LONG SERVICE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 251, 14 June 1932, Page 3

LONG SERVICE

. FIFTEEN YEARS AMONG SOLOMON ISLAND NATIVES. FRENCH MISSIONER'S WORK. Visiting Wellington at the present time is the Rev. Vincent le C. Binet, who is enjoying a five months' furlough after fifteen years' service as a Methodist missionary on the island of Choiseul in the British Solomon Islands. Choiseul is not a very large island. It is one of the hundreds that constitute the great Solomon group, many of which do not figure at all in the ordinary maps " of the Pacific, yet Choiseul has a population of about 8000 Solomon Islanders, among whom Mr. Binet has planted the Cross to some definite purpose. "When I went there fifteen years ago," said the missionary, "the natives lived in fortified and barricaded villages, and inter-tribal warfare was a normal condition. The natives were worshippers of the spirits of their ancestors, not unlike other Eastern peoples, and considered alligators and stingrays gods of some kind — gods of evil, I suppose, who had to be appeased by offerings of food which they were never slow in eonsuming. There was no human sacrifice, even in those days, but away back in remote times it is reeorded that the Solomon Islanders became cannibals after a battle with an enemy tribe." "I can earnestly and thankfully say that Christianity is now firmly rooted in Choiseul," said Mr. Binet. "Intertribal wars are at an end, and the people are not now afraid to build their little villages round the coast without barricades or defence of any kind, and, generally speaking, are leading decent lives under peaceful conditions. Church Without Nails. "My people are so advanced," said Mr. Binet, "that some four years ago they built a church capable of holding a thousand people. . The whole of the Tbuilding was construeted hy the natives — native architecture and native builders. The church is built of a native hardwood called kival (some call it Indian teak), it is thatched with sago palm leaves, and not a nail is used in the structure. The

roof and cross beams are all tied with native cane; for the simple leason that nails cost money and cane costs nothing. The thatched roof has to be renewed every seven years, and any weakness in the cane building can easily he replaced. Such a building stands up to the weather well, and the earth tremors we experienee from time to time, sometimes heavy enough to displace articles on shelve's, have no effect on such native buildings. At Choiseul we have storms at times, but never devastating hurricanes such as are experienced at Fiji and some of the other groups; oceasionally there are big earthquakes in some parts of the Solomons. Seven months ago a tidal wave swept 200 feet inshore at Guadalcanar, and caused the death of many natives. No doubt this was the result of a submarine disturbance near that island." Mr. Binet said that as there was no direct service to Choiseul on had to proceed to Sydney or Brisbane and there pick up a steamer for the Solomons, which may connect with a vessel in the inter-island trade. ... — — _j.