ESPERANTO.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13035, 31 March 1910, Page 4

ESPERANTO.

A COHBESPONDEST writes us inquiring where the local groups for the study of Esperanto meet and whether anything is being done in Wanganui in cdnnection with the cause. So far as we are' aware, there are few if any Esperantists in Wanganui. In this respect we are a little behind the times, as the study of Esperanto is being taken up with enthusiasm in most towns of any size or importance in the colonies. Esperanto has gained the encomiums of many men of distinction. Max Muller placed it “far above its rivals.’* Sir William Bamsay declared that “it is pretty certain an English child could learn- Esperanto in six months so as to be able to read, g-'eak, and write it.” Sir Joseph Ward, who attended an Esperanto Con gress at Home, called it the “Help Language,” and strongly recommends it as an “international language." .It is generally acknowledged that Esperanto is of extreme simplicity, and Count Leo Tolstoi is quoted as having said that he learned it in a few hoars. We suggest our correspondent should himself take steps to form a branch of the Society which has for its object the “creation of a common ground on which the various races of mankind can ueacefully and fraternally mingle without intruding racial differences in any way.”'