METHODISTS. 



489 



lie there were 85 missionaries, 13,748 church-mem- 

 bers, and 15,581 scholars in the mission-schools. 



6. In Australasia embracing Australia, and the 

 South Sea Islands, New Zealand, the Tonga, Feejee, 

 and Friendly Islands there were 856 ministers, 59,- 

 819 church-members, and 104,148 scholars in the 

 mission and other schools. In the Friendly Isl- 

 ands the entire population is represented as hav- 

 ing become Christianized, and the missions are en- 

 tirely supported by the voluntary contributions of 

 the natives. The Australasian Conference lias un- 

 dertaken the management, and to a large extent the 

 support, of the Australasian missions. 



6. In India and Ceylon embracing the Calcutta, 

 Madras, Tamil, and Cingalese Districts there were 

 75 missionaries, 2,976 church members, and 13,897 

 scholars in the mission-schools. 



7. In China, eleven missionaries are employed, 

 and there are 178 church-members, and 386 children 

 in the mission-schools. 



GENERAL SUMMARY. 



Central, or principal stations 847 



Chapels, and other preaching-places 6,647 



Minister* and axsUiaut missionaries 1,125 



Other paid agents, as catechists and teachers 4,783 



Unpaid agents, as Sunday-school teachers, etc... 24,303 



FuH and accredited church-members 170.360 



On trial for church-membership 15.616 



Scholars in the mission-schools 845.788 



Printing establishments 7 



The fiftieth annual conference of the Wet- 

 leyan Methodist Church in Canada met at 

 London, June 4th. The most important busi- 

 ness brought before it was the consideration 

 of the reports of the committees on the basis 

 of union with the Methodist New Connection 

 and with the Wesleyan Methodist Conference 

 of Eastern British America. Plans of union 

 with both bodies were finally adopted. It 

 was agreed that the name of the united body 

 should be, " The United Methodist Church of 

 Canada ; " or, if it should hereafter be found 

 expedient to modify the name that is, in case 

 of a more general organic union of the Meth- 

 odist Churches it should be called "The Meth- 

 odist Church of Canada." A General Confer- 

 ence was provided for, to meet once in four 

 years, and to have power to make laws and 

 regulations for the whole Church, subject to 

 certain restrictions relating to doctrines, the 

 preservation of the itinerant system, the gen- 

 eral rules, and the rights and privileges of 

 ministers, which restrictions were carefully 

 defined and prescribed. The General Confer- 

 ence is to be composed of ministers and lay- 

 men in equal numbers, in the proportion of 

 one minister and one layman for every eight 

 members of each annual conference, with ad- 

 ditional representation for each fraction of 

 three-fourths, provided the whole number of 

 delegates does not exceed two hundred and 

 twenty, and provided also the president of 

 each conference shall be one of those selected. 

 The ministerial members are to be elected by 

 ballot. The lay members are to be elected by 

 the lay members of the district meetings ; the 

 number to be elected to be determined accord- 

 ing to the number of church-members in the 

 district ns compared witli the whole number 

 of members within the bounds of the annual 

 conference. The annual conferences are to be 



composed of ministers only who shall have 

 traveled four years, and have been received 

 into full connection. They shall transact all 

 business appertaining to the circuits, stations, 

 or missions within their bounds, and their de- 

 cisions shall be final on all questions of minis- 

 terial character. The district meetings shall 

 be composed of all ministers and preachers on 

 trial within the district and an equal number 

 of laymen, who (the laymen) shall have the 

 right of taking part in all proceedings except 

 the examination of ministerial character. It 

 was provided that, " in the event of union be- 

 tween the Wesleyan Conference and the Meth- 

 odist New Connection Conference in Canada, 

 it is understood that the United Church shall 

 constitute a distinct community, connected 

 with the Wesleyan Methodist and New Con- 

 nection Churches in England only by frater- 

 nal ties." In order to provide some recognized 

 head of the body during the interval between 

 one General Conference and another, a special 

 committee was constituted, to consist of not 

 less than twelve persons, of equal numbers of 

 ministers and laymen, whose duty it should be, 

 "from one session of the General Conference 

 to another, to watch over and guard all the 

 rights and privileges of our Church throughout 

 the Dominion ; to promote, as far as possible, 

 the recommendations of the General Confer- 

 ence, and devise such means ns shall be deemed 

 needfnl for the interests and welfare of the 

 Church, and which may require immediate ac- 

 tion ; but such committee shall have no legis- 

 lative power, and shall not interfere with the 

 duties of the annual conference, nor with the 

 duties of any officer of the church." The 

 terms for the incorporation of the "Wesleyan 

 Conference of Eastern British America in the 

 same General Conference with that of Canada 

 were embodied in a paper called " the Plan of 

 Federal Union." It provided for the division 

 of the Eastern Conference into three annual 

 conferences, and was made to conform, in oth- 

 er respects, with the plan of union with the 

 New Connection Conference. The plans were 

 adopted, to be laid before the quarterly meet- 

 ings to be held in November, for their action. 

 It was understood with reference to the " Plan 

 of Federal Union," that the constitution there- 

 by formed should be recognized as the consti- 

 tution of the Wesleyan Church in Canada, 

 whether any other bodies should come into 

 the Union or not. Under the operation of the 

 two plans of union, the Church in Ontario and 

 Quebec will be divided into three conferences, 

 to be called the Toronto, London, and Mont- 

 real Conferences. Nova Scotia and Bermuda 

 will constitute the Nova Scotia Conference; 

 New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, 

 the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island 

 Conference ; and Newfoundland, Labrador, and 

 the islands contiguous, the Newfoundland Con- 

 ference. The scheme of union was also ap- 

 proved by the Conference of Eastern British 

 America. 



