To Our Brethren in America
By George A. Irwin
I TAKE this method of extending thanks on behalf of the brethren in Australasia to the brethren in the United States for their liberal offering made last July, in behalf of the work in this field. It was not until the arrival of the last American mail that we received any official notification of the amount realized. In a letter from Professor Bland it was stated that the amount up to that date was $9,494.48, with a fair prospect of its reaching ten thousand dollars, the amount asked for and voted by the conference. Knowing the large amount in the aggregate that was voted to the different fields by the last General Conference, and also the many other demands made upon the American brethren to sustain the work in their local and union conferences, we feel that they have responded nobly to our appeal. Not knowing at the time of our last union conference just how much we would receive, we could not go, in our appropriation of the amount, beyond what we felt reasonably sure we might expect. So only two definite appropriations were made; namely, six thousand dollars to the Sydney Sanitarium, and five hundred dollars to the treatment rooms in Adelaide, South Australia. Whatever was received more than this, was to remain in the union conference treasury to be disbursed at a subsequent meeting according to the most urgent need. Hoping for more, however, the union conference at the time of its session exhausted the funds then in the treasury in helping some of the most needy conferences and mission fields. This donation came when we were in very great need of help, and enabled us to keep our work going at a time when to all human appearances it was at a point where we could go no further. More than this, it revived courage in the hearts of our brethren to take a new hold, and to lift when they saw others were lifting with them. The severe drought that caused so much loss and made times hard, has now been broken, and prosperity with accompanying courage is coming to the people. While we still have a heavy debt on the Sydney Sanitarium, there is nothing pressing. The creditors are all our own people. Those holding the largest amounts do not need their money, and are satisfied with the investment; while that called for from time to time of the smaller amounts has been met without difficulty. The months of December and January showed a net gain to the institution of nearly one thousand dollars.18Of this amount five hundred dollars was applied on the indebtedness, the rest remaining in the treasury to be used in much-needed improvements. The patronage is steadily increasing, and a good influence is going out from the institution. Already several persons have accepted the truth, as the result of the work done at this place. I speak more particularly of this institution at this time, because the largest part of your donation went there, and that you may know that your donation is already bearing fruit. The treatment rooms operated by Brother Semmens, in Adelaide, are also doing good work, and exerting a good influence in the city. Our school at Avondale and publishing house at Melbourne are both well patronized, and are enjoying a good degree of the presence and blessing of God. Our tent companies are meeting with fair success in the field, and while we are unable to give an exact report of the increase in membership, I think one would be safe in setting it at two hundred. Our ministers and laborers in general are of good courage, having the fullest confidence in the message as given to this people in the past, and its final and speedy triumph. In conclusion, we wish again to thank you for your timely assistance, and assure you of our hearty appreciation.