MISSION IN PAPUA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18680, 9 April 1924, Page 10

MISSION IN PAPUA.

METHODIST ACTIVITIES. * WELFARE OP THE NATTTES. ADMINISTRATOR'S SUPPORT. Excellent work is being don© among the natives of Papua by the Methodist Mission in that territory, according to an account of the activities given by the Bev. M. K. Gilmour, head of the mission, ■who arrived by the Maheno from Sydney last evening, on a short visit to New Zealand. The welfare of the natives is the first consideration of the Administrator, Judge Murray, and this attitude on the part of the representative of the Australian Government has made the co-operation of the mission an extremely pleasant task. Like the Administrator, the members of the mission consider that the native population is the thing most worth while in the country, and every effort is being made to conserve the race. Mr. Gilmour regards Judge Murray, who is a brother of Professor Gilbert Murray, as a very far-sighted man, and' thinks that his method of approaching the problems of the country augurs well for the future of the people. At present the mission has about 30,000 natives attending worship, and over 6000 boys and girls in the various schools. In addition, the central training institute at Salamo is preparing 260 boys and girls for the mission field. The Government has met the mission generously in the matter of aiding the medical side of the work, and a modern hospital is shortly to be established to further the medical work now being carried out bv the missionaries. Mr. Gilmour explained that the mission was going in extensively for technical training, in an effort to give the boys the training in tho use of tools, which they might reasonably be supposed to be capable of acquiring, and thus become the artisans of the race. As an instance of the efficacy of this scheme, he mentioned a boy who originally came from a but of the headhunted and who recently completed a launch after receiving such instruction as the missionaries themselves could give. This, he said, showed the possibilities of the people, and with other indications of the intelligence possessed by the boys was encouraging the leaderu of the mission to develop this side of the work.