MELANESIAN MISSION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17567, 18 June 1925, Page 9

MELANESIAN MISSION.

ANNUAL MEETING. annual meeting of the -Melanesian balance-sheet showed that the retouu* tlje Canon Mutter said that it was gratifying to flnd the increased interest in tpe uii*sion. Charity began at home, ana New Zealand should l>ay special attention to Melanesia. 1 T'lio election of officers resulted as follows .-—Co aim ittee. l>eaa Carrington. Archdeacon Haggit, Archdeacou Taylor, Canon ton, Mrs Dunnage, Mrs Blyth* Jlisa Seon, Miss Farr, Mies Hockley, and Sister Kate. The Rev. F. B. Redgrave, general secretary to the New Zealand Board of Al_isncmn, who has recently returned from a ■\jpit to the Islands, spoke on the work of the missionaries in the Islands. He said that tho health of Bishop Steward had a. fit man. If the Bishop bid to give up through ill health, it would be nothing less than a tragedy. There imis no ouo else in Melanesia capabie of becoming a bishop. It was extremely gratifying to know that an assistant - bishop would soon he consecrated ami this would lessen the load on Bishop Stewards shoulders. During the past year eight, deacons and five priests had been ordained and this great iuore;>» in the native clergy would bo of grea-t benefit to the mission. The path© priests were of a tine stamp, and were proving first-class workers, needing little supervision. Another satisfactory feature was the large increase in the number of scholars at the schools. To-day there were over 200 boys in one school, and it was always the ideal for the boys to become teachers, for whom the annual salary was £ C I "lOs to £i. It wp a test for the boy?- sincerity, as if a boy went on to a plantation, he received ,£l a month and his food. It was very encouraging to find that 60 per cent of the boys had volunteered to become teachers. In New Zealand there «<j3 a very gratifying increase in interest in the mission, and in tha past year £0036 had been given to the mission, as compared with under £SOOO six yearA vote of thanks was accorded tin*