CHRISTIAN ETHICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 285, 1 December 1936, Page 5

CHRISTIAN ETHICS.

ABOVE NATIVE MIND.

MISSIONARIES v CRITICISED.

POSITION IN NEW GUINEA.

"I don't think the missionaries in I New Guinea serve any useful purpose,"| was the blunt reply of Mr. A. R. Priebe, a planter of New Guinea, in reply to a question by a "Star-Sun" reporter. They wished to bring about reforms too, quickly and too peremptorily, he said.j whereas the native mind could not comprehend them

That was not the only difficulty. Under the Australian mandate different territories were allocated to different missions, and the missions had disputes among themselves —one running viti tales to the Administration about the other. It served only to create dissen tion. Trading stations attached , to missions were another source '"Se adult native never in his mental make-up pas j® d that a he ° CO uld not underTtaml the re Chr'istian g at h Sf. missionaries wished natives,; where Hlness intervened or some other climax arose in their lives. Could Do Good. "T think that if the missionaries concentrated on hygiene they would do more "ood than by their religious teaches," said Mr. Priebe. It was generally recognised that the New Guinea native was among the lowest in the human scale. The Government did wondeiful work on its own account, but the missionaries could co-operate more, as they lived among the aborigines. The native could be taught by the missionaries to cultivate his land, build hygienic houses and apply the elementary principles of drainage.

Before he went to New Guinea, said Mr. Priebe, he had had the prevailing ideas that the missionaries were the pioneers of any country opened up. He had been forced from his observations, however, to revise his opinions. In the case of New Guinea the prospectors were the pioneers, but the Administration had taken over the work on a big scale. It was a ca.se of peaceful penetration, too. Two brothers, M. and D. Leah, had done wonderful pioneering work as prospectors, although they were now only in their early twenties. They had met with little trouble from the natives, in contrast to the experience of 0 , missionaries. Only a year ago two missionaries were murdered. The ea had opened up some wonderful coun iy that gave promise of great development, i It was difficult for anyone not conversant with the New Guinea country to understand how there could still ovist to-dav tribes of natives who had never seen a white man and maintained thei rown customs nnd beliefs. Mead hunting still went on in the interior.