FOREIGN MISSION FIELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21431, 4 September 1931, Page 3

FOREIGN MISSION FIELD

MISS M'NEUR'S DEPARTURE Miss Jean M'Neur, who was ordained by the Presbytery of Dunedin on Tuesday last as a missionary to China, it the daughter of the Rev. G. H. M'Neur and Mrs M‘Ncur, of Canton. Miss M'Neur is of the tribe of Levi, from which the priests come; her father is a missionary, his four brothers are Presbyterian ministers, and her only sister is on the staff of the Presbyterian Social Service Association. Miss M'Neur is also a teacher by tradition, training, and

practice. She graduated M.A. with honours in history, took the course in the Teachers’ Training College, Dunedin, and has taught in some of our schools. Her mother was a public school teacher, her father is a full-time member of the staff of the Union Theological College, Canton, and bis father was for many years the teacher at Port Molyneux, After graduation at the University of Otago Miss M'Neur took classes for a session in the Women’s Training In l stitnto and in the Theological Hall, Knox College. As a university student she took a full share in the social and athletic life of the University, and she was an active worker of the Christian Union. Her Work in Canton will be the training of Chinese teachers or the training of Chinese Bible women. As she spoke the Chinese language as A child, it is expected that her use of this difficult tongue will soon come back to her.

The Presbyterian Church of Now Zealand will be responsible for Mite* M’Neur’s salary and other expenses, but the direction of her work will be HI the hands of the Synod of the Christian Church in China, the present moderator of which is a Chinese, and the Chinese members of which .outnumber the foreign members by at least four to one. In the Christian Church in China prestige and influence now depend not upon race but upon personality and knowledge. By the Chinese, position in the church is as readily accorded to a foreigner who possesses these qualities as to a member of their own race. .The llev. Mr Davies, who has been 21 years in Canton, said that the Chinese swiftly detect the faintest trace of consciousness of racial superiority, 'and, if a would-be missionary has it, he had better stop at home. New Zealand lias made a very fine contribution to China in men and women and money. The staff has included honours graduates, and some men and women who are regarded as among the best foreign speakers of Chinese in Canton. Mr M’Ncur, who Was ordained as the first missionary of the Pcrsbyteriaii Church of New Zealand 30 years ago, is now accepted by competent authorities as one of the best Chinese scholars in Canton, ami, owing to his calm wisdom and the balance and maturity of his character,, ho is readily accorded by his colleagues the position of father of the mission. British and American missionaries in Canton, though much more numerous than Now Zealanders, have always given to our people a high place in conference and co-opera-tion. Judging by the address of Professor Hewitson, who has known Miss M’Neur, from childhood, and from that of the Rev. Mr Davies, Miss M’Neur will bo a very valuable addition to the Mow Zealand staff in China, and a worthy, representative of her church, the University, and the Dominion.