200 NOTES CONCERNING THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 
islands, practically the only changes made in the original plan of work 
in the Mission were: (1) the substitution of Mota for English as the 
language of the central school; (2) the removal of headquarters to 
Norfolk Island from Auckland. The hand of the founder seemed ever 
to lie on the Mission which his strong and vigorous nature and powerful 
personality had called into being and directed along its path of life. 
In the Melanesian Mission the bishop theoretically is the Mission; 
the clergy simply are the bishop’s chaplains, and till fairly late in the 
episcopate of Bishop Wilson no license was issued to them, and so long 
as it was the tradition that they should return every summer to Nor- 
folk Island it is evident that they could not be instituted to any cure 
of souls. It is quite plain, moreover, that with only a small staff and 
with frequent absences or departures or losses entailing a considerable 
moving round of the men, nothing approaching the conditions neces- 
sary for the holding of a synod of the Australasian type is likely to 
occur, and it does not seem that the Mission is likely to grow quickly 
into a church which shall be self-governing unless (in order to com- 
pensate for the fewness of the white priests) a large number of native 
priests are ordained. 
SUPPORT. 
The bishop’s chief intention in regard to the support of the Mission 
seems to have been that it should be a first charge on the Church of 
New Zealand, and he evidently regarded the Mission in Melanesia 
as part and parcel of the work of the Church of New Zealand. He 
also looked forward to the native Maori church as a source whence 
missionaries to Melanesia would be obtained. With the division of 
the original diocese of New Zealand into six and the consequent 
necessity, owing to influx of population, of providing for its own in- 
ternal needs, the Church of New Zealand rather failed for many years 
to fulfill its obligations to Melanesia. A resolution of General Synod 
was passed to the effect that the various dioceses be asked to appoint 
a missionary Sunday and to give their alms on that day to Melanesia. 
Four out of the six dioceses have now fallen into line with this reso- 
lution by appointing such a Sunday. 
The Christian Maoris have not realized as yet the hope that Bishop 
Selwyn entertained of them, viz, that they should become missionaries 
to Melanesia and that the Maori church should support its own foreign 
missionaries; but now, with the coming of the Marsden Centenary, a 
definite movement has been set on foot to send Maori missionaries to 
the Polynesian-speaking peoples in Melanesia. 
In Australia the Melanesian Mission was accepted through the Board 
of Missions as one of the activities of the church, yet in 1894 Australia’s 
contribution to Melanesia was only £1,600, whereas in the same year 
New Zealand gave £2,750 and England £3,800. The revival of the 
