FOREIGN MISSION SERVICE

Hokitika Guardian, 10 September 1931, Page 2

FOREIGN MISSION SERVICE

MISS M’NEUR LEAVES.

TEACHER BY TRAINING AND TRADITION.

M iss Jean M’N eur, who lias been ordained by the Presbytery :f Duned.n as a missionary to China, is the daughter of the Key. G. H. M’Neur and Mrs M’Neur, of Canton. Miss M’Nenr is o' the tribe of Levi, from which the priests come; her father is a missionary, his'four brothers are Presbyterian ministers, and her only sister is on the staff of the Presbyterian Social Service Association. Miss M’Neur is also a teacher by tradition, training and practice. She graduated M.A. with honours in history, took a course in the Treachers’ Training College, Dunfdand has taught in some New Zealand schools. Her mother was a, public school teacher, her father is a. full time member of the staff of the Union Theological College, Canton, and his father was for many years the teacher at Port Molyneux, After graduation at the University of Otago Miss M’Neur took classes for a session in the Women’s Training Institute and in the Theological Hall, Knox Ool'ege. As a university student she took a full share in the social and athletic life of the University, and she was an active worker of the Christain. Union. Her work in Canton will be the training o' Chinese teachers or the training o! Chinese Bible women. As she spoke the Chinese language as a child, It is expected that her use cf this difficult tongue will soon come back t<> her. The Presbyterian Church of New Zealand l will be responsib’e for Miss M’Neur’s salary and other expenses, but the direction of her work will be in the hands of the Synod of the Christain Church in China, the present moderator of which is a Chinese, and the Chinese members of which outnumber the foreign members by at least four to one. In the Christian Church in China prestige and influence now depend not upon race but up-, n personality and knowledge. But the Chinese position in the Church is as readily accorded 1 to a foreigner vho possesses these qualities ns To a member of their own race. The Rev. Mr Davis, who bns been twenty-one years! in Ctnton, said that the Chinese swift ly detect the faintest trace of con sciouspesß of racial superiority, and, if a would-be missionary had it, he had batter stop nt home. NEW ZEALAND STAFF.

New Zealand has made a very fine contribution to China in men, women and money. The staff has included honours graduates and some men and women who are regarded as among the best foreign speakers of Chinese in Canton. Mr M’Neur, who was ordained as the first missionary of . the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand thirty years ago, is now accepted by competent authorities as one of the best Chinese, scholars in Canton, and, owing to hi a calm wisdom and the balance and maturity of his character, he is readily accorded by colleagues the position of father of the mission. British and American missionaries in Cantan, though much more numerous than New Zealanders, have always given to New Zealanders a high place in conference and eo-operation. Miss Sl’Neur will 'be a very valuable addition to the New Zealand staff in China, and a worthy representative of her church, the University and the Dominion.