THE SOUTHERN CROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE SOUTHERN CROSS.

MISSION IN MELANESIA. It is a coincidence that " Tlio Wako of the Southern Cross " should appear in tlio same year that tho Mclanesian Mission steamer should make her last voyage in tho Islands, and tho coincidence is carried a degree further by the fact that the historic s earner's last voyage ended at Auckland only last week. Every Aucklandcr knows tho steamer as an old friend, but only tho older generations will remember that) other friend, tho writer of the book, the Rt. Rev. Cecil Wilson, now Bishop of Bunbury, West Australia, and Bishop of Melanesia from 1894 to 1911.

In this iicco.int of the comings and goings of the Southern Cross and her predecessors, and of the work of the mission in the Islands, is a chronicle that Aucklanders will rsad with keen interest, for their city has always been closely linked with this department of the Church's activities. Tl:e author of tho book himself was consecrated a bishop in St. Mary's Cathedral, rarnell, and Auckland, as is inevitable, finds a placo in his story. Webome in Auckland. " In 1894," Bishop Wilson says, "many peoplo were s till living in Auckland who had known and loved my great predecessors (Bishops Patteson and John Selwyn). Tliey must have wondered what manner of man I was to follow them, but when I arrived on the 10th June they showed o:nly great warmth of affection for the mission and a wonderful kindness to tho new joung bishop. . . . Bishop Cowie, of Auckland, was Primate at the time, and so my consecration took placo in tho pro-cathedral of his city. . . . The Bishop of Christ church (Dr. Julius) preached. . . . The church was filled with people, sitting or standing." And, later: "Insurance agents chased me to insure my life. . . . To my surprise I found that, although I was certain to suffer, like everyone else, from fever and ague, and, as I judged from what I had heard, might bo eaten in the near future, nono of these insurance gentry asked me for anything extra on account of my risks. ... At a farewell service before sailing for Norfolk Island I was presented by the boys of All Saints', Ponsonby, with a pastoral staff made of wood from the old Southern Cross, which I am still using." The pages that follow are devoted to a stirring account of the mission's work, liberally besprinkled with humour, anecdote and ah;.orbing descriptions of native customs and scenes, much of a definitely ethnological value. The author says in a preface th;it he has risked dullness by giving cfirtain details which may be of interest only to somo who are closely connected! with the mission to-day. That fear need not bo shared by tho prospective reader, for tliero is not a dull page in the book. The New Steamer. I The Southern Cross in which the author sailed to take up his work was tho fourth of her nan c, the ono which has just returned to Auckland being the fifth. Of the latter Bishop Wijson says: "In 1903, on corning through the Ututha passage, I saw for the first time the new steamer which our friends in England and Australasia had given us. Three tall masts appeared over tho mangrovo trees, and then, tho little steel ship of 590 tons. This new Southern Cross was a wonderful gift to us. . . . From that time we were able to visit islands which wo had not touched at all before. . . . Yexy soon it was found 100 costly to carry sailors as well as engineers and firemen, so the masts and he sails had to go, and she became a full-powered steamer with a native crew. She costs a great deal to run and keep in repair, but it is not easy to see how a mission like this can do without her." Of tho benefits of tho mission the author's summing-up is as follows: " Tho people of Melanesia have been dying out because the rain-makers told them to die; and because they fought and murdered one another without ceasing . . . foar of tha unseen moro than of tho seen robbed life of almost all its joy. Upon this stage came tho advance guard of another Kingdom, which brought them faith in God. and this faith was casting out fear. A new spirit abroad made men do good instead of evil . . . at last meicy and peaco looked in on a world stained with immemorial bloodshed."

" The "Wake of the Southern Cross." by the Rt. Rev. Cecil Wilson. (John Murray.)