177 LINGUISTS
SAUNDERS Lewis, founder of Cym- deithas yr laith Gymraeg, the Welsh Lan- guage Society, died last week. One never likes to suggest that a man has lived in vain. But a circular we have just received from a body called Esperanto-Asocio de Britujo arouses unhappy suspicions:
This week is Esperanto Week . . Esperanto is catching on. According to the United Nations eight million people already speak the language. Fifteen schools teach it in Britain and a Lecturer in Esperanto has recently been appointed by the University of Liverpool. The Esperanto Parliamentary Group has become the largest all-party group at Westminster with a membership of 177 MPs . . . Radio Peking broadcasts three half-hour programmes in the international language each day; travel organisations such as the Wales Tourist Board now publish literature for the Esperanto-speaking tourist.
Leave to rest in peace Saunders Lewis, whose memory is so honoured by the Wales Tourist Board. Consider the 177 members of the Esperanto Parliamentary Group. They include Tony Benn, Eldon Griffiths, Roy Hattersley, Joan Maynard, Cecil Parkinson and Dennis Skinner. We do not know what degree of proficiency they have attained in this wonderful ton- gue. But understanding that Esperanto suffers from a dearth of original literature, we offer a prize to the MP who submits to the. Spectator the best original poem in Esperanto. The prize will be one brass farthing.
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