WORK OF BIBLE SOCIETY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24982, 17 September 1946, Page 8

WORK OF BIBLE SOCIETY

ADDRESSES BY WOMEN MISSIONARIES CIVIC THEATRE CROWDED An audience of about 1400 persons filled the .Civic Theatre last evening to hear addresses by Misses Mildred Cable and Francesca French, famous missionaries and’ explorers, who are paying a short visit to Christchurch in connexion with the centenary celebrations of the British and Foreign Bible Society (N.Z.). The body of the hall was packed, people sat at the back of the stage behind the curtain, and many stood for an hour and a half in the wings. The* speakers, who were given undivided attention, were welcomed by Archbishop West-Watson. Details of the troubles experienced at Bible House, London, during the German air attacks in the recent war were given by Miss Francesca French, who said that the headquarters building had survived bombing, and that the work of translation still went on. The number of languages and dialects in which the Bible was available now approached the 800 mark. The building contained a beautiful globe, which had been presented by the Emperor of Abyssinia in recognition of the work which the Bible Society had done in his country. In the famous library there were very many valuable manuscripts. One might see a notice that a translation was in a language that only 800 people in the world used and were able to understand.

“Could any other publishing house carry on work like that?” she asked. “We have done so for 150 years, without going bankrupt.” The packing room was a most interesting place, parcels being dispatched to all parts of the world, continued Miss French, who remarked that four out of every five people in the world did not have ‘h Bible to read. Miss Cable gave her audience some idea of her work in the Gobi Desert, and the different nationalities met there. She related a story of a Chinese schoolmaster whom she once saw pick up a geography book and tell his pupils that it stated that the world was round. He said that he had always told them that the world was square, but it did not matter, as long as they remembered that the Chinese people were at the centre, and the rest were all barbarians. “China is not the »nly country where that is said, but not so openly.” she added. Bibles supplied to tribesmen all had bright covers—yellow, pink, and green for the different Gospels, said Miss Cable. Miss Eva French (the third missionary, who did not speak) was a great seller of Bibles, she said. The Rev. W. Rainey, Australian delegate to the centenary celebrations, spoke of the work of the society in Australia. Until the introduction of petrol rationing, the organisation there employed two men with a car to visit backblocks areas, he said. Besides distributing Bibles, they could pull teeth and give first-aid treatment “The Bibles cost us five times as much, but they were worth it,” he said. Scriptures in 20 different languages—eight of which were new ones—were in the press, he said. Messages from Britain and Australia in connexion with the centenary were read by the Rev. David Calder, general secretary of the movement in New Zealand.