HELPED BY NATIVES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 21, 26 January 1943, Page 6

HELPED BY NATIVES

MISSIONARY'S RETURN FROM

SOLOMONS

Mrs. R. Sprott, a member of the Melanesian Mission, who has arrived at Wellington, was the last woman to i be evacuated from the island of Santa Ysabel in the Solomons. She was in sole charge of the mission station for 24 years, and the esteem and affection of the natives stood her in good stead when the Japanese invaded the islands. When the danger became great the natives took her into the interior of the jungle, where she remained hidden for over ten months. Mrs. Sprott. said she could not speak too highly of the courage, ingenuity, and loyalty of the natives. If an American airman came down in thd jungle or in the sea they would immediately rush to his rescue, and sometimes take him 50 miles in their canoes to the nearest native practitioner. They carried all the food and medical supplies away from the mission station and hid them in several different places, so that if one store were discovered others would remain.