DG Howard in Action

Dear Fellows
For reasons best left unexplored I have taken an interest in tracking down the Friendship Tree that Paul Harris planted (reputedly planted?) on the occasion of his visit to Wellington on 15 April 1935.
Paul and Jean Harris arrived in Wellington at 7am Monday 15 April 1935 on the Makura, from Sydney. They were met at the Wharf by a contingent of about 20 Rotarians and then proceeded to a civic reception at the Town Hall hosted by Mayor T C A Hislop. They then went to a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Wellington and Masterton, and were greeted by a representative of the Dickens Fellowship. The meeting was addressed by then District Governor of New Zealand J M A Ilott.
Paul Harris referred to his interest in the writings of Charles Dickens, the Boy Scouts and Salvation Army and congratulated the contributions of “those tight little islands”(Britain)
The Evening Post of Monday, April 15, 1935 reports
"In reply to the welcome, Mr. Harris said it was a very great privilege for anyone to have the opportunity of speaking to such a group. He alluded briefly to his recent visit to Japan and Australia. International good will, said Mr. Harris, must depend upon understanding and the understanding must be general. Reference was made to national feeling and varying customs of the people of different countries. He said that every man who viewed everything as being wrong which could not be measured according to his own yardstick was unwittingly or wittingly doing something against his own country. Rotary was doing its full work in assisting in the spread of good will and better understanding, he said. All we had to do was to communicate a little more freely and fully with other people than we had done in the past.
"If we as Rotarians consider ourselves ambassadors of goodwill, I am sure we will bring about a better and happier day" he remarked. Rotary, he added, had been successful in all countries in which it had been established, for it was based on the solid rock of fellowship.
At the conclusion of his address, Mr. Harris was presented with a carved Maori box such as used by chiefs in the old days in which to keep their treasures."
This must be the Maori box that sits on Paul Harris’ desk to which Linton Adams refers.
The Evening Post reports that the Harris’s left for Christchurch the same day, but the evidence seems to be that they stayed with the Ilott family and travelled to Christchurch with them the next day. Certainly John Ilott is reported as addressing the Christchurch Rotary Club the next day.
Whatever, it does not leave a lot of time for tree planting.
The newspapers of the time, The Dominion and The Evening Post, feature the visit prominently, with a number of posed group photographs, but no tree planting.
Ilott was not “Sir John” at the time, he was knighted in the 1950s.
Any information to track down the elusive Friendship Tree would be appreciated.
 

Yours in Rotary Service

Stephen Brown
Immediate Past-President
Rotary Club of Wellington

Office address only is:-
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Wellington 6011
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