MELANESIAN MISSION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29002, 17 September 1959, Page 6

MELANESIAN MISSION

Day Of Pray er On Sunday

Next Sunday will be observed as a day of prayer by the Melanesian Mission. The day is the eighty-eighth anniversary of the death of the first Bishop of Melanesia (the Rt. Rev. Coleridge Patteson).

The mission was founded in 1849 by Bishop Selwyn. but Bishop Patteson was the first to be installed in the area. He was killed by natives at Nakupu, Reef Islands, in 1871. A great deal of work had been done by the mission since then, said a statement by the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren). Although work in Melanesia was still hampered through great lack of funds and workers, the growth in schools was remarkable.

About 60 years ago there was only one boarding school for boys at the mission’s headquarters in Norfolk Island. Only about 240 boys from the surrounding islands could be accommodated. Today there were 50 boys’ boarding schools in the Solomon Islands, as well as two senior schools, six junior schools, a number of girls’ schools and 40 district boarding schools. They were all under the care of the mission’s educational superintendent and advisor, Mr R. Mountfort, formerly of Christchurch. “Whilst we may thank God for this wonderful growth we cannot but be aware of the increasing demand on the Church as a whole for the wherewithal to continue this work,” said the Bishop. The Melanesian Mission normally organises a day of continuous prayer in the Cathedral, but as September 20 fell on a Sunday this year it had been decided to offer prayers at normal services. The Bishop and the secretary of the mission (Miss L. Cameron) had asked for the co-operation of parishes throughout the diocese.