New Anglican Bishop of New

Rev. C. W. Alderson

New Anglican Bishop of New Guinea

succeed Dr. Henry Newton, who has laboured for 36 years in Melanesia, Rev. Cecil William Alderson, M.A., of England, has been appointed Anglican Bishop of New Guinea. The date of his arrival in Australia and where he will be consecrated are points which have not yet been decided.

Rev. Alderson, who is 35 years of age, was a scholar at St. John’s College, Oxford, where he gained high degrees in classics and philosophy, and took first class honours in theology. He was vice principal of Ely Theological College from 1925 to 1930, and was then appointed by the University Mission to Nyasaland, Central Africa, in 1933.

The Bishop-Elect is said to be quiet and unassuming—even shy, at first — rather than openly forceful, but gives one the impression of spirituality and power.

He has a keen and penetrating mind and should be well fitted to deal with the problems of the task to which he has been called.

The new Bishop’s diocese comprises the whole of Papua—not the Mandated Ter ritory of New Guinea as might be ex pected from his title. The New Guinea Mission, of which Rev. Alderson will be the head, was established in Papua in the days when the territory was fre quently called British New Guinea.

When Australia took over the German portion of New Guinea, the N.G. Mission did not extend its influence to that sphere, but contented itself with con solidating the work in Papua. The Angli can Church’s activities in New Guinea are the responsibility of the Melanesian Mission, which also operates in the Solo mon Islands and New Hebrides.