SON OF A HEADHUNTER

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 133, 22 June 1937, Page 11

SON OF A HEADHUNTER

Rev. Balshazzar Gina Speaks > in Hastings SOLOMON ISLAND MISSIONER , On Sunday night, not only were the Hastings Methodist Cburch and vestries packed, but the overflow filled the former church as well. Many of those present remembered the visit to Hastings 12 years ago of a .black boy from the Solomon Islands; others had heard of the extraordinary development and sorvice of this son of a former headhunter now known as a minister of the Methodist Church in the Solomon Islands mission, the Rev. Belshazzar Gina. On his way to this Dominion on his first visit, and. during his short stay in Sydney, his hostess thought the laid was lost. He had taken the instrument by' which a returned soldier appealed f orthe sympathy of passers-by, and his skill in playing soon brought the crowd and a response such as the soldier had never had before. This gift for music received training during Gina's f our years of schooling in New £ealand. The range of mueical -instruments he can play is from a mouth-organ to a pipe-organ. Not only is he an evangelist to various tribes of his own people, in instances at the rislt of his life because of former enmities, but his power of song and knowledge of musie have enabled him to lead in this branch of culture, which is so much an integrhl part of Christian enlightenment. He is both a bandmaster and a ehoinnaster. Four years ago he went as a pioneer missionary to the island of Simbo. Tko chief resented his arrival, for his father had been lcilled by Gina's grandfather in a lieadhunting raid. Gina pleaded to be received, for he came as a friend and not as an enemy. Gradually he wore down hostility, and his first convert was the opposing chief. To-day, practically all the inhabdtants of the island are members or adherents of the church. Some months ago the Rev. Mr. Scriven, formerly of Hastings, visited Simbo. The choir, under Gina's leadership, sang the Hallelujah chorus, the Gloria from Mozart 's 12th Mass 1 nnd ' ' The Heavens Are Telling ' ' from "The Messiah "-T— these and other geihs of musical ' majesty. That is but a radnor fruit of his industry. Gina spoke and sang and played some of his musical instruments at another meeting held in the Methodist Church last night.