A Noted Visitor

Northland Age, Volume XII, Issue 46, 26 August 1943, Page 1

A Noted Visitor

Rev. A. 11. Serivin The Rev. A.\H. Serivin, Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Society of New Zealand, who is at present visiting the district, hhs had an interesting career. In young manhood he was an Auckland and Canterbury rep. Soccer player, and in 1912 he entered the Methodist ministry as an overseas missionary. His first appointment was to Dobu in Papua, where he worked for seven years among people, who, when the mission was established there in 1901 had been described by the Lieut-Governor as “the worst cannibals in the Pacific.” His next move was to the Trobriard Islands, South East of Papua, where working “amongst a people at once remarkably able and profoundly superstitious” (to use his own words), he was faced with the task of learning an entirley new language. During eleven years spent in this group, Mr. Serivin performed notable service by translating several portions of Scripture into the language of people. Transferred to the “Home Front” some years ago, he has ably fulfilled the responsibility of guiding Methodist policy in New Zealand with regard to Overseas Missions. The films which will illustrate Mr. Scrivin’s lecture on Friday evening in Kaitaia cover many places prominent in the news as centres of the Japanese attack.