Chinese Mission to Victoria.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 212, 2 December 1873, Page 7

Chinese Mission to Victoria.

"iEgles" in the Australasian writes :—" I am afraid that it is too good to be true. A country journal lias a notice from Ah Sin, of 42, Little Bourke-street, inviting subscriptions in aid of a Chinese Mission to the heathen in Victoria. Ah Sin hopes by the aid of such a mission to dispel the deplorable paganism that prevails, and to bring benighted Australians to a knowledge of the pure morality which Confucius taught. And further says this intelligent Heathen Chinee : —' Careful inquiries and prolonged observation have convinced the promoters of this pious movement that the population of this colony are sunk in the grossest idolatry, and that they worship medals of gold and silver, stamped with the portrait of the reigning sovereign. Certain temples called banks are erected as the shrines of these pocket deities, and so abject is the condition of thousands of idolators, that they not only adore those gods of gold and silver, but they also worship those human beings who possess the largest collection of them. Grateful for the protection they enjoy under the laws of Victoria, and desirous also of reciprocating the zealous efforts of British missionaries in China, the Chinese residents in Melbourne purpose to send English-speaking and highly educated mandarins into the metropolis and country towns of Victoria, with a view to wean the inhabitants, if possible, from the degrading worship of the god who is understood to bear the name of Mammon, and to be the father of all little gods.' "