TROPICAL MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 92, 19 April 1921, Page 4

TROPICAL MISSION

WORK IN BISMARCK ARCHI-

PELAGO

MORE MISSIONARIES NEEDED

Ji. visitor to the- Dominion at present. in Wellington'is Mr. J H. Tunnicliffe, of New Britain, in 'the Bismarck Archipelago. Mr. Tunnicliffe is doing deput.l tion work for the Australasian Methc dist Missionary Society, and, when in tervievved by a Post representative, had an interesting and descriptive story tn relate. In 1870 the islands, of which New Britain and New Ireland are the ''largest, were ceded-by Great Britain to Germany, but were captured by the Australian forces in 1914. Some 4S years ago Dr. George Brown, the pioneer, founded iht mission. The island of TJlu, a haunted island, in the Duke of York Group, wns purchased for £200, and is now probably worth'some £30,000. There the George Brown College was erected, and is run on the lines of an agricultural and technical institution, the native boys being taught, among other things, carpentry, painting, boat building, printing, and bookbinding, and the girls domestic duties. The mission has suffered ii great loss in the sudden death in De cember last, from malignant malaria, of Mr. O. W. Welsch, assistant manage!- ol the Ulu plantation The main export of the islands is copra and coconut, and experiments are being made to raise coffee, nutmeg, and other tropical fruits. Tho natives are of small stature, chocol&te colour, vjith short, frizzy hair, and are not particularly fond of work, but are bocoming more industrious. Thoy earn about 6s a month, and live on two meals a day, tho older portion of tiie community being very fond of betel nut and a bean called daka, more or less narcotic, mixed with lime prepared from coral, the use of which the Government is trying to restrict.

The native teachers sent out to the villages are under the supervision o£ a catcheist, and he is responsible to the native minister of the circuit, who reports to tha chairman, Rev. W. J. Chambers. Each village has c chief as native judge appointed by the Government, which, with the missionaries, is successfully endeavouring to bring the people to a higher level. Mr. Tunnicliffe, who has been eight years in New Britain, speaks hopefully of the field, but points out the absolute need of more helpers, 27 having been invalided home during that time. Ho regretted that after peace was declared the Australian Methodist Church expatriated the German Protestant missionaries before they, were able to fill their places. New Hanover, with 8000 to 10,000 people who built a house, collected the salary and planted a garden, are without a mis sionary, and are petitioning for a white missionary.

There aro numerous dialects of the language, but the mission, aided by the Government, is endeavouring to have one language spoken. The people are full of superstition, and the customs are very Oriental. The way of obtaining a wife is original. The young man enters a village, plants a stick in the centre, and then retires. The chief selects the maiden, has a discussion with the relative as to price, and on the young man returning he is informed of it—generally it is £3. If he is generous he adds a pig to it—a wife for £3 and a pig! The women" do all the work, gardening, planting, and harvesting, while the men hunt and fish.

There are tb#ee hospitals, but they are woefully short of medicine and bandages. Mr. Tunnicliffe has three colleagues in "New Britain, and three women instead of eleven Tli6 ascertained population in 1914 was 2000, but half, the island is practically unexplored, and there are many natives existing in heathenism unknown to the Government.