MISSIONARY DISPLAY AT WEMBLEY.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18013, 4 March 1924, Page 8

MISSIONARY DISPLAY AT WEMBLEY.

EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE 0 EMPIRE. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) - LONDON, January 17. The missionary societies of Great Britain, under the auspices of the Conference of British Missionary Societies, are to epitomise their work at the British Empire Exhibition this year on they have never attempted before. The organisers taking part include the Society for Propagation of Christian Knowledge, the Church Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society, the Wesleyan and Women's Auxiliary Society for the Propagation of the Gospei, the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society, the United Free Church Scottish Missionary Society, the Women's Association of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and the Eng'lish Missionary Society. Clever models showing missionary work in native schools, primitive and modern native churches, leper settlements where devoted Western workers are heroically fighting this terrible Eastern plague—all these will be shown, in the various sections.

In the Indjiaft section there is to bo an extensive display concentrating on the educational, medical, and social aspect of missionary work. The educational part will consist of a series of models designed to illustrate the development of native education {rr.m the crude primary school to the irreat college. On the medical side, theio will be models of big hospitals, the cne in Delhi, which deals with the urban districts, and the one at Nejcor, wlrch represents the rural S'.d3. The work done by Dr. Isabelle Kerr, who was awarded the Kaiser-I-Hind Medal for her researches in ,: evelopin£ the dilative and preventive treatment of leprosy, will be described. Perhaps the most remarkable school developed by the missionaries in India is the Boys' HiyU SchoJ in Kashmir This school has a reputation for character building among the natives which is altogether without rival. The whole outlook of the children has been changed from that of fearful and ignorant superstition to educated selfrespect. Through their inherent tendencies to evil, some of the Indian tribes are definitely known as criminal, but so .successful has been the work of missionaries in dealing with them that the Government of India has made grants to these societies and handed over the reform work to them. Some of the tribes are noted for organised thieving, others for wholesale arsdn, and still others for devotion to murder as a fine art. From this difficult and unpromising material our missionaries have achieved some very fine results and converted many of the worst types into good and useful citizens. At the Exhibition there will be specimens of the work done by these reformed natives.

In the Nigerian section there will be un interesting exhibit illustrating the old tribal religions showing their idols and the material objects used in the various forms of worship in the Nigerian Protectorate, This will be full of interest to the casual Visitor as well as the ethnological student. There is to be .$ model of Christ Church, Lagos, ori'the West Coast of Africa, which is a world-famous landmark for sailors. A model showing the missionary compounds at Oyo is being built, and the whole (interior life of a missionary settlement will be displayed through it._ The missionary authorities are taking advantage of the opportunity that the Exhibition presents for showjng to the general public that missionary work means something more than a mere attempt to carry the tenets of Western religion to the East. Visitors to Wembley will be able to appreciate, as they have never done before, what a Great educative work is achieved bv the representatives of the various denominations, who make their life-work among the peoples of the earth who are stili living in primitive conditions.