A Hardworked Missionary

on Holiday.

MISS ETHEL McMILLAN, a nursing sister on the staff of the Methodist Mission, in the British Solomon Is lands, arrived in Sydney on nine months’ furlough by the “Malaita” on December 17.

Miss McMillan has completed 23 years’ service with the Mission—most of the time on Choiseul, in charge of the Maternity and Girls’ Homes. In her earlier days on Choiseul it was the native custom to burn the newly-bom infant when the mother died in childbirth Sister McMillan res cued many of these unwanted infants, having on occasions as many as 17 in the home at one time. This gruesome custom has been abandoned, but the children are

still unwanted in the villages and are passed on to Miss McMillan’s care. The girls in the home are trained in cooking, sewing, basket-making and in native crafts, and devote a certain amount of time daily to the cultivation of native foods. Naturally, on completion of their training, they are in demand in the na tive matrimonial market, particularly with the natives of the Mission staff.

Miss McMillan originally did most of her travelling by canoe, manned by girls from the Home; but, following a capsize in a heavy sea, and a rescue by boys from the shore, the natives extracted a promise from her that in future men should be included in the crew. With the care of the infants, the girls’ home and the ma ternity ward, her work has been strenu ous and her long holiday well deserved.

Sister McMillan, with a group of her “unwanted”

Solomon Islands infants.