METHODIST FOREIGN MISSIONS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 238, 26 June 1918, Page 3

METHODIST FOREIGN MISSIONS

After conducting services in Trinity and Wesley Churches on Sunday las't, tho .Rev. J. W. Burton, M.A., opened his North Island campaign, on behalf of ..n-niodisc laroign missions, at the ITiit taitai Church on Monday evening. Tho Rov. F. T. Reed, C.F., occupied the chair, and the attendance was representative of the three churches comprising the Kilbirnie Circuit, Mrs. Johnson Wright, president of the Wellington Women's Association, being also present. After sketching the extent of the workopening up to. tho Australasian Methodist Church, both in the islands of the Pacific (including the evangelisation of the Indians on tho sugar plantations of Fiji) and in the field set opart 'as its sphere of in India, Mr. Burton went on to relate some of his experiences during the time he spent in charge of the Indian Mission in Fiji. Speaking of the condition of tho peoplo as he found them, he told of the—at that time—unsatisfactory arrangements for housing the labourers, and outlined the steps token to bring about a better state of things, incidentally condemning in scathing terms the'indenture system by which labour was recruited. ' The (''iPcii-'v* the missioiiary hud to meet in presenting his message were touched on—": 'o of 'vlii"'n (be speaker himself had to deal with being instanced. As to work still to bo done, Mr. Burton's appeal was very emphatic thot "the people called Methodists" should see to it that in the changing conditions of lite times they were true to'thc traditions of their church, and that the necessary men and women (and friends with which to support them) should be forthcoming so that the Mission Board might be able to increase its staffs and break new ground.