MEN RUN WILD IN SOLOMONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19239, 28 November 1930, Page 14

MEN RUN WILD IN SOLOMONS.

PRIMITIVE COUNTRY FAR FROM RELIGION. lii these days when the world is such a well-trodden place that people have to organise • a yachting tour to the Antarctic Seas in order to get something out of the ordinary, it is interesting to know that there are still some corners of the earth where the white man has not set foot and where the inhabitants are probably just as primitive as were the Maori before Captain Cook sailed into their astonished view. Bishop T. J. Wade, whose diocese is in the ex-German Solomon Islands, under mandate to Australia, is at present on a visit to Christchurch. He is in charge of this out-of-the-way spot, where the natives are still living as their ancestors lived for generations. In an interview yesterday he said that roughly thirty per cent of his field was still untouched by Government or missionary, and about 10,000 out of the 60,000 natives were still in their wild state. “ Working in this mission field,” said the Bishop, “we have twenty-four priests, twenty-three sisters, and five brothers. Seven nationalities are represented—including France, Germany, America, Ireland, Belgium and New Zealand. Our only New Zealander, and our youngest priest is Emmett M’Hardy, who has done remarkably well in an area never touched before, and I hope we will have other New Zealanders to help, for there is plenty of scope. No Head-hunters. “ No, there are no head-hunters in our part of the Group, though I believe there are some in the British Solomons, but as I said, thirty per cent of our territory is still waiting to be civilised. From the sea coast you can see the fires of these native villages away up on the mountains, but neither Government officials nor missionaries have yet penetrated this primitive area. The islands are mountainous, peaks running up to 10,000 feet in height. Mount Balbi, an active volcano, was ascended a few years ago by the Whitney expedition from the United States, and prior to that it was unsealed. “ Missionary work started in our part of the Solomons in 1847, but the Marists found insuperable difficulties owing to the wild state of the natives, and work was suspended for fifty 3'ears. We began again in 1897, and during the past ten years the natives have turned wholeheartedly, so that to-day we have 13,000 Catholics: the number of converts last year being 3000.” More Missionaries Needed. Asked if he had anything to say to the criticisms of missionary work in the Tongan Group, passed by Mr G. W. Allsop, of Auckland, the other day. Bishop Wade said he knew nothing of that part of the islands, but he was certainly surprised at the statement about there being too many missionaries. All he could say was that in the Solomons the natives were simply waiting for clergymen: the scope was there, and the only difficulty was to get more men. Bishop Wade, who hails from Ireland, is quite a young man, surprisingly young in fact for a bishop. He is at present on furlough, and will remain in the Dominion until December 16, when he leaves Wellington for Sydney, where he will catch the boat for the Solomons. Yesterday morning he attended the funeral of the late Father Gilbert.