His Last Trip

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 437, 20 August 1928, Page 13

His Last Trip

Bishop Steward Ends Mission Labours 25 YEARS’ SERVICE 'When Bishop J. M. Steicard left the Mission steamer Southern Cross at Auckland this morning he did so with regret. He had made his last official trip in the gallant little vessel, ■which has been a link with New Zealand for many years. For the last nine years Bishop Steward has been Bishop of Melanesia, but he has now retired because of ill-health, and will leave for England as soon as possible. Altogether he has spent 25 years in the islands of the Western Pacific, working among the natives in a diocese which is 2,000 miles long and which contains hundreds of islands, large and small. “Yes, it is rather a sad day for me, ’ he remarked this morning, on the deck of the Southern Cross but one gathered that the bishop had achieved much during his stay in the widely scattered diocese. Work, he continued, was going ahead steadily, though slowly. Although there was a steady growth, nothing of any great consequence had happened except the taking over the mandated territory of German New Guinea. If Bishop Steward ever writes his memoirs they wall make fascinating reading. The first person he spoke to in the Solomon Islands, when he went there 25 years ago, was a professional murderer. FRIENDLY MURDERER “He was very friendly,” remarked the bishop. “It was the custom in the old days for chiefs whose dignity had suffered to employ professional murderers to obtain heads for them. They were well paid and made quite a good thing out of their murdering. All that sort of thing has practically ended now.” Quite frequently, in those early days of the Mission’s work, Bishop Steward received messages telling him that he would be killed. “As a matter of fact, we never quite knew when we would be killed,” smiled the bishop. “One night I slept in a village which was to be raided by head-hunters.” Although most of the islands in the diocese have been visited, there are still several which are too mountainous and too wooded for the missionaries to penetrate. This eventually will be done. Christianity has been carried into all the islands, and is now firmly established. Approximately 10 per cent, of the natives are converts. ISLAND CATHEDRAL At Siota, the headquarters of the diocese, Bishop Steward says that a very beautiful cathedral is being built. The chancel has been completed, but it will be some years before the whole edifice is finished. The cathedral, which will be unique, and the only one of its kind in the Pacific, is being built of native materials and woods, and will be inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The chancel is 60 feet long, 48 feet wide and 30 feet high. Native workmen hew huge beams from the trees on the island, therefore progress is rather slow. Bishop Steward can make himself understood in three distinct native languages, but he was able to hold confirmation services in 12 languages. During the last 12 months he has travelled 2,500 miles round various islands in his own launch, the Mavis, and although he had been in the diocese for a quarter of a century he still came upon places he had never seen. “The scenery is very, very lovely,” he said, “and although one becomes accustomed to it one never becomes tired of its beauty.”