LIFE IN THE SUDAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21163, 21 April 1932, Page 6

LIFE IN THE SUDAN.

SERVICE AS MISSIONARY. EXPERIENCES OF AUCKLANDER. To have spent 19 years as a missionary in the Anglo-Egvptian Sudan is tbe' record of Mr. W. L. Mills, who, with Mrs. Mills, arrived by the Maunganui this "week on a visit to his parents, Mr. and >.|rs. W. Mills, of Takapuna. Mr. Mills left New Zealand to join the Sudan United Mission in 1913 and was first stationed at the remote military post of Heiban in the midst of a hostile population. The natives were then being held in subjection by force, but the influence of the missionaries spread so quickly that in a few months pacific feelings replaced warlike demonstrations and it was possible for the troops to be withdrawn. Mr. Mills is now field superintendent for the mission at Abri, in the Kordofan-' Produce, where he and his wife have been carrying on a valuable work among the primitive Nuba people. In addition to evangelical activities the mission performs educational and medical duties on & large scale and has done much to promote the peace and good government of the province. Because the people were still living under very primitive conditions occasional tribal wars broke out, said Mr. Mills. The last serious trouble occurred two years ago, when British aeroplanes were used to make a demonstration. The natives used old Remington rifles, which came into their possession at the time of the Mahdi rebellion, and they made their own ammunition. "The Government is very anxious for us to extend our work," he said. "It has seen the effects of our activities and has realised what great changes our presence has made in the administration of the territory." The mission station at Abri, added Mr. Mills, was 130 miles from the railway. Lions and leopards were once very numerous, but they had now been largely cleared out by the natives. There were no white people within miles, apart from the missionaries. Several New Zealanders, however, were stationed not w away, including Miss A. V. Thomas, of Hamilton, who was performing nursing duties, and Miss G. Buckton, of Auckland, who was a member of the mission staff at another station in the province.