NATIVES’ BEST FRIENDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 996, 12 June 1930, Page 16

NATIVES’ BEST FRIENDS

WORK OF MISSIONERS IN PAPUA ACHIEVING EVANGELISATION “If the evangelisation of Papua is ever achieved, it will be through the training of native teachers,” remarked Sir George Fowlds, in making an appeal, at the annual meeting at the Beresford Street Congregational Church of the Auckland auxiliary of the London Missionary Society, for funds for Laws College, the training school for native missionaries in Papua. Major-General Sir George Richardson was at the meeting. In referring to work among the peoples of the Pacific, the former Administrator of Western Samoa observed that he was the first to use the phrase. “Samoa for the Samoans.” In making that his ideal, he had recognised that the missionaries were the best friends of the natives. As a representative of New Zealand and a champion of native races, he felt he owed a great debt of gratitude to the London Missionary Society and similar organisations for the work they were achieving throughout the Pacific Islands. In Samoa, he had been favourably impressed by the society's work. It was to be regretted that very little had been done for the natives of the Pacific Islands themselves, although exploitation of the commercial possibilities of the islands had followed colonisation.

In appealing for funds for Laws College. Sir George Fowlds paid a tribute to the heroism and the self-sacrifice displayed by the missionaries. There was a need at the college for extensions to the buildings. A Samoan pastor, Peni, gave an account of the work of the society in Papua, where he had been stationed for 30 years. Peni gave an amusing description of the mental processes of the natives.

Officers elected for the year were: President, the Rev. R. C. Roberts; vice-president, Mr. F. Rowe; treasurer, Mr. P. C. Totman; secretary, Mr. G. Edmonds; auditor, Mr. 11. H. Fisher.