NEW MISSION SHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22694, 5 April 1937, Page 10

NEW MISSION SHIP

VISIT TO AUCKLAND ARRIVAL CM WEDNESDAY BISHOP AS PASSENGER Tlie new motor-vessel Southern Cross VII., belonging to the Melanesian Mission, "will visit Auckland for the first time on April 14. The vessel was expected on Wednesday but 13 delayed in the Solomon Islands, waiting for fuel oil. The ship, which is very similar to the Southern Cross VL, which was wrecked near the New Hebrides when on her maiden voyage to the Islands, is coming from the Solomon Islands by way o£ the NewHebrides. The Bishop of Melanesia, the Rt. Rev. W. H. Baddeley, is on board.

Known in the Islands as the ''Flying Bishop," on account of his use of aeroplanes for covering his extensive territory, Bishop Baddeley will attend the annual Anglican Synod to be held in Hamilton this week. He will leave for Australia about May 3 and intends to rejoin the Southern Cross at Norfolk Island about the end of May. The general secretary and treasurer of the Diocese of Melanesia, Mr. H. S. N. Robinson, will also attend the synod. Mr. Robinson, who arrived by the Mariposa from Sydney on Saturday morning, said Bishop Baddeley had maugnrated medical work on the south coast of the island of New Britain, m the mandated territory of New Guinea. A New Zealand nurse, Sister Amy Thompson, was assistant at the dispensary. The captain of the new Southern Cross is Captain R. A. Williams, who was formerly in the service of Burns, Philp and Company, of Sydney. The ship is 110 ft. long and is driven by Diesel engines. On board are native teachers, who will travel with the_ ship to the Dominion ports which it visits. The New Zealand itinerary of the Southern Cross VII. provides for visits to Lyttelton, Picton, Nelson, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Wellington, Napier and Gisborae. It will leave Auckland on April 22, returning on May IS. The ship will leave for the Islands on May 27.