General Conference Bulletin, vol. 6
FOURTEENTH MEETING
W. A. Spicer, C. P. Bollman, I. H. Evans, C. M. Snow, T. E. Bowen
May 20, 3 P. M.
Elder G. A. Irwin in the chair. After the opening song, Elder E. E. Andross offered prayer. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.3
SOUTH AFRICAN UNION
Reports from South Africa were continued. J. V. Willson, secretary of the union, rendered his report as follows:— GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.4
Review of the Union Field GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.5
The South African Union Conference is composed of the Cape Colony Conference, the Natal Transvaal Conference, and the mission territory outside the organized conferences. The territory includes Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, the Transvaal Colony, Natal, Basutoland, Zululand, Swaziland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Rhodesia, and British Central Africa, sometimes called Nyasaland. This is an area of 814,083 square miles, and has a population of 7,370,437, of which 1,131,154 are white, and 6,239,283 are colored. This does not include German West Africa, Portuguese West Africa, or Portuguese East Africa. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.6
This union conference was organized in 1902. It now has 21 churches, a gain of 4 churches in the last four years, and a membership of 679, also 9 companies of Sabbath-keepers, numbering 88, being a gain of 295 in the four years. The amount of tithe received in 1908 was $11,896.48, or a tithe per capita of $13.19. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.7
There are 18 church buildings, the estimated value of which is $33,498.20. We have 18 ordained ministers, 6 licentiates, 36 licensed missionaries, and 9 canvassers, making a total of 69 laborers. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.8
CAPE COLONY CONFERENCE
This conference includes Cape Colony and Orange River Colony, an area of 327,101 square miles, and a population of 2,794,000, of which 2,070,000 are colored. The conference was organized in 1892. Within its bounds are located the Claremont Union College, the Cape Sanitarium, the headquarters of the International Tract Society, the union conference office, and the Kimberley Baths, most of these being at Cape Town and suburbs. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.9
Cape Colony Conference has 12 organized churches, with a membership of 471; 3 companies, with 22 members; and 8 isolated Sabbath-keepers; making a total of 501 Sabbath-keepers in all. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.10
The tithe for 1908 was $5,235.25. ministers, 8 licensed missionaries, and 5 canvassers, making a total of 19 and 5 canvassers, making a total of 19 laborers. The total value of book sales in 1908 was $4,928.44. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.11
Just a word in reference to the peculiar difficulties met by the canvassing work in this territory, owing to the great distances between the towns and cities and the sparsely settled country districts. Our canvassing work is behind in organization and efficiency. We need practical help in organizing the work and getting it started. We respectfully request that Brother E. R. Palmer, the General Conference canvassing agent of the denomination, be sent to South Africa for a period of at least three months to examine the situation on the ground, and endeavor to put our canvassing work on a proper basis, and train, and set to work, a canvassing agent for our territory. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.12
At our last session of the conference, in January, 1909, our hearts were all made glad to welcome back Professor Elffers and his company of eighteen who had been disconnected from the regular organization for some time. The professor is editing and publishing a paper in Dutch, and his two daughters are teaching the Dutch language in connection with our college at Kenilworth. We are sure this accession will prove a great impetus to giving the message to the many Dutch people in Cape Colony. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.13
THE EDUCATIONAL WORK
Claremont Union College, at Kenilworth, Cape, was established in 1892. This is our training-school for all South Africa. To it we are looking for the development of laborers. There are many young people in our territory, who ought to attend this school, but who can not pay even a portion of the tuition, owing to the severe financial depression that has swept over the country. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.14
To meet this situation the college board is endeavoring to establish an industrial enterprise—brush - making—in connection with the school, in order to provide a way by which those who can not pay their way may earn enough to carry them through school. The college has no capital to start the enterprise, and needs help to the amount of $1,000. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.15
The new workers sent over, Prof. C. P. Crager and wife and Miss Mary Cobban, are taking hold with all their might, and we look for brighter days for our college. The present attendance is 63. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.16
THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY WORK
There are two sanitariums and one set of treatment-rooms under denominational control, and one sanitarium and one set of treatment-rooms under private management. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.17
Our leading sanitarium is the Cape Sanitarium, located at Plumstead, Cape Colony. Dr. George Thomason is the physician in charge. This sanitarium has been prospered during the past four years. It was started in a building formerly used as an orphanage. The bath-and treatment-rooms not affording adequate facilities, a new wing was built, the first floor being fitted up for treatment-rooms, and the second floor for a surgical room, and for rooms for patients. This has greatly added to the facilities of the institution. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.18
The present worth is $19,124. There are four lady nurses and one gentleman nurse. The institution is just a little more than paying running expenses each year. A training-school is conducted, and has already graduated four nurses. A large amount of medical missionary work is done among the colored population in the neighborhood. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.19
THE KIMBERLEY BATHS
This institution was first started about fifteen years ago as a benevolent home for unemployed, stranded men, but this feature was afterward discontinued at the breaking out of the Boer war. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.20
During the siege of Kimberley, one 9-pound shell and two large 100-pound shells entered the house and exploded, tearing things to pieces quite generally. But the Lord in his mercy so ordered it that no one was hurt. We were under fire 124 days, and were very glad when the siege was raised, and no more shells came whizzing through the air at us. We were able to make a vegetarian soup during the siege, which was a very agreeable change to hundreds who had been subsisting on horse- and mule-flesh. At the close of the siege our pocket-book showed a gain of $200 profit from this soup. We had a few hills of cucumbers in the garden, and it was marvelous to see how the Lord made those cucumbers grow. The ordinary ones sold for twenty-five cents, and the larger ones for fifty cents each. We also had a few rows of string-beans, and they bore beyond belief. A double handful brought twenty-five cents. The water for the baths was cut off; but we told the military that we must be allowed to bathe the soldiers who lay in the trenches day and night. So they allowed us water for that, and every drop was saved after it had been used for baths, and used to keep the beans and cucumbers thriving. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.21
After the siege the bath-rooms were rebuilt at a cost of $10,000. Just before coming to this Conference, a check for $870 was drawn, paying off the last dollar of indebtedness, so we could sing the jubilee song. The present assets of the baths are $13,597.95, and no liabilities. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.22
There is something like one-fourth of an acre of garden connected with the baths. This has been planted to flowers, and by intensive culture has been made to bring in from $150 to $200 a month income, and sometimes as much as $60 in one day. The physicians of Kimberley have sent us many patients, and many friends have been won by the treatments given. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.23
A prosperous private sanitarium has also been started at Bellair, a suburb of Durban. It is located in a beautiful part of the town. There is no Seventh-day Adventist physician in attendance. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.24
MISSIONS
There are six regular missions in operation,—Solusi, Somabula, Barotseland, Maranatha, Kolo, and Malamulo. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.25
The Solusi Mission is located in Matabeleland, Rhodesia, some thirty-five miles west of Bulawayo and 1,300 miles north of Cape Town. This is our oldest mission. Here Elder Tripp labored and laid down his life. Dr. Carmichael, Sister Armitage, and Elder Mead also gave up their lives in service at this mission. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.26
The mission owns about 12,000 acres of land, has two well-built brick dwelling-houses, a brick church, and a brick school-house, besides a dining-room, a dormitory for girls, and huts for boys. The total assets of this mission are $13,597.95. As there are no debts, this is also the present worth. GCB May 21, 1909, page 102.27
There is a school at the mission having an attendance of about 76 pupils, with four white and several colored teachers. There are also one or two out-stations with native teachers. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.1
The mission farm has 300 acres of land cleared, and under the plow. They raise Indian corn (mealies), Kaffir corn, enyout, peanuts, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Quite a herd of live stock is kept on the farm. The principal income is from the sale of mealies, peanuts, and butter. This mission is self-supporting, except the salary of the white helpers. In the past, locusts have been a great scourge, sometimes destroying a whole crop of mealies; but now the government supplies an insecticide, with which the swarms of locusts can be destroyed as fast as they appear. Last year Elder Sturdevant destroyed twenty-six swarms. This is a great relief. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.2
The school is in a prosperous condition, and many boys are sufficiently trained to be able to teach out-schools. It is planned to establish more out-stations, so as to reach the natives who live far away from the mission. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.3
THE SOMABULA MISSION
This mission is situated some seventy-five miles northeast of Buluwayo, on the road to Salisbury. It was established by Elder F. B. Armitage, who took a team of oxen and a wagon, and moved out on the veldt, or wild, open ground, collected the native boys and girls, and established a prosperous school of from fifty to sixty. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.4
Brother Armitage passed through some interesting experiences. Soon after starting the mission, he bought a mule team at heavy expense, and the team died. He needed more cattle; but did not have the money to buy them. But some lions at some far-away place got after some cattle, and chased them straight to the mission farm, and left them there. Another time, when the mission funds got low, the government issued an order that the natives should muzzle their dogs. They had no muzzles, and there was no place they could buy them, and they could not make them, so they came to the mission for help. Brother Armitage collected all the scraps of sheet-iron and tin and all the pieces of leather he could find, and went to making muzzles at a good price, and so obtained the needed funds. He also turned his hand to mending wagons for his neighbors and that helped the mission finances also. So, by one way and another, the mission was finally established. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.5
Brother Armitage was finally called to the Maranatha Mission, and Brother W. C. Walston was sent to Somabula, with Brother and Sister Butterfield to help him. Brother and Sister Butterfield and little daughter all came down with the fever, and were all very, very sick at the same time. Brother Walston had to care for them, do the cooking, see to the farm and school; and when the little girl died, he had to make the coffin, and attend to the last sad rites all alone, without any white people near him. This was a trying time, but the Lord gave him strength to endure. The mission is now in a prosperous condition. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.6
MARANATHA MISSION
This mission is established among the Kaffir natives, near Grahamstown, Cape Colony. It is about four years since work was begun on this mission. A dwelling-house has been built, also a meeting- and school-house, a store, and a two-story building, the first floor to be used for a dining-room and the second floor for a dormitory. The land has been fenced, cleared, and tilled. Meetings have been held, and some forty families in the neighborhood have become interested in the mission, and the truths taught there. For a long time it seemed impossible to awaken an interest among the natives in regard to our school work. They did not care to come to the mission, but finally Elders Armitage and Hyatt went through the Kaffir villages with a wagon and a magic lantern, with views of Bible scenes, and held evening meetings with the natives. They had never seen such things before, and it made a great impression on them. Among other things shown, were views of the beasts mentioned in Daniel 7. The natives thought they were real photographs of the original beasts, and said, “Now we know these things are so, because we have really seen the pictures of those beasts.” The result was that many wanted to go to the school and learn. They have a school of about forty pupils now. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.7
When they went with the wagon to gather up the boys, one boy made an appointment with them to meet him at a certain spot. When the wagon was to be there, several weeks from that time, he came a long distance, and waited at the spot five days till the wagon came. This shows how earnest they are to learn. An interest has been awakened in our school all through the Kaffir land, and also among the Fingoes. Wherever the wagon went, our missionaries gave treatments to the sick; the Lord blessed these simple treatments wonderfully, and the sick recovered. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.8
MALAMULO MISSION
This mission is situated in Nyasaland, about forty miles south of Blantyre. It was acquired in 1902. Elder Watson gave his life for the work here. The mission farm has 2,000 acres of land. They raise crops for the use of the mission family, but there is no market accessible to sell the farm produce except the butter, and this they sell in Blantyre. The mission is in charge of Elder J. C. Rogers. There are six out-schools, with an attendance of 162. The central school has about 150 in attendance. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.9
The mode of traveling is by machilla, a conveyance similar to a hammock, which is borne on the shoulders of four strong men. By frequent changes, they can travel six miles an hour. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.10
There is an out-station at Matandani, about ninety miles north of the central station. This is in charge of Brother S. M. Konigmacher. New out-stations are being established, and soon we hope to spread the knowledge of the third angel’s message all through that region. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.11
THE BASUTO MISSION
Basutoland is called the Switzerland of South Africa, being mostly at a high elevation, with mountains and hills. It has a very salubrious climate, free from the malaria so common to most parts of the interior of South Africa. It has an area of 10,293 square miles, and a population of 218,903. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.12
The Basuto nation dates its origin from Moshesh, perhaps the wisest and most sagacious chief known in South African history. The Basutoes are the most highly civilized, the best-educated, and the most powerful tribe in South Africa to-day, being well advanced in agriculture, schools, civil government, etc. The Basuto young men find ready employment in the post-offices in the large towns, business offices, stores, and government offices. The area of Basutoland is 10,293 square miles, with a population of 262,561. GCB May 21, 1909, page 103.13
We have one mission in Basutoland, the Kolo Mission, of which Brother M. E. Emmerson is superintendent. This mission has been in existence many years; but for various reasons has not made the progress one would like to see. There are strong mission stations established by other societies, with large and costly buildings, fully equipped schools and workshops, and these naturally appeal to the native mind more than our modest little mission stations with total assets of only $2,000. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.1
Brother Emmerson, in studying the situation, became convinced that the most promising way of reaching the natives there was by circulating our literature. He started out to sell books containing present truth, but found the natives did not have the money to buy them, but they did have chickens and goat-skins. So he takes a team, and is selling the printed page all through that country. When he comes home after a trip, instead of counting his money, he counts his chickens and goat-skins. In this way, Basutoland is getting the truth. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.2
BAROTSELAND MISSION
About five years ago, Elder W. H. Anderson started out with three boys on foot to locate a mission in Barotseland, some 250 miles north of Victoria Falls. He traveled until he was overcome by the fever, and at night gave directions to his boys what to do in case of his death, and then lay down, not expecting ever to see another morning. A kind white man found him, and took care of him till he recovered. A site for a mission farm was found,—6,000 acres, well watered by a river, a large creek, and a living spring of water. A grant was obtained of the government, and one year after, active operations were begun. There is now a well-built brick dwelling-house, a good brick school-house, a dining-room and huts for the boys, 200 acres of land under cultivation, a fruit orchard of several acres containing oranges, lemons, guavas, papayas, pineapples, and other fruits, and a prosperous school of forty pupils. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.3
The boys are taught in their native language, and qualified to act as teachers in the out-schools. A circle of out-stations is now established, and further outer circles of stations are planned for until the whole districts shall be covered and the third angel’s message be brought to every native in that region. Brother Anderson has planned to become acquainted with every kraal in his territory, and to be able to converse with each induna (chief) in his native language this year. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.4
Last year, when Brother Anderson was called on to part with his faithful companion, I asked him whether he would leave the mission and return to the home land. He replied no, that he had so much more invested in that field now, and that he would go on, and make the mission all that they had planned it to be. A good impression has been created all through that country in regard to our mission work, and a number of mission superintendents of other denominations, including the Roman Catholic, have written him, asking to be instructed in the right way to conduct industrial mission schools. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.5
When there, I saw two boys in serious conversation with the superintendent one evening, and on inquiry found they had come to ask for baptism. Since then some seven more have been baptized. So the good work goes on, and souls are gathered out of heathenism to be saved in the kingdom of God. The new railroad up to the large copper mines in the Kongo Free State will be completed this year, and that will open the way for the message to go to the great Kongo State. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.6
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE
Six main central stations have been opened up, and thirteen out-stations established, thus making a beginning in Matabeleland, Barotseland, Basutoland, among the Kaffirs, and a start in Nyasaland. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.7
WHAT THERE IS TO DO
The work is to be developed in these tribes, and new work opened up in Zululand, with its population of 200,330; in northeastern Rhodesia, with 300,000; in Natal, with 799,780; and in other places in South Africa, containing 1,300,000 souls. Surely here is work to employ all the men and means that can be spared. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.8
Work should be started among the Zulus at once. Physically, this race is the finest in South Africa. Their king, Chaka, years ago was a veritable Napoleon in military tactics, training his men in impis, or regiments, and conquering the surrounding tribes. A good training-school should be established among these people. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.9
Hitherto the work for the natives has been conducted by the union conference; but the work is so vast, covering such a large territory, that it has been considered advisable to have each local conference take over the responsibility of looking after the natives within their own conference limits. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.10
This would bring each conference more directly in touch with the mission work, and so create a more active missionary spirit. This change is planned for in the near future. Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands unto God. The needs of these poor, benighted people appeal to us. Many lives have already been given to this work in Africa. Elders Tripp, Mead, Watson, Dr. Carmichael, Sister Armitage, and Sister Anderson all laid down their lives in service; also Brother and Sister Sturdevant gave their only son; and Brother and Sister Butterfield, their only daughter. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.11
Shall not we press forward until all the benighted in the dark continent shall have a knowledge of the saving truths of the last message to the world. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.12
The chair then called Elder Conradi to speak of his recent visit to South Africa on his way to Europe from East Africa Elder Conradi spoke enthusiastically of his visit. He could see the providence of God in placing over a million of Europeans in South Africa, in close touch with the vast region to be evangelized. He was glad to find strong English and Dutch believers taking hold of the truth, ready to help with men and means. GCB May 21, 1909, page 104.13
Never had he found people more responsive to the truth than the brethren in the recent Cape Town conference meeting. Unity prevailed, and the people face their great work with new courage. They appreciated the sending of such strong help as Elder Porter, as union president. Elder Hyatt, who has borne responsibilities for years, said he did not wish to leave Africa, but preferred to go right on helping forward the work. Elder Conradi believed that, with assistance for a little time further, we would find the South African colonies joining Europe and Australasia in sending men and means into other parts. GCB May 21, 1909, page 105.1
All through the reports from South Africa hearts were stirred with the words of progress and the appeals for a forward movement. So it is as union by union the great fields are reviewed. (Report of Fourteenth Meeting concluded in next issue.) GCB May 21, 1909, page 105.2