PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Otago Witness, Issue 3211, 29 September 1915, Page 75

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

FOREIGN MISSIONS COMMITTEE. The monthly meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand was hold ou Tuesday, 14th inst. Professor Hewitson presided, and 18 members were present. Among the business transacted was the following: GENERAL. The Missiofr Committee of Southland Presbytery reported that missionary deputations and exchanges had been effected throughout the bounds, and there had been .only one absolute refusal to allow the special campaign.—It was resolved to thank the Presbytery for the good help given. A number of letters were received from Dr Porteous reporting on his campaign in the North Island. Mrs Board, of Papatoetoe, had given a cheque for £700; he expected a similar sum to bo raised in Auckland, and that the whole contribution from Now Zealand will bo £4OO0 —£2000 from each island. In reply to a query from Christchurch as to the cost of the upkeep of a bod in a mission hospital, it was announced that the cost was £2OO capital, or £lO yearly. The Convenor reported having received from an anonymous donor the sum of £BO to complete the annual contribution of £2OO, and a promise of another annual payment in October or November. Mr A. Burn moved the motion of which he had given notice —“That a deputation to China, and, if possible, India, should be arranged before the end ox this year.”— The motion was seconded by the Rev. G. H. Balfour and agreed to after full discussion, and a sub-committee was appointed to consider and report. CHINA. The Canton Council reported that Nurse Stubbs and Dr Paterson had passed their second-year language examination; that Dr John Kirk’s services had been granted to the Canton Hospital until September 20; that the estimates for local field expenses for the currentaSjPß-r are £2OO per quarter.— It was agreed to congratulate the examinees and grant the amount of estimate. Writing on July 24, Mrs Kirk said that “Dr Kirk was frightfully tired after his fight with flood and fire. . . . The new hospital site at Kong Ts’uen had water over the verandah of the first house. The old hospital at Ko T’ong was wobbly, but held.” Several of the country chapels were in ruins. INDIA. Mr Ryburn reported that the summer had been the hottest for many years. In his report on Sabathu Lopcr Asylum ho stated that the number of inmates on March 31 was 95 and Europeans 6. Altogether in the Punjab the number of lepers is 3091, for whom there are seven asylums with accommodation in all for about 500. _ Writing on August 6, Dr Robertson said that “ tne Jagadhri Hospital is pretty full, and the heat is- awful, NEW HEBRIDES. The Rev. W. Y. Milne reported the birth of a daughter on July 25; that a mild epidemic of measles ha„d broken out in the island, having boon introduced from the island of Tongoa. Ho says: “It will spread throughout the island (Nguna), for it seems impossible to make the natives realise the need for isolation. No one has yet died from it, and they seem to think that I am making a big fuss about nothing. They have forgotten the terrible epidemic of measles about U- years ago, when so many adults died from it.” Mr Milne’s natives had manufactured another large quantity of arrowroot to pay for their hooks, and it was expected that Jin’s would bo sent to Dunedin in October. The sum of £23 was authorised to bo paid to the Victorian Church for the salaries of three of Dr Bowie’s Atnbrim teachers, now working among refugees on Mulckula, in the Victorian field.