The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 92

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92

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

“At Hermannsburg this work has been carried
on since 1876, when Missionaries Schwarz and
Kempe established this station under instructions
from the Hermannsburg Mission in Germany.
When adverse climatic conditions and ill health
made it impossible for them to continue the work,
the German mission society sold the station. It
was purchased by the then existing Immanuel
Synod of South Australia and is now the property
of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Australia. One of the great difficulties is the ever-
recurring drought periods of Central Australia,
with their accompanying lack of feed and water.
If the water question could be solved,—and Mis-
sionary Albrecht has shown how this could be
done, — the dry periods would not work such havoc
as has been the case in the past.

“The native congregation numbers some two
hundred souls, and there are often about three
hundred natives at the station, where they receive
rations towards the cost of which the Federal
Government contributes. It has been found that it
is more conducive to the health of the natives to
supply them with wheat than with flour and to put
at their disposal small grinding machines with
which they can reduce the grain to meal. It is also
to their advantage if they can supplement the ration
with ‘bush tucker,’ that is, with the dietary which
the bush supplied to them when they led their wild
life. In connection with the mission there is a
school, attended at present by over seventy children.
The difficulty of finding useful employment for the
natives is of course a very great one. A few of the
men are employed at the station, likewise some of
the women and girls. Some of the women are
taught to do fancy-work, which they sell to tourists.
Regarding the reliability of the natives when em-
ployed by the whites the missionary adduces two
testimonials. A station manager says: “The boys
give every satisfaction.’ A mounted constable who
had a mission-trained black boy with him for
several months wrote: “By far the most intelligent
and best boy I ever had in this country.’

“What this mission is doing for the natives of
Central Australia our Koonibba Mission Station is
doing for other tribes whose domain lies farther
south. The up-keep of Koonibba is a heavy drain
on our resources, it is true, but it is a truly blessed
work, this mission-work among the natives, and one
that it would be a shame to relinquish.”

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

Home Mission in Louisiana. — The city of New
Orleans has four white mission-congregations, two
in the up-town and two in the down-town section of
the city. One of these missions is subsidized wholly
by the contributions of the local pastors and
teachers! One of the Home Mission parishes of the
State comprises no fewer than six congregations;
the missionary in charge is assisted by a student.
A subsidized congregation is striving hard to be-
come self-supporting in the near future. The oldest
Home Mission station in Louisiana is at Clinton.
A mission at Baton Rouge, the capital of the State,
expects to become self-supporting soon. Other mis-
sions are located at Monroe, De Ridder, Crowley,
Jennings, and Iota. The Louisiana field is hard
to work, and the growth of the congregations is very
slow and in many cases discouraging. The more
reason to recognize the missionary zeal shown by
the pastors and congregations.

Retrenchment! — The Foreign Mission Board
of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America has
dismissed one of its secretaries, reduced the salaries
20 per cent., and reduced the number of active mis-
sionaries by three.

New York Metropolitan Area. — There are
more than 500 Lutheran churches in the metropol-
itan area of New York. One hundred fifty of these
received more than 3,000 youth and adults by the
rite of confirmation on Palm Sunday into their
communicant membership.

Buffalo Lutheran Institutional Missions. —
The missionaries visit patients and inmates in six-
teen institutions. During the past six months they
made 401 visits and gave 4,715 persons missionary
attention. Among this number they found 1,212
nominal Lutherans. No fewer than 139 services
were held in the various institutions during that
time. Much relief was given to families and home-
less men. At Christmas 2,437 persons were remem-
bered with food, clothing, toys, and other gifts. The
missionaries gave aid to seventy-two children during
the last six months, finding homes for some and
giving food and clothing to others. Nineteen old
people are taken care of in the old people’s home.

Home Missions in Iowa. — There are fifty-three
Home Mission congregations in Iowa, served by
thirty-one pastors, two male teachers, two woman
teachers, five candidates, and five students. In these
congregations there are almost 4,000 baptized and