PRESBYTERIAN MISSION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28833, 2 March 1959, Page 2

PRESBYTERIAN MISSION

Jubilee Marked In Punjab “Church women in the Punjab are ahead of us, they have women elders there and we are just getting to that,” said Mrs Colin Campbell, Dominion president of the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union of New Zealand, discussing her recent visit to the jubilee celebrations of the New Zealand Presbyterian Mission in the Punjab. Mrs Campbell who was representing the Presbyterian women of New Zealand at the jubilee, arrived by air at Christchurch yesterday on her way home to Rangiora. “Christianity makes a peat deal of difference to women’s lot in India," Mrs Campbell said. She was astonished to find so many women taking an active role in the church council, meetings of which she had attended. Active Women It was enlightening to talk with them and to see with what eagerness they were working to try to raise the standard of women’s life there. Indian women with sound education and wide views had gathered together at a hill station training institute where a refresher course on Bible study had been held. Some had been trained in America, she said, and through the Anjuman, which was the women’s group in the church, they not only worked to support the Punjab missions but were also supporting one of their own missionaries sent to Africa. Even in a small village she had visited, about 50 women were working for the church. The American Presbyterian Church and the New Zealand Presbyterian Church had now integrated in the Punjab, Mrs Campbell explained, and were working together under the Indian Church Council which was largely composed of Indians. Indian Leaders “We want the Indians to feel that it is their church in their country and our policy is to have European missionaries represented on the Church council working under Indians,” she said. A similar policy applied in the church hospitals and schools run by the New Zealand mission at Jagadhri and Kharar. When European missionaries reached retiring age, instead of another New Zealander being put in charge, an Indian woman was appointed as principal, and European teachers might work under her and assist her. Standards at the mission schools she visited compared favourably with New Zealand standards. There was noticeable emphasis on handwork and at one school she had seen beautiful carpets being made. Although parents hac opposed physical education tor girls as being unwomanly,, for a time, it had recently been introduced in the form of rhythmic exercises and movements compatible with the sari and the punjabi long trousers, tunics and headscarves worn by the girls. Between 800 and 1000 people had attended the jubilee celebrations including the Governor of the Punjab, His Excellency Shrl N. V. GadgilL Among the speakers were eight non-Christian Indians who gave high praise of the work of the mission. Speakers from New Zealand included the Very Rev. D. N. McDiarmid, a former moderator of the Presbyterian church in New Zealand and now retired in Keri Keri, Miss B. J. Hardy, of Christchurch, a former missionary, and Mrs Campbell.

New Capital An Interesting sidelight of her trip to the Punjab had been arriving in Chandijarah, the new capital just in time for the opening of the first religious building of the new city. Her party arrived by car from Delhi ten minutes before the opening, Mrs Campbell said. The city was still in the process of being built. It was to be formed of 23 sectors, each with its own school and its own park; in the centre would be the public buildings and the municipal heart of the city. The new Union church was shared by Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, and was provided with a font in the front and a bapistry at the back for both forms of baptism. Mrs Campbell will not get a chance to take much rest after her strenuous six weeks in India where she toured villages, and inspected hospitals and schools because she will shortly make a trip to New Zealand’s Presbyterian churches reporting on her activities. Ladies’ Hairdo Service The Salon with the Moderate charges For urgent Hairdo’s call or Phone Turnbull’s Salon, corner of Manchester and Worcester streets. 'Phone 80-022., We will