MISSIONS IN INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 14

MISSIONS IN INDIA.

WORK IN HOSPITALS.

EDUCATING THE PEOPLE.

An address on the mission work in Jngadhri, British North-West India, was given by Dr. A. L. Sutherland at the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary T'nion held in St. David's Church yesterday afternoon. The meeting was presided over by the Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, the Rt. Kev. W. H. Howes, and associated with him on the platform were Sister dean Porteous, president of the union, and other oflice bearers.

Dr. Sutherland, who returned to Auckland on furlough this week, spoke of the hospital mission work in Jagadhri, where they dealt with an average of 1000 patients a year. The work in the hospital, said Dr. Sutherland, gave the mission a practical way of showing the power of the Church and great interest had been shown by the patients in the preaching and personal talks which were <;iven daily in the wards. Interest, too, had been shown in the town preaching and evangelist campaigns which had been conducted reeentl»\

Dr. Sutherland also spoke of the preventive work that was being done among the Indians. The teaching of sanitation and hygiene to the villagers was undertaken by the staff and the work was already Ix'aring fruit. The value of cultivating their land was also being instilled into the people and good results were being achieved in this respect. Another part of the missionaries' work consisted of the teaching of correct nutrition. "A lot is heard nowadays about the importance of diet in health and this applies particularly to India," said Dr. Sutherland. "Undernutrition *o undermines the general health that whatever disease is contracted the Indians will succumb more quickly to it on til is account. We are, threfore, doing all we can to teach them how to feed themselves adequately and correctly."