Mission Ship Laid Up For Duration

The Melanesian Mission vessel “South ern Cross V”, well known throughout the Western Pacific, has been laid up for the duration of the war, and is lying several miles off Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands.

The whole of the crew with the excep tion of one engineer, who will keep the vessel’s diesel engines in order, have been paid off.

The Diocese of Melanesia covers hun dreds of islands in the Solomons, New

Hebrides, and New Guinea; and the important part played by the “Southern Cross” in keeping contact between these islands has earned it the title of the “life blood of the mission”.

The withdrawal of the “Southern Cross” will cause great inconvenience to the whole Mission organisation, as well as to many planters, traders and settlers in outlying islands.