INDIA.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 27, Issue 7, 1 July 1937, Page 4

INDIA.

The Rev. J. E. Jones, till lately curate of Master ton and now Vicar of Hunterville, has been accepted by the Church Missionary Society for work m Chapra, Bihar Province, India, and will leave about November.

In view of this appointment, it is interesting to note that only last year (April, 1936) the province of Bihar and Crissa was divided, m order to give a homogeneous administration to the Oriya speaking tracts of Madras and Bihar, which now form the new province of Orissa.

Chapra, on the Ganges, is m the midst of the rich rice-fields which surround Patna (the provincial capital of Bihar); and here the C.M.S. has developed a Community School where Mr Jones' New Zealand farming experience should be of value. This Community School at Chapra, St. John's School, Krishnaga, the Divinity School m Shikarpur, are the responsibilities not yet taken over by the native Church, which is guided by the recently consecrated Bishop Tarafdar. The Meherpur Ashram fount of spiritual life for the diocese, has been able to return to the C.M.S. almost all the original grant. Those interested m Mr Jones' career should read "Eastward Ho" and "The Outlook" for April, 1937. Converts From Many Different Castes There was not a single confirmation where there were candidates drawn from less than three or four communities. This is becoming a feature m some fields, Christians of Reddi, Wadder, Erukula, Madiga and Mala origin are regularly presented m these areas. Recent baptisms m the Dornakal Indian Mission area had

also this as a feature, There were two baptisms at Abboypalem; at one 54 were baptised, of whom one only was,, of Mala origin, but others of Telaga, Gowndla, Waddar, Erukala and Madiga origin. In another centre Gollas and Lambadus were m the majority, a few were of Gowndla and Muthrasulu origin, and the rest of Madiga origin, and there was no one of Mala origin. In Nuzvid a husband and- wife of Goldsmith caste were confirmed. A few days later a colony of Waddars were received into the Church by baptism. I state this not as a matter for exultation, but. as a notable fact showing that people of many castes are now coming into the Christian fellowship. (The Bishop of Dornakal). This is the Diocese m which Misses Sowry, Young, and Reynolds are at work, and where Miss Florence Smith served for 30 years. The Earliest Link Between Canterbury and Dornakal. Is it possible that some of our readers who follow the English Church papers may have seen m recent issues that the. Judicial Committee of the Privy Council have approved the demolition of the City Church of All Hallows, Lombard Street, m the City of London, and if they have read more closely may have noticed that the. parish should be united with that of S. Edmund the King, and that from the proceeds of the sale £8,000 should be given towards rebuilding S. Dionis Hall m the united benefice. They may not have realised that this parish, and especially what is called S. Dionis Hall, has an intimate link with the Diocese of Dornakal. The first Indian, almost the first man from outside Europe, to be baptised m the Anglican Church, and also the first to be sent by the Anglican Church to preach the Gospel to his own people, was a young man from somewhere m the neighbourhod of Masulipatam. He was taken to England and instructed, and baptised on the 22nd of December, 1616, by the name of Peter, m what was then the church of St. Dionis Backchurch. (Bishop Azariah of Dornakal).