Religious Revival

Hutt News, Volume 12, Issue 38, 15 March 1939, Page 4

Religious Revival

Very large gatherings are greeting the Rev. and Mrs. James McWhirter, who are conducting a convention for the deepning of spiritual life, at the Horticultural Hall, . I Laings Road. The convention will continue throughout the week. Both Rev, and Mrs. McWhirter are lecturers who have covered many thousands of miles in the course of their work, and in London they have spoken to audiences in the Crystal Palace and the Royal Albert Hall of upwards of 15,000 people. Mrs. McWhirter is a fluent speaker, and during the convention she will speak on the subject of her travels. She is the possessor of a rich contralto voice and is a gifted pianist, and will be heard in several solos. Mr. and Mrs. McWhirter have just completed a seven weeks' tour of 3000 miles through Australia, including 330 miles with a camel patrol. Both of the visitors are interested in the aborigines problem, which Mr. McWhirter is studying to include in a book on Australia. The apathy of the Australians in this direction has ceased to be a local matter and in Palestine it is used as propaganda against British rule. During the course of their trek into the interior Mrs. McWhirter penetrated to places that had never before been visited by a white woman' and, indeed, by very few white men. Twice she and her companions were short of water for five days, and water for washing purposes was an unheard-of luxury during the entire inland trip. As a solution of the "abo" problem Mrs. McWhirter suggests that what the aborigines need are foolproof, greed-proof reserves, where there could be no possibility of a permit of any kind being granted to white men. The outback native, uncontaminated by the white man, is a fine physical specimen, and Australia's 20,000 half-castes are a disturbing, commentary on their contact with the-white man.