WORK AMONG CHINESE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19456, 12 October 1926, Page 6

WORK AMONG CHINESE.

THE AUCKLAND MISSION. The annual meeting of the Auckland Chinese Mision was held last evening, the Rev. J. Lamb Harvey, moderator of the Auckland Presbytery, presiding. The Rev. G. W. Blaii reported that during the year the committee had considered the question of a renewal of appointment of the missioner, the Rev. W. Mawson. Mr. Mawson's term expired at the end of 1925 and it bad been decided to extend his term to five years. This would give the committee time to consider what steps should be taken in order to make the mission self-supporting and not as at present, a charge on the Foreign Mission fund. The question of providing Mr. Mawson with a motor-car has also received consideration. The mission's committee had agreed to pay for the upkeep of a car but it remained with the friends of the mission to contribute to the initial cost. The treasurer's report showed the building account was in credit to the extent of £2 lis Bd. In the general account receipts exceeded expenditure by about £6. A sum of £ls was presented to the mission by the Christian Endeavour movement. ' An address on the beginnings of work among the Chinese in New Zealand was given by the Rev. G. 11. McNeur. The Presbyterian Church obtained the services of a Chinese evangelist from Australia, but both he and an English missionary who followed him, found they spoke'a totally different dialect from that of the Chinese, and soon gave 'up the work. Finally, it. was decided to send a minister from New Zealand to learn Cantonese and then take up mission work in Central Otago. This was done and after two years spent in studying (lie Canton dialect the Rev. A. Don spent several years among the Chinese on the gold-fields and later in Dunedin. From those beginnings sprang the work in other parts of the Dominion and in Canton.