MISSION WORK

Evening Star, Issue 17921, 17 March 1922, Page 3

MISSION WORK

MRS HARGREAVES’S , ADDRESS. Mrs Grainger Hti.rgrca.vos, of Oxford (England), delivered ,ui address last night in the Octagon Social Hall, under the auspices of the Methodist Women's Missionary Union; Mrs W. H. Duke in the chair. There was, a good attendance. * Mrs Hargreaves spoke first about the mission in the Solomon Islands, recently taken over by New Zealand, which, she said, opened up a great sphere for women,’ and especially for medical women. Last year there wore 6,200 in-patients_ and 83,000 out-patients treated at the mission hospitals, and, in addition to the white workers, they had 1,380 Bible women and native helpers. She did not know what they would have done without their missionaries’ wives. After a brief reference ■to the work of the Union in England, Mrs Hargreaves spoke, of the cause in China. There was a great work going on amongst the women of that country, who wanted to take part in the onward march of liberty. In 1844 the first girls’ school was established in China by anEnglish woman. Now they had many hundreds of them, and not only English teachers, but many Chinese women, fully qualified teachers and doctors, were taking part in the good work. A number of Chinese women went over to Cambridge to study and qualify as doctors and teachers, and they had women editors of papers. Tiro Secretariat of the League of Nations was open to women, and it was quite possible that they might yet have a woman secretary of the League. As regards China, many of the old customs, including infanticide and foot-binding, were being broken down by the women themselves. But social reform would not do everything; they must have the spiritual power behind it. They had set forces at work in China that they could not abandon. The country now was in a state of transition. When it really began to move it would soon, become one of the great nations of the earth. And they must remember that China was very close to them. Idolatrous Chinese were not desirable inhabitants in any country; but if they were Christianised they would make good citizens. A Chinese woman outside of the homo was nothing; but inside she was the most powerful factor, for on her depended the training of the children. That was why they wanted women to work among the women. It was the women now who maintained idolatry, and who hindered sanitary reforms. The women -of China were, even among the coolie class, strong and capable. There were 200.000.000 of them, and not one In. a hundred could road. But the suffrage movement was alive there, and what would it lead to? With Christianity it. would be a great thing. Some of the vices of the Europeans had been introduced, and were spreading, and if they were going to break down this, there was nothing for it but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Applause.) A" hearty vote, of thanks was passed to Mrs Hargreaves for her address.