The Vegetarian World Forum
No. 2 Vol. XI - SUMMER 1957 pp.40-42:

I.V.U. NEWS BULLETIN

WE have been exceedingly busy during the past few months in connection with the Indian Congress, which commences in Bombay on November 9th. After a three-day stay, which will include visiting places of cultural and historical interest, the delegates will fly to Delhi for three days, then fly to Patna for two days, on to Calcutta for two day, and finally to Madras for three days; then return to Bombay.

Some of the friends have decided to make the journey by sea; and a chartered airplane is available to carry twenty-three or twenty-five passengers from London Airport, calling for continental friends at Geneva. The journey by this plane will save approximately £60, the cost being £165 against the normal charge of £225 return. Several people have agreed to go by this chartered plane, and we are now waiting for others to make up the number required. A most marvellous gesture has been made by the All India Reception Committee in deciding free hospitality to all foreign delegates during the period of the Congress.

Several thousands of circulars of one kind and another have been despatched to all quarters of the world, and we are hoping that many more friends will make up their minds to participate in this most wonderful trip to India, and to forward to us at Headquarters the completed questionnaire. Copies of the circulars and the questionnaire will gladly be forwarded by return to anyone writing to the I.V.U. office, 24 Binney Street, London, W.l, for them.

We should like to record the ready help and co-operation given to us by our friend,. Shri J. N. Mankar, the General Organizer of the Congress; and the happy and cordial relations that exist between us.

Our efforts in inviting vegetarian and kindred societies to join the I.V.U. have met with some response, and in cases where the organisations are so small that they cannot afford to pay the stipulated two per cent of the gross annual subscription income or £2 minimum, some have paid One Pound or One Guinea to become affiliated with us: the General Secretary has taken full responsibility in making these arrangements, feeling confident that the Executive Committee will sanction his action. We hope that many more Societies will now become affiliated and help to make the I.V.U. a real force in the world.

We are very pleased to say that we have been successful in enrolling a good number of Individual Members of the I.V.U., and we are expecting many more of our friends, including officers and Vice.Presidents, to join up in this universal appeal. Please send for your application forms at once.

Not only has Headquarters been busy with much correspondence, but many friends have called to see us, including Mr. Erik O. Larsson, of Copenhagen, who is spending some time in England, and later going on to the Indian Congress; Dr. and Mrs. Scott Nearing and Mrs. E. L. M. Jenkins, of U.S.A.; Peter Hoffman of India, on his way to America. Other visitors include Mr. W. A. Sibly, Past-President; Mr. Geoffrey Rudd, Assistant Treasurer; Dr. Douglas Latto ; Mr. Ronald Lightowler, the Secretary of the L.V.S.; several members of this Society's Executive Committee, and many other friends who are keenly interested in the work of the I.V.U.

At the May Meetings of The Vegetarian Society, held in Birmingham, the General Secretary and Mrs. Harris were invited as Guests of Honour, and they met many old friends connected with the vegetarian movement. At the Banquet, we gave a brief outline of the aims and objects of the I.V.U., and also spoke on the Indian Congress, which created much interest, many friends making enquiries about it at the
close.

Mr. Peter J. Smith, proprietor of the Health Food Stores in Scunthorpe, Lines., who is an Individual Member of the I.V.U., started his hitch-hiking trip to many parts of the world in February last, and on May 6th he wrote from the Canary Isles, and hopes soon to be in Nigeria. We have written asking him to call and visit the Nigerian Vegetarian Society in Port Harcourt, and also the West African Vegetarian. Society in Acera, Ghana. All being well, he hopes to arrive in Bombay in time for Congress. He explained to all the people he met that he was a vegetarian, and received respect and consideration from all, especially in the homes to which he was invited. He is making the trek entirely alone, and we all wish him a safe and successful journey.

We should like to make one very important point quite clear to all intending visitors, to the Indian Congress concerning vaccination - travellers returning to this country do not have to be vaccinated - nor do visitors entering India.

HARRY HARRIS
(General Secretary, I.V.U., 24 Binney Street, London, W.1.)

Enquiries concerning the Congress can also be made to the Indian Reception Committee: Mr. J. N. Mankar (General Secretary) c/o The Bombay Humanitarian League, 149 Shroff Bazar, Bombay 2.

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