METHODISTS. 



547 



XI. Australasian Wesleyan Methodist 

 Church. The sixth General Conference of the 

 Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church met in 

 Sydney, May 7. The Rev. W. Kelynack, D. D., 

 was chosen president. A full discussion was 

 given to the condition of affairs in Tonga, where 

 the attempt to establish a " Free Church " under 

 the patronage of the Government had resulted 

 in a persecution of the Wesleyans and the exile 

 of many of them, which had now continued for 

 more than four years. The previous General 

 Conference had instituted measures under which 

 it had been hoped the trouble might be settled, 

 and had appointed the Rev. George Brown a 

 special commissioner to carry them out. This 

 effort had been unsuccessful. Mr. Brown re- 

 ported to the Conference he having just come 

 from Tonga that no active persecution was go- 

 ing on there now, but properties were still being 

 seized and men were deposed from office simply 

 because they were Wesleyans. Sir John B. 

 Thurston, Governor of Fiji and British High 

 Commissioner, had offered to use his influence 

 to secure an adjustment. The debate turned 

 chiefly upon the propriety of accepting the assist- 

 ance of a secular officer. The Conference de- 

 cided to maintain and strengthen the Church in 

 Tonga ; to appoint at least two European minis- 

 ters to extend and conserve its work there, secur- 

 ing them their support ; and earnestly to solicit, 

 through the High Commissioner, the good offices 

 of Her Majesty's Government to secure the ful- 

 fillment of a promise which the King of Tonga 

 had made to a previous High Commissioner to 

 proclaim freedom of worship, remove existing 

 disabilities, and permit the exiles to return. A 

 committee was instituted on Tongan affairs, and 

 Mr. Brown was appointed a special commissioner 

 for another year. A declaration was adopted on 

 the constitution and powers of the General Con- 

 ference, in which that body is recognized as a 

 necessary part of the Church system, and its 

 maintenance as essential to the unity of Meth- 

 odism throughout Australasia, and to the suc- 

 cessful discharge of Christian work among the 

 heathen of the South Seas. The General Con- 

 ference, however, the paper continues 



Kecognizing that diversity of circumstances justifies 

 provision for diversity of methods, records its willing- 

 ness to confer upon the annual conferences a discre- 

 tionary power to deal according to their own require- 

 ments" with such matters as are from time to time 

 specifically remitted to them by it. The General Con- 

 ference hereby empowers each of the annual confer- 

 ences to frame for itself regulations dealing with the 

 following subjects: (a) The constitution and opera- 

 tion of its stationing committee ; (6) the order and 

 form in which the business of such conference shall 

 be transacted ; (c) the constitution of the quarterly 

 meeting : (d) the management of the Sunday-schools ; 

 (e) the term during which a minister may be ap- 

 pointed to the same circuit 



subject to certain prescribed conditions. 



This measure was adopted partly as the re- 

 sponse of the General Conference to a demand 

 from the New Zealand Conference for separa- 

 tion or enlarged freedom of action. A paper 

 was adopted defining the authority of the an- 

 nual conferences and the General Conference in 

 the matter of " interconferential exchanges " or 

 transfers, in which provision was contemplated 

 for exchanges to be made from time to time for 



the purpose of promoting connectional feeling 

 and the unity of the Church. The Conference 

 determined that the class meeting continue a 

 test of membership, but admitted that the cir- 

 cumstances of modern life, removals from place 

 to place, and other conditions were militating 

 against attendance thereat, and that the admin- 

 istration of discipline in cases of non-attendance 

 had not been uniform. It resolved that meeting 

 in class should be held to mean meeting in the 

 regular weekly classes, or in a meeting for testi- 

 mony and fellowship, to be held once a month, 

 and recommended that such meetings be insti- 

 tuted in every circuit, and, as far as possible, in 

 each church. In the provisions for carrying out 

 these measures it was stipulated that the name 

 of no one should be removed from the roll of 

 membership who had not been visited, exhorted, 

 and entreated, and that tickets of membership 

 should not be withheld from those persons who, 



-on account of affliction, infirmity, distance, or 

 other reasons satisfactory to the minister and the 

 leaders' meeting, are unable to attend class meet- 

 ing. Steps were taken for the establishment of 

 a mission in New Guinea, where the British Com- 

 missioner, Sir William Macgregor, has offered 

 his support, and the Rev. George Brown was ap- 

 pointed to superintend the work. The Queens- 

 land districts were constituted an annual confer- 

 ence, " not to be brought into operation before 

 1893." Delegates were appointed to represent 

 each of the annual conferences in the Methodist 

 (Ecumemical Conference, to be held in the 

 United States in 1891. 



The capital of the Supernumerary Ministers' 

 and Ministers' Widows' fund was returned at 

 the end of 1889 as amounting to 197,822. The 



^income for the year had been 21,088, and the 

 expenditure 10,210. Fifty-eight supernumera- 

 ries and 36" widows were on the list of benefi- 

 ciaries. 



The Educational report showed that there 

 were for general education and the theological 

 training of students for the university, 4 pro- 

 visional institutions, with 25 ordinary students 

 and 13 students in training for the Maori work. 

 For the higher education of youth, there were 

 the Queen's University College in Victoria, with 

 30 students, 4 colleges for boys, and 3 for young- 

 women, with 1,205 students. There were in the 

 several conferences and mission stations 3,185 

 Sunday-schools, with 16,503 teachers and 169,348 

 pupils. 



The Settlement in Tonga. A settlement of the 

 troubles in Tonga was effected by High-Commis- 

 sioner Thurston in July. The difficulties had 

 grown up under the administration of Mr. Shir- 

 ley Baker, formerly a Wesleyan missionary, who 

 afterward became the enemy of the Wesleyans. 

 He was appointed Premier of Tonga, and, ac- 

 quiring immense influence and almost extreme 

 power, organized the Free Church and attempt- 

 ed to force the people into it. He terrorized the 

 King and the chiefs till they submitted to his 

 will, and opposition was silenced. On Sir J. B. 

 Thurston's arrival at Tonga, a council of chiefs 

 was called, and, with the consent of the King, 

 orders were passed removing Mr. Baker from 

 office and directing that he be banished from the 

 kingdom and prohibited from returning for two 

 years. All persons under restraint, in exile, or 



