, most of nil, for the gift of Rotary, Mr. J. F. Ewen assured him that his -words would re-kindle in their hearts an enthusiasm for Rotarv and all that it stood for.