WELFARE OF PACIFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19307, 21 April 1926, Page 15

WELFARE OF PACIFIC.

TIME FOR UNITED ACTION. VISIT OF DR. JOHN R. MOTT. THE INFLUENCE OF CHURCHES. Thi! opinion that the churches, through their missionaries, can do much to preserve peace and goodwill among the countries bordering the Pacific is held, by Dr. John 11. Mott, chairman of the World's Student Christian Federation, who arrived last evening by the Ulimaroa from Sydney. Dr. Mott, who is making his third visit to New Zealand, is chairman of the Internationa! Missionary Council, and a member of the executive of the World's Committee of the Y.M.C.A. He has just completed a tour of countries bordering the Pacific, including Japan, Korea, China, the Philippine Islands, the Dutch East Indies and Australia, and will visit the principal centres of New Zealand. Dr. Mott is greatly interested in the problems of the Pacific, and has had a great opportunity of studying them. " Since the war the centre of gravity has shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific," he said. "It is none too soon for discerning men and women who have at heart the welfare of the Pacific to get their heads together for united thinking and the planning of united action. We cannot do it in watertight compartments. The Colour Question. " There had been such a startling development of the divisive influences among men that it was very significant and important that the leaders of the religious forces should l>e brought together to counteract those influences," Dr. Mott said. The colour question was more acute than ever. 'I hen there was' the problem of Christianising the impact of the so-called Christian nations, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, upon the non-Christian or Oriental countries. Another problem was how the churches of the West could best co operate with the rising churches of the i East. ."I believe the churches can play <i great part in doing away with these problems," he said. " Every missionary is a ambassador—an interpreter of the best side of his own country to the land to which he goes. lens of thousands of missionaries are weaving a network of friendship and cooperation that will change the whole feeling. There are dozens of ways in which the missionaries can prevent war and strife, but they are perhaps too many to enumerate just now. Th6y can help by their educational and medical work. Every new hospital is a permanent witness of goodwill. The thousands of dollars spent yearly in relief work in the East is a great influence for good." Growth ol Student Movement. The Student Christian Federation, Dr. Mott said, was established in 40 countries with branches in over 30C0 universities and higher colleges. There were now over 500,000 members. Thirty years ago the membership numbered less than 35.000. The object of the university movement was to unite the students of the world for the purposes of developing reasonable and vital thought and symmetrical character, and also for preparing them for lives of service to the nation, church, and the world. It had been largely responsible for the sending of 14.0C0 Christian men and women out into the non-Christian world. Dr. Mott recalled that it was 30 years ago this week that he paid his first visit to New Zealand to start the student movement. He was here again seven years later. He will leave Auckland today for Dunedin. where he will attend a missionary conference to be held on April 27 , 23 and 29. The gathering in Dunedin, Dr. Mott said, would be of unusual importance because the leaders of the churches in New Zealand would discuss the most pressing problems of New Zealand and of the Pacific basin. When he was here 23 \ ears ago he conducted a missionary conference in Canterbury, but at that time it was limited to students and teachers. The coming conference would have much greater scope. Dr. Mott will give two lectures to students of the four university colleges. He will also speak to leading business men, as well as clergy, in each of the four chief centres. He will leave Auckland on May 11 for Vancouver. His wife and son accompany him.