MISSION ON LEPERS.

North Otago Times, 20 July 1917, Page 3

MISSION ON LEPERS.

LECTURE BY BEY. P. OLDBIEYE,

I A lecture that took for the moment |" the mind off the great and engrossing 'topic of the war.to the conditions of life in other lands was given by the Itev, Frank Oldrievo in'Tlnyward's Theatre last night on the Mission to Lepers in India. There was a good attendance. Ilia Worship the Mayor (Mr Ji. Milligan) presided. Mr Oldrievo, who is honorary secretary for the South Island branch of the mission, illustrated his lecture with lantern slides depicting scenes mentioned in his discourse. There were, estimated to lie L'uO'oOO lepers in India,. The Mission to Lepers, founded.in .1874 by Mr Wellesley C. Bailey, was responsible for the maintenance of fifty homes n India and other countries, twenty homes for untainted children of leprous parents, 11,530 lepers and children, segregated at. the 18!) mission stations, and 41150 lepers entirely dependent on the mission for food, shelter, medical relief, and Christian teaching, There were (500 untainted boys and girls supported and educated in the society's own or associated homes. Gratitude ought to be felt, said the lecturer, for the-way in which the Indians, with many of their countrymen seditiously inclined, had loyally responded to the call of the Empire. The lecturer graphically described the unhappy lot of the leper, unclean, ostracised, and spurned and avoided as a beast of the held by his fellow-men. The lepers wove to lie seen in every crowded thoroughgaro in the cities and towns of India. Pathetic pictures wore shown and anecdotes concerning , these outcasts"we're given, in which 'it was mentioned that it was customary to either burn or bury them alive. It was these people that the mission which was operating in fourteen different countries, and which was undenominational and international, sought to succour. The mission, which flu. India cared for 13,000 lepers, appealed for funds to carry on the ever-increasing work, to erect buildings to accommodate many more sufferers praying to be sheltered by the mission. The disease of leprosy, explained the lecturer; was contagions, but it should be remembered it wa.s not hereditary. For that reason it was most essential that many healthy offspring of leprous parents at present exposed to the risk of contagion should be immediately sheltered in the mission homes. This meant an increasing expenditure. Every donation given went towards assisting the mission work, There was a local committee for the work, and all contribntons could be forwarded to Mr T. ,r. Bull, Mr R. Milligan, members of the committee, or to the speaker's address iny*Asliburton. A vote of thanks, on the motion of the Mayor, was accorded to the lecturer for his address.