In Papua
p. 74 · Read in the full issue
Funds Wanted!
C. of E. Mission Work In Papua
■THE new Bishop of New Guinea, Right Rev. P. N. W. Strong, came to Australia at the end of August to make an urgent appeal for financial support for the work of his Mission in Papua.
He said that the New Guinea Mission was being starved through lack of funds and, unless more money was made avail able, its operations would be curtailed.
It should be explained, perhaps, that the diocese of the Bishop of New Guinea does not include any part of what is now officially New Guinea —it includes Papua only. The Mandated Territory of New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the New Hebrides are in the charge of the Melanesian Mission, and constitute the diocese of the Bishop of Melanesia, which is a diocese of the Church of the Province of New Zealand.
The Australian Board of Missions, which is the official missionary organi sation of the C. of E. in Australia, pro vides funds for the mission work car ried on by the Bishop of New* Guinea (in Papua) and also makes a small annual payment to the Melanesian Mis sion. The bulk of the funds of the Melanesian Mission comes from church donations in Britain, and the balance from New Zealand.
It is, therefore, a fact that the Church of England mission work in New Guinea, which should be the responsibility of Australia, is carried out by British and New Zealand people through the Melanesian Mission. It would be more fitting if the diocese of the Bishop of New Guinea (Papua) were extended to include New Guinea, and funds for the work were provided by Australia.
We understand that there is some talk of the Bishop of New Guinea being given authority over the mainland section of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea; but that it is most unlikely that the Bishop of Melanesia will abandon his responsibilities in New Britain and New Ireland, where a great deal of pioneer ing work has been done.
The curious geographical division be tween the dioceses of New Guinea and Melanesia is, of course, a reminder of pre-war conditions. Papua was then British New Guinea, and what is now the Mandated Territory was German New Guinea. In 1926 the Melanesian Mission, from its headquarters in the Solomon Islands, extended its operations into New Ireland and New Britain, the principal islands of the Bismarck Archi pelago.