The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-15

Der or MtsBlonaries -Ihe Area CoV-
 cred.
 Boston, Feb. 1.-The report of the re- cent deputatlon to India and Ceylon of
 the American board of foreign missions was presented to the prudential com- mlttee, this afternoon, by Rev. Dr..
 James L. Barton, it's chairman. The vital portions of the report were written in India, and were concurred in by the other members of the deputation, Rev, J. r. Loba of Evanston, H., and Will liam F. Whittemore of Boston, who has not yet returned.
 The inspection of the deputatlon in cluded the missions of Bombay to which the first missionaries ever ap- pointed by the American board were sent out in 1813; the Ceylon, where ope rations were begun in 1916, and the Ma dura, which was the outgrowth of the Ceylon mission in 1854
 These cover an area of some twenty thousand square miles, with a popula tion of about six millions In them the board has eighty-six missionaries, be- sides thirteen Americans connected with the board, but not under full ap- pointment
 In all the missions of the board in the world there are 3, ,483 native pastors, preachers, teachers and Bible women, of which 1,539 are connected with the missions visited. There are 62,1SS per sons under instruction in all of the board missions of which 28,074 are in those visited. Last year the additions to church membership in these missions were third of the whole number in the world.
 The mission in Ceylon is confined to the northern peninsula of Jaffna, in which two other missionary societies, both of England, are engaged, the work being equally divided, From the church membership, somewhat scat tered in business, regular contributions are sent for the home school and church.
 Many of the people reached here are of the farmer caste, higher and better off than many of those reached on the India side of the channel. They are eager for education, and their influence is felt among all classes.
 The Jaffna Christians are interested in the Independent work of the boards home missionary society, and in stu dents foreign missionary society, which is supporting missionary and his wife in India.
 The work of the Ceylon mission is di- rected by twelve missionaries. Four are ordained, four are wives, four are single women, and among them are four physicians Besides the English high schools there are Jaffna college, two girls boarding schools and a boys nor maj training and industrial school.
 There are eighteen churches with over two thousand members, with twelve | pastors, none of which receive aid from | the board in support of pastors, al- l though contributing to missions.
 The situations here, and in many places in India, have corps,of Bible wo- men, working under the superinten- | dence of missionary women
 The deputation indorses the plan of | Jaffna college for a theological school, | the self-supporting three English high schools, and looks with | satisfaction upon the fact that one hun i dred and twenty nine village schools | are supported almost entirely by gov ernment grants.
 It also calls attention to the fact that | the medical work of the mission has done much, here as elsewhere, to break | down prejudice and clear the way for direct Christian work.
 India, says the report is one of the largest, oldest and most accessible mis- sion fields in the world. It has a popu- lation of over two hundred and ninety one million who are accessible to the Christian teacher, The government is In sympathy with mission work, and few if any rulers of native states are hostile. Every year new castes are reached, and in one boarding school were children of eighteen castes who ate, studied and lived together, a con- 1ition impossible a few years ago.
 The missionary is welcome in every part of the country, and Hindus speak freely in admiration of their institu- ions and frequently urged the deputa- ion to use it's influence to increase the In forty years, from 1851 to 1891, the number of Protestant Chris .ians increased one hundred and forty i've per cent, while the population in ,reased only twenty per cent.
 Educated Hindus and English off ,ials called frequent attention to the need of industrial education, because of he false sentiment against manual la DOT by advanced students, which has treated class of idlers unfit for Chris ian professions and for whom no gov- { position-eagerly sought-is l ,pen. and this class is rapidly increas- ng The most hopeful work is among the 'oung and the lower castes, although l he higher classes are constantly l cached The lower strata are gradual l Y rising in the estimation of those con- idered above them, and are gaining in ( Iuence and power still the inherent weakness is such that few Indian ,hristians can satisfactorily carry ! arge responsibility This will be liminated gradually as the work pro- resses among the higher castes, the . i'm of the boards missionaries being to J eorganize the society and life of the eople, and the permanent establish F 1ent of Christian institutions which z hall be self-propagating and indepen- :. ent. a The Madura mission covers an area of 4 nIy seventy by seventy-five miles. !, ,ith population of 3,312,O00 and is en- -