EXTENSION OF WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

EXTENSION OF WORK

THE MELANESIAN MISSION. NEW GUINEA TERRITORY. London, July 31. Flying missionaries will face the perils of the Australian Mandated Territory in North New Guinea after the end of 1936, if the Church of England Melanesian Mission’s plans are realised. “The task is the most difficult, dangerous and important since the Solomon Islands’ Mission,” said the Rev. Stuart Artless, secretary of th< home organisation of the mission in an interview today. “The territory is populated by 209,000 tribesmen, some cannibalistic, most of whom have never seen a white man. We are planning to send three of our most experienced missionaries, who realise that they will be taking their lives into their hands.” Mr. Artless referred to the immediate need of £2ooi) to purchase an aeroplane, which is the only means of reaching the jungle settlement. It is intended to name the machine the Southern Cross of the Air, following the tradition established by. the mission’s seven ships, all of which have been named Southern Cross. The territory is 900 miles by 400, and it is expected that the cost will be at least £2OOO a year for the maintenance of three missionaries. “Hundreds of gold prospectors are gathered at Wau waiting to enter the territory,” said Mr. Artless, “and it is feared that contact between the whites and the primitive natives may lead to serious consequences. The mission aims, by Christian teaching, to counter demoralising influences.”