PORT CHALMERS NEWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21980, 15 June 1933, Page 13

PORT CHALMERS NEWS

POLICE COURT At a sitting of the Port Chalmers Police Court yesterday morning, before Mr J. Watson, J.P., and Mr N. Dodds, J.P., Alexander Cramond was convicted and discharged on a charge of drunkenness. On a further charge of casting offensive matter in a public place, was convicted and fined 10s. £CRAP METAL FOR JAPAN Carrying a varied assortment of scrap metal, consigned to Japan, the Cardiff steamer Helmspey left Port Chalmers yesterday afternoon for Auckland, where she will complete her loading. The vessel occupied a berth at the George street wharf for about 11 days, and during that time about 1000 tons of metal were loaded into her holds from railway trucks. Most of the • scrap iron came from Burnside, where it had been accumulating for some years past. It is understood some of the metal loaded by the Helmspey originally came from South Africa and Australia, when such scrap was imported after the war. Consignments- of scrap metal were also brougibt by rail from Oamaru and Balclutha for the Helmspey. Hie vessel, which loaded at,Westport and Wellington before comiug to Port Chalmers, has fully 6000 tons on board. She will load Another 1000 tons at Auckland, and will sail from that port for Japan. LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY The final meeting of the series addressed by the Rev. W.-Nelson Bitton in the Dunedin district was held on Tuesday evening in the Port Chalmers Congregational Church. The Rev. T. Flower presided. Mr Bittou first gave a resume of the history of the London Missionary Society, which was founded in 1795 as the result of the meeting of a number of ministers of different denominations in a coffee house in London to discuss the affairs and problems of their day. One of the questions which arose was why the Baptists were alone in sending the Gospel to heathen lands. That meeting was the cause of a society being formed, called at first the Missionary Society, the name being changed later to identify it when similar societies became more numerous. The society was and still is interdenominational, although now almost solely supported by Congregational churches. Its charter states that it was not the business of the society to teach any form of sectarianism about which men differ, but to preach the Gospel of Christ to the heathen. There was to-day, said Mr Bitton, a tendency among the churches established in foreign countries to aim at a common Christian faith, rather than to found denominational churches, and tne missionaries of the London Society, not being charged to found congregational churches, had a distinct advantage. Their organisation was taking a leading part in establishing such national Christian churches in China and in South India. The burden of evangelical fervour which led those ministers to establish the London Missionary Society in 1795 was required to-day in the cause of Christian unity. It was a -little-known fact that the first secretary of the society in Australia was the Rev. Samuel Marsdcn, the pioneer of Anglican mission work in New Zealand.

The speaker referred to what had been accomplished by some of the society’s heroic pioneers, Van der Kemp in South Africa, John Williams in the South Sea Islands, Robert Morrison in China, and others in Madagascar and India, The' success of the work of these and their successors was evidenced to-day by the fact that last year the churches of India and Burma on their own initiative and at their own expense sent five representatives to London, bringing greetings to the Christian churches in Britain. Two years ago the annual sermon of the London Missionary Society was preached in the City Temple by Dr Chen Ching Yee, one of the leaders of the Christian Church in China, a man whose career had been a series of astonishing successes for his Master. Such things as these showed how the Gospel could bring unity and brotherhood between Eastern and Western peoples. Mr Bitton emphasised the differences required in the method of approach vo the Eastern people 100 years ago and to-day. To-day they knew much about the wonders of Western civilisation, and also its failures, such as the Great War. Consequently the work of missionaries was more difficult than ever. There was need for a loving heart, a quick wind, and a consecrated ability in anyone who would be a success as a missionary. Their lives even more than their words were demonstrating the power of Christ, and bringing the Eastern people to accept the Gospel. The speaker concluded by appealing for continued support, both in prayers and in gifts, to carry on the work which was of such inestimable value in the cause of Christian brotherhood, peace and unity. • RELIEF WORKERS’ ASSOCIATION A meeting of the Port Chalmers Relief Workers’ Association was held on Tuesday night, when addresses were given by Mr J. Gilchrist and Mr N. Lee, of Dunedin. They represented the Unemployed Workers’ Movement. Mr Gilchrist, in the course of his address, said the workers did not yet realise what they had created in the way if real wealth and services. He gave credit to the members of the Government as to knowing the way out, but they were unwilling to take it. He asked for the workers’ co-operation in obtaining from the Government a concession to their immediate demands as unemployed workers. These demands wore the abolition of the compulsory camps; the establishing of a full sustenance; and equal treatment of all unemployed in New Zealand. Regarding the matter of equal treatment, it was not generally known that in the Wellington district, 1 when the weather was .wet, the workers ceased operations and there was no deduction made from their wages, nor were they called upon to make the time up. Mr Lee dealt with the camps controlled by the Public Works Department. He said that everywhere on the roods men were to be seen wending their way back to their homes from the camps. He said he spoke of what he knew from experience. He asked all workers to come together with a common purpose and a strong will. _ The Mayor of Port Chalmers (Mr J. Watson) also briefly addressed the meeting.