A MUSCULAR CHRISTIAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19195, 8 December 1925, Page 7

A MUSCULAR CHRISTIAN.

REV. R. PIPER LEAVES FIJi. SUCCESSFUL FARMING CLASSES. [FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] SUVA, Dec. 2. The Rev. Richard' Piper is leaving Fiji to-morrow, after 20 years' service as a member of the Methodist Mission. He will be very greatly missed. His special mission is the teaching of the Indians as well as the Fijian boys. He inaugurated farming classes on practical lines, and today ho leaves an area of 50 acres of growing sugar cane with acres of other sorts of food crops. These are all the work of the schoolboys, and each boy gets weekly the cash returns of his labour. On leaving, Mr. Piper had the satisfaction of handing to each boy a cheque as a bonus earned from the produce marketed. Tho farm had many opponents even among tho mission members, but Mr. Piper knew he was on the right track and kept on until his severest critics have been forced to acknowledge that ho has succeeded. His departure has greatly affected the Indians, whose friend he has always been, and large farewell meetings have beon held, where valuable presentations were made to him and to Mrs. Piper. The European residents of Lautoka also gave him a wallet of notes and a great " send off." The Indians of Stiva farewelled him and his wife at a crowded moeting. Mr. Piper also was the apostle of wireless " receiving " in tho Colony, and his plant at Lautoka was of incalculable value to the residents of the district. He helped many " new chums " with their first plants and generally has done a great deal to further the new science in Fiji. He goes to Australia to continue his ministerial work.