546 



METHODISTS. 



ters, 1,270 local preachers, 30,378 members, 

 with 5,096 persons on trial for membership, 

 and 475 Sunday-schools, with 11,321 teachers 

 and 85,872 pupils. 



The income of the Mission fund was 5,873, 

 or 225 less than the income of the previous 

 year, while the expenditure had been 6,405. 

 The receipts of the Paternal fund had been 

 3,189. The capital of the Trustees Mutual 

 Insurance fund stood at 3,138; that of the 

 Chapel and Loan fund, at 6,855. The re- 

 ceipts for the Beneficent fund had been 

 2,478 ; for the College, 778 ; for the Con- 

 tingent fund, 665; and the total net amount 

 raised for Connectional funds was 13,383. 



The ninety-second Methodist- New Connec- 

 tion Conference, met in Hanley, June 11. The 

 Rev. T. T. Rushwortli was chosen president. 

 A scheme was approved for establishing a 

 General Committee of Privileges, representing 

 all the Methodist bodies in the country, for the 

 purpose of watching over the interests of 

 Methodism as they are affected by social and 

 political influences and events; of taking com- 

 mon counsel ; and of acting, when desirable, 

 with combined authority with reference to 

 such matters. Provision was made for having 

 the Connection represented in such a commit- 

 tee, should it be formed. In reply to a com- 

 munication from the United Methodist Free 

 Churches, the Conference expressed its desire 

 to co-operate in every possible form of recog- 

 nition and action that can strengthen the bonds 

 of brotherhood, and recommended joint cele- 

 bration of ordinances, interchange of pulpits, 

 and the improvement of other opportunities of 

 intercourse and fraternal greeting. A propo- 

 sition submitted by the previous conference 

 for setting apart a minister as an evangelist 

 had been approved by a majority of the cir- 

 cuits, and was carried into effect. The ap- 

 proval of the Conference was given to the 

 Non-Conformist Marriage Bill ; and its objec- 

 tions were expressed against any recommenda- 

 tions of the Royal Commission on Education 

 that would strengthen the denominational use 

 of public moneys, or weaken the " Conscience 

 Clause " in public elementary schools. A reso- 

 lution was passed remonstrating against the 

 publication of sporting reports and demoraliz- 

 ing serial stories by the newspapers. The 

 committee of the Connectional Temperance 

 Union reported that it included 268 bands, 

 with nearly 40,000 members. 



XII. Bible Christian Connection. The statistics 

 of this denomination, as presented to the Con- 

 ference in July, showed that there were on 

 the home stations, 145 itinerant preachers, 

 1,471 local preachers, 583 chapels, 41 preach- 

 ing-places, 24,574 full members, 574 members 

 on trial, 248 juvenile members, 7,191 Sundny- 

 scliool teachers and 38,525 pupils in Sunday- 

 schools, and that 3,496 members had been 

 added during the year. The receipts of the 

 chapel fund had been 24,695. The receipts 

 for missions had been 7,012, and the expen- 



ditures 7,539. A favorable report was re- 

 ceived from the missions in Australia, where 

 the first conference in Victoria had been held 

 in February. The missions in China were 

 prosecuted vigorously. 



The seventy-ninth Conference met in Lon- 

 don, July 31. The Rev. J. O. Keen, D. D., 

 was chosen president. A motion relaxing 

 certain limitations by which the power of the 

 Conference to appoint a minister for more 

 than four years to the same circuit was now 

 restricted, was defeated, and the Conference 

 decided that it would be unwise to interfere 

 with the existing rule in view of the recent 

 decision of the whole denomination against the 

 " extension of the time limit." 



XIII. Wesleyan Reform Union. This body has 

 18 itinerant ministers and 8,574 members. The 

 Conference met at Bakewell, July 21. A net 

 increase of 237 members and 714 pupils in 

 Sunday-schools was reported. 



XIV. Australasian Methodist General Conference. 

 This body, which is composed of the New 

 South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, and New 

 Zealand Conferences, returned for 1888, a to- 

 tal of 580 ministers and 79,477 lay members, 

 of whom 7,692 were " on trial." The General 

 Conference met in Melbourne, May 9. The 

 Rev. J. 0. Symons was chosen president. The 

 most urgent question to be considered was 

 that of the difficulties in Tonga. In conse- 

 quence of certain personal and political diffi- 

 culties, the Church in Tonga had been divided 

 about three years before, and an independent 

 church had been formed, still Methodist in 

 doctrine and policy, but rejecting the control 

 of the Australian (New South Wales) Confer- 

 ence, carrying with it about 16,000 members 

 of the original body, and having the royal in- 

 fluence on its side. The separation had been 

 accompanied by a serious persecution of the 

 adherents of the original organization. In all 

 attempts to negotiate for a settlement of the 

 difficulty, the Government had insisted upon 

 the removal of the official representative of 

 the Conference, the Rev. J. A. Moulton. Com- 

 pliance with this condition had been refused. 

 The debate in the General Conference showed 

 that a considerable difference concerning the 

 proper course to be adopted existed within 

 that body. A- decision was reached to send 

 the Rev. George Brown as a commissioner to 

 Tonga, with instructions to inquire and report 

 upon the best means of securing honorable and 

 lasting reunion with the " Free Church," and 

 generally to draw up a scheme for the perma- 

 nent settlement of affairs there ; the result of 

 his efforts to be submitted to a committee on 

 Tongan affairs, and through it, " and with such 

 modifications as it may deem necessary," to the 

 annual conferences next ensuing, .and, if ap- 

 proved by a majority of them, to be accepted 

 by the General Conference. Application by 

 the New Zealand Conference for an inde- 

 pendent organization was refused. The law 

 with reference to attending class - meetings 



