MISSIONARY HUMOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 81, 2 October 1940, Page 5

MISSIONARY HUMOUR

THE SITUATION IN KOREA

A novel and not unwelcome note in missionary reminiscences was' struck at the Travel Club^'yesterday afternoon by: the Rev. L. O. Beere, who has chosen New Zealand as his first holiday, ground after spending the. last five of eleven years in. ah Anglican mission in. Korea. : ' ■

"I have reversed'my collar again," he said, glancing' down at "the", neati blue turn-down collar' and tie which graced his '.everyday dress, after ex-j plaining his presence in New Zealand. "It is strange how. many people still seem to think that Korea is Chinese. For, the/last thirty 'years it has been governed by the Japanese. I speak Korean, and' not Japanese. Just before I left Korea I \vas,arrested. You may have seen in s the\news that some British subjects were arrested. I was one ,pf them. I was only, hi for one day. We were treated very - well indeed. The only thing "I. got- was. a throat from smoking bad Japanese, cigarettes for hours on end.*'.- . SIMPLE PLOTTERS. "One Briton I stayed with in Japan told •me his experiences. He was >in for ten days. -They suddenly confronted him with' a set of papers, and j asked him what he was doing with such a secret code. When he came to look more, closely into the document, he fo.und it w.as. in his young daughter's handwriting, and contained a scrawl diversified 'with numerals. As! his daughter was fond of embroidery.; he said that it looked like a design for some of herwork. adding a tribute to her fondness for it. They' sent immediately for .one of the chief ambroiderers in the town, who .said it was a knitting pattern for s jumper. (Laughter.)

"When I was ''in* there were aJso some 'patterns', on, pieces of paper in my lot, containing'such* names as 'Dead Man's Gulch' and 'Robber's Cave.' and I was asked what sort of fort plans they, were. When I. had answered they were quite satisfied that they also were patterns for embroidery. So I got away with two ,good lies, and T really think I should play pokeri

1 "We' had there an International Friendly .Society. Everything' that happens in Korea '■ is engineered by the Japanese Government. You may remember that last year you heard of an anti-British movement in Japan and Korea. That also was. engineered by the Government. A resolution was passed condemning all the activities of England. ' The" chairman 'of th'e'antiBritish movement was also chairman of the International Friendly Society, but as he went out he looked round and gave me a very brdad wink; he was only a Government officipl who had to do his duty."