By Methodists
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
First Missionary In
Western Samoa
Landing of Rev. Peter Turner Commemorated at Manono By Methodists
From Our Own Correspondent.
APIA, July 24.
IN the presence of a large gathering of Samoan adherents of the Methodist Mission and of Rev. .1. W. Burton, M.A., General Secretary of the Methodist Mis sionary Society of Australia, a monument was unveiled on July 17 on the island of Manono, to commemorate the landing 100 years ago of Rev. Peter Turner, the first Methodist Missionary to arrive in Samoa.
The unveiling of the monument was one of the last official acts performed by the departing Administrator (Sir Herbert Hart) who, with Mrs. Hart and an official party, arrived on the pilot launch from Apia, escorted by a,number of decorated fautasis. An impressive church service was held, after which Sir Herbert briefly addressed the meeting, reminding those present that one of his first official acts in Samoa had been the unveiling of a monument to Rev. John Williams and that the present ceremony was one of his last acts at the close of his term in Samoa.
Rev. Burton in his speech stressed the importance of the work of the Mission and the ready assistance rendered to the church in Samoa by the mother church in Aus tralia. During the afternoon a fa’alolo was given by natives and ceremonial gifts pre sented, while the Manono High Chief Leiataua Lesa welcomed the visitors to his island.
Rev. R. P. Fallowes, of the Melanesian Mission station on Santa Ysabel, Solo rpon Islands, has been for some months very, ill in Sydney Hospital. He has slightly, and hopes to leave for his home in England in September.