| BOOKS
Broadening
Horizons by John E.
Watson. 123 pp, Rotary Club of Wellington, N.Z.
Launched
in Wellington, N.Z., Broadening Horizons summarises the people
who have represented the six New Zealand-based Districts of
Rotary International in Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams and
as Ambassadorial Scholars and other The
Rotary Foundation'' award categories. This in itself is a first-class
piece of social history and author John Watson is to be
commended for the massive work he put into the enterprise.
Broadening
Horizons was financed by a trust fund from the Rotary Club of
Wellington. I must commend this club and the decision to support
the recording of the people who received the awards via The
Rotary Foundation.
Within
Rotary we must encourage colleagues to record our history in
a logical and correct way that will be available as evidence
of our service.
John Watson has documented the early stages of GSE which began
in New Zealand as an idea in 1950 as the Rotary Overseas Travel
Awards (ROTA). Speaker of the House of Representatives of New
Zealand Parliament, Jonathan Hunt, MP, was a member of the 1963-64
ROTA team and he hosted the book launch. His sponsor club was
the Rotary Club of New Lynn. He commented very positively on
the influence Rotary had on his commitment to public service.
John
Watson is a proud member of the Rotary Club of Wellington and
a well-respected researcher in several fields. He was an Ambassadorial
Scholar in 1950/51, one of the 245 former scholars listed.
In addition, John has listed all the Group Study Exchange team
members, volunteers, grantees for University Teacher awards
and more. He also lists those people who came to New Zealand
from other countries under The Rotary Foundation programs.
More
than lists, the author has compiled study discipline areas and
country and where known, just where each award person now resides.
John
Watson has placed pertinent commentaries within the directory
that summarise all our great programs. His insights should be
studied by those who enjoy Rotary and value its goals. This
book is invaluable as a source of speakers, as a source of prospective
Rotarians and as a very practical illustration of the investment
in New Zealand made by The Rotary Foundation.
It also shows clearly that The Rotary Foundation works with
local people to pursue world-wide goals of peace through education
and interaction between peoples across a very wide set of vocations.
This book is a proud record of New Zealand commitment over 50
years and I trust it will have regular supplements to keep it
up-to-date and so keep the story fresh. – R.I. Director
2002-04 John G. Thorne.
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A
company chairman was given a ticket for a performance of Schubert’s
Unfinished Symphony. Being unable to go, he passed the invitation
to his time and management co-ordinator.
Next
day, when the chairman asked how he had enjoyed it, he was handed
a memorandum which read: “ For a considerable period, the
oboe players had nothing to do. Their number should be reduced
and their work spread over the whole orchestra, thus avoiding
peaks of inactivity.
“All
12 violins were playing identical notes. This seems unnecessary
duplication and this section should be drastically cut. If a large
volume of sound is really required, this could be obtained through
the use of an amplifier.
“Much
effort was involved in playing the demi-semiquavers. This seems
an excessive refinement, and it is recommended that all notes
should be rounded up to the nearest semiquaver. If this were done,
it should be possible to use trainees instead of craftsmen. No
useful purpose is served by repeating with horns the passage that
has already been handled by the strings. If all such redundant
passages were eliminated, the concert could be reduced from two
hours to 20 minutes.
“In
light of the above, one can only conclude that had Schubert given
attention to these matters, he would probably have had the time
to finish his symphony.’’
WETHERILL PARK, N.S.W.
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A football
coach hears of a potential recruit in a war-torn country so he and
some of the club’s board fly there. They dodge shot and shell to
arrive at the boy’s ransacked village to see him kick a ball and
run around.
He looks
the goods so they sign him up and return to Australia. The new player
does well in the lead-up games and is selected on the bench in the opening
match.
Only a short time into the game the star player is injured and the coach
decides to send on the newcomer.
Within
minutes he changes the game, booting goals from anywhere and taking
some glorious marks.
The newcomer
is chaired from the field by the other team members and the coach tells
the other players what he has been through in his young life. The coach:
“Son, go into my office and telephone your mother. Tell her what
you have done today.’’
The newcomer rings his mother and says: “Hello, mum, guess what
I did today?’’
Mum snaps back: “I do not care what you did today. I will tell
you what happened here today. Your dad has been stabbed and robbed,
your sister has been assaulted, our house torched and our car blown
up. Your brother is missing too.’’
“Gee,’’
said the footballer. “I feel a bit responsible for what has happened.’’
Said mum: “So you should be. If it was not for you and your football
we would never have shifted to Australia.’’
WOLLUNDRY-WAGGA WAGGA, N.S.W.
A teenager
passed his driving licence test and asked his father if he could
use the family car.The father agreed on the conditions that his son
study the Holy Bible, work hard at school and get his hair cut.The son
asked again in a month about use of the car.
Dad said: “I am proud of you, son. You have studied the Holy Bible
and toiled away at school, but you have not had your hair cut.’’
The son responded that in his readings he had found that Samson, Moses
and Noah all had long hair. So did Jesus.
“That’s very true,’’ said the father. “And
they walked everywhere.’’
HINDMARSH, S.A.
An American
wanted to write a book about churches around the world and decided
to begin with countries beginning with A. He arrived in Australia in
Perth and was gathering information and photographs in a church when
he noticed a golden telephone with the sign “calls $10, 000 each.’’
He asked the church staff what it meant and was told the telephone was
a direct line to Heaven.
He visited all the mainland capitals, saw the same style of telephone
in churches with the same message and got the same explanation.
On arriving in Hobart he continued his work, but found the golden telephone
had a notice which said the calls were 10 cents each.
Excited by this find, he found a worshipper and said: “I have been
all over mainland Australia and the price on these golden telephones
is $10,000. Why is it only 10 cents here?’’
The worshipper answered: “Cobber, you are in Tasmania now and it’s
a local call.’’
CHESTER HILL, N.S.W.
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