RACIAL UNREST IN AFRICA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26987, 12 March 1953, Page 10

RACIAL UNREST IN AFRICA

“MISSIONARY’S WAY | ONLY ANSWER” , “White people all over the world are! wondering how a solution can be found: to the problem of the racial unrest in parts of Africa. I may be prejudiced, but I am sure that there is no wayother than that of the missionary. The white Governments try to win the con- [ fidence of these primitive people by educating them, but they fail,” said Mr R. H. Wells, who has spent about eight years as a member of the Australian and New Zealand branch of the Sudan United Mission, in a luncheon address to members of the Canterbury Chapter of the New Zealand Institute of Secretaries yesterday. The natives of the Sudan had no natural al.ection, no neighbourliness and no mercy, even to their aged parents when they were cast out by the tribe to die at the end of their useful lives, said Mr Wells. These characteristics seemed to be far worse if the natives had attended a Government school, where they appeared to acquire a sort of colour complex. “They are naturally very covetous, and will do literally anything for material gain, especially if they have been to a Government school,” Mr Wells said. “They are therefore easy prey for the agents of unrest, who move among them offering money in return for the incitement of race riots. “The administrative officers should turn instead to helping the missionaries, the agents who can change the hearts of men.” said Mr Wells. “The power of the missionary is well illustrated in the Nuba Mountains area, where I worked. The district, which is in the belt of bush land about 600 miles south of Khartoum, has had more missionary work than other parts of the Sudan, and is almost completely loyal to Britain.”