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Albert Maclaren
Pioneer Missionary in New Guinea

By Frances M. Synge

London: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 1908


Appendix II. Note by the Bishop of New Guinea.

THE New Guinea Mission at the beginning of 1908 had dealt with the 300 miles of coast-line between Cape Ducie and the British-German boundary as follows:--

1. Goodenough Bay--from Cape Ducie to Cape Vogel. This district is almost completely occupied by the Mission. Over 7,000 people are in close touch with the staff, and i6 places have resident teachers with schools, churches and boarders. At 63 additional places services are held. Nine hundred children attend the day schools. There are 400 catechumens, 420 communicants, and over 1,000 have been baptised. The whole Old Testament Lectionary has been translated, the greater part of the New Testament, the Prayer-book, 110 hymns, and four reading-books. Scripture, prayers and hymns have been issued in two dialects. The Secondary School at Dogura with 50 selected boys, the Training College with 2 students, and the Half-caste Orphanage with 32 children are the most prominent institutions. Two native catechists from the Training College are in charge of villages in Goodenough Bay. The industrial settlement at Hioge, the hospital at Dogura, the herd of cattle in Wedau, and the lighthouse on Cape Vogel represent the social side, supplementing the educational and evangelistic work of the Mission.

2. Collingwood Bay--from Cape Vogel to Cape Nelson. The main population, 3,700, is dealt with in two stations at tile head of the bay. One other place has a resident teacher, and the harbours of the Cape Nelson promontory are evangelised. Services are held at 8 centres, and 336 children attend the schools. The first large baptism takes place this year (1908). Translations have been issued in two dialects.

3. Beyond Cape Nelson.--A gap of nearly 80 miles is at present unoccupied by the Mission, then three stations have been established within 25 miles of the boundary. By these 1,500 people are reached, and 150 children attend school. Translation work has been issued in a dialect that may prove to be the most important one on the coast.

In addition to native work, Samarai has a resident clergyman and a school for the children of white settlers. The work here is among Europeans, though the native prisoners in the gaol and the many native employees are reached and influenced. Over £140 was raised here for church and school purposes last year.

The progress of the Mission in the last decade may be summed up in the following table:--

   1898  1908
Mission staff   14  77
School children  200 1,400
Baptised 17 1,000
Confirmed  -- 581
Communicants  -- 450
Contributions to  £1,000 £6,000
Contributions from £18 £265

Six of the white staff have laid down their lives in the service of the Mission, and seven South-Sea Island teachers have made their graves in New Guinea. One hundred baptised Papuans have passed within the veil.

On the 24th of June, 1908, the Bishop presented the sum of £100, free and unappropriated, in S. Paul's Cathedral, as the thank-offering of the Church in Papua for blessings vouchsafed to it.


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