PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS

Evening Star, Issue 19386, 21 October 1926, Page 10

PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS

COMMITTEE MEETING \U absence of the convener, Mr p 1,. Qlark presided over the mootUK meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee, which was hold on inesday The Rev. G. 11. M’Neur mentioned that ho had received news of the death of Mrs J. G. Kerr, of Canton, China, on August 7. Mrs Kerr was not onlj remarkable for her long and useful servie© its the oldest missionary in feoutii China, but she had been a very warm friend to the New Zealand Presbyterian Mission from the beginnings of the work in China up to the time of her death. of sympathy with the American Presbyterian Mission, of which she was a member. ■ , , it was announced that arrangements had been made for the principal mission fields to be represented on foreign missions night at the forthcoming meeting of the General Assembly as follows:-China, the Rev. &. H. M‘Neur; India, Dr W. J. Porteous; New Hebrides, the Rev. J. D. M Kcnssie. It was agreed to endeavor to secure the attendance of as ol the missionaries as possible, including the nurses recently appointed tor service in China. . Owing to delays occasioned by late arrival of material and other circumstances the Rev. A. Don has found it j impossible to have the life of die Rev. Peter Milne, upon which he is engaged, ready until well cn m 192,. . It was agreed to use the report ot tne New Zealand Missionary Conference as, the mission study text book for and arrangements wore made tor tne preparation of a smad pamphlet ns a guide to Bible class and P.W.M.U. members in its study. The Rev. G. H. M'Neur reported that the Schools of Theology at Timaru, Palmerston North, and Auckland had been successful. They were conducted under the auspices of tile Home Mission Loramittee, and were attended by ministors as well as home missionaries. Members of the P.W.M.U. had attended his missionary lectures. At Auckland there was a very large attendance at the public lecture. Partly owing to the fact that public attention had lately been directed to China ho found that there was a very real interest in that country He felt the work had been well worth while. It had been an inspira-. tion to meet the home missionaries, and as a result of this contact with them his admiration for them had increased. FINANCE, Donations totalling £47 10s wore acknowledged, and accounts were passed for payment totalling £33 IGs 7d. The finance statement for the year showed that in the ordinary funds there had been received for all purposes the sum of £15,858 13s. # Of thia, £12,424 Is lOd had been recowed from congregations, an increase of £9OO as compared with last year. Donations and sundry contributions yielded a smaller amount, however, and the total receipts were below last year s fagur© for ordinary contributions. Tho outlay for the year was £18,752 (last year £19,872). This was well within the committee’s estimate of £20,780, in which £I,OOO was allowed for buildings which had not been undertaken. The year began with a credit balance ot £521, and closed with a debit balance of £2.342. Owing to the adverse exchange rates in India an additional burden, equivalent to I2i per cent., had been laid upon the Pan]ab Mission. Heavy losses had been occasioned in this way during the past two or three years, and it was agreed to forward a Kr&er amount of

£3OO as an instalment to make good the shortage. Tho Convener of the Women’s Beneficiary Fund (for single missionaries) Committee wrote that his committee was going to recommend the Assembly to increase the allowance to annuitants from £3 for each year of service to £4, with a maximum of £IOO per annum. The income of tho fund justified this step,—lt was agreed to approve this proposal. Tho General Treasurer wrote regarding the foreign mission capital funds.it was agreed to recommend the Assembly that the committee he authorised to transfer year by year one-tent,; of the last ten years’ receipts from bequests to the foreign mission working fund, such transfers only to apply to those bequests which were not fettered by trust conditions. NEW HEBRIDES. The Rev. J. D. M'Konzie, who has just returned from the New Hebrides, reported that in addition to attending the Synod meetings he had visited a number of the islands _ Tho condominium is still very unsatisfactory, in everv island there was a difficulty about Labor, which was specially telt by the British planters. The trench continue to bring in Tonkinese. I*lorn the economic standpoint the labor question is the crux of the situation. He strongly urged the appointment of a missionary for North Ambrnn. He bad taken part in communion services at Neuna (tho Rev. W. V. Milne), where 257 communicants attended, and at Tonn-oa (the Rev. O. Michelsen), when . there were 298 It was marvellous to , see the attitude and spirit that pre- ■ vailed. Yaws, bookworm, and malaria are being successfully treated both at; Tanna and Vila Mission Hospitals, and by every missionary. “ What I saw at every mission station suggested a page from tho New Testament. The Gospel is preached and the sick are healed. The Rev. O. Michelsen wrote giving an account of the progress of tho school. There were forty young men on the school roll, as veil as others. Ho telt that the school was something to live °Tho Rev. W. V. Milne reported that he had baptised eighteen babies and one man and admitted thirty-one young people as first communicants at tho recent communion. There had been a remarkable response to an appeal trom Mr J. W. Mansfield for teachers for heathen villages in North Ambnrn. Five young men had volunteered, and arrangements were being made tor them to bo sent. It was many years since Nguna young men had undertaken foreign service. This was a challenge to the New Zealand Church. they would do good work, but needed the support, encouragement, and guidance of a missionary Tho new -worker ior North Ambrim was all the more urgently required as a result of this fine offer of the natives. CHINA. Dr E. W. Kirk, who lias been on furlough in Great Britain, planned to sail for Hongkong, en route for his new sphere of work in Changsha, Hunan Province, on October 9. IX© wrote that the group of Chinese who have to do with tho school are making a determined effort to develop a medical school under good auspices, and are very friendly to missionary co-opera-tion. They have promised freedom tor religious work. It was agreed to endorse tho action ot tho executive in arranging that Miss h. G Ocilvie should sail from Melbourne for Hongkong by the Tango Maru onSaturday. INDIA. Dr A. Leslie Sutherland, mission treasurer, wrote advising that the Indian Currency. Commission recommended that the rupee be stabilised at Is 6d. The former normal rate of exchange was Is 4d. . Tho Rev. J. L. Gray reported his arrival in Scotland on furlough. He

was planning to do a few months’ postgraduate work. He had booked passages for his wife and family and himself by the P. and 0. steamer Gemma via the Cape. Before bo left India the need of advance in view of the great and increasing opportunities had been earnestly considered. GENERAL. On the motion of Dr Herrington it was resolved —“That this committee is strongly of opinion that during the ensuing year, under the moderatorship of the Rev. G. H. M'Ncur, the General Assembly should aim at _ a forward movement in connection with the mis- ■ ionary work and finance of the church.”