490 



METHODISTS. 



As tho fiftieth anniversary of the first meet- 

 ing of a Methodist Conference in Canada would 

 come within the ensuing year, and it would 

 also be the fiftieth year since the organiza- 

 tion of the Missionary Society, the Conference 

 determined to celehrate it as a jubilee year. 

 Suitable religious exercises were directed to 

 be held in October, when a free offering was to 

 be solicited from the people, to be appropri- 

 ated to the superannuated ministers' fund, the 

 theological institutions at Cobnrg and Mont- 

 real, and the Missionary Society. 



The returns of the votes of the quarterly 

 meetings on the various questions submitted 

 to them under the plan of union, so far as they 

 were reported, showed the following results: 



1. On onion with the Conference of Eastern Brit- 

 ish America. 858 quarterly meetings voted yea, 2 nay. 



8. On union with the New Connection Church, 

 yeas 848, nays 13. 



8. On the acceptance of lay representation in the 

 General Conference, instead of the power before pos- 

 sessed by the quarterly meetings relative to legisla- 

 tion, yeas 881, nays 29. 



4. On a proposed change in the constitution of tho 

 quarterly meetings as specified in the plan of union, 

 yeas 830, nays SO. 



8. On the acceptance of lay representation in the 

 General Conference (representatives to be chosen by 

 laymen only) instead ot the power before possessed 

 over certain acts of legislation by the quarterly meet- 

 ings, yeas 298, nays 68. 



The Auttralaiian Conference met at Sydney 

 in February. It perfected the plan which had 

 been proposed at the preceding meeting for 

 annual and General Conferences. Four an- 

 nual conferences were created ; those of New 

 South Wales and Queensland, with the South 

 Sea Missions ; Victoria and Tasmania ; South 

 and Western Australia ; and New Zealand. 

 The General Conference will meet every three 

 years. The principle that there should bo lay 

 representation in the Conference was affirmed 

 by a nearly unanimous vote, and a committee 

 was appointed to consider the subject, and 

 report at the annual conferences. Provision 

 was also made to secure the attendance of lay- 

 men at the financial district meetings, so that 

 they may act with tho ministers in voting lor 

 representatives on the stationing committee. 

 An application was received from the Ton- 

 gans to be erected into a distinct church. It 

 was shown that the Friendly Islands had, 

 daring the year, contributed 0,000 for vari- 

 ous religions purposes. According to the sta- 

 tistical reports there were connected with the 

 Conference, 861 ministers, European and na- 

 tive ; 2,948 churches and othur preaching- 

 places; 06,086 members, including those on 

 trial; 8,261 local preachers; 6,821 clnss-lcad- 

 ers; 818,856 attendants on public worship; 

 112,887 Sabbath-scholars, and 104,168 day- 

 scholars. There were also four colleges and a 

 provisional theological college. 



IX. MKTHOIHRT NKW CONNECTION. The 

 number of members reported to the Confer- 

 ence of 1878 was 31,161, showing an increase 

 from the previous year of 191. The increase 



in tho amount raised for connectional funds was 

 il-2 1 T. The seventy-seventh annual Conference 

 met at Hull, June llth. A telegram was re- 

 i-rivi-d from the Canadian Conference, stating 

 that the terms of union with the We*leyim 

 Conference had been accepted, subject to the 

 sanction of tho quarterly meetings, and that a 

 deputation would visit the next Conference in 

 England. The weight of opinion in the Con- 

 ference seemed averse to the consummation 

 of the scheme of union, as it was believed to 

 involve an unfair compromise of tho chief dis- 

 tinctive feature of New Connection Method- 

 ism. A deputation was appointed to visit 

 Canada, and represent the views of the Con- 

 ference on tho question ; further, tho subject 

 was left in the care of the missionary com- 

 mittee for the year. 



The following statistics of the home missions 

 were presented : chapels, 288 ; missionaries, 

 109; local preachers, 225; members, O.T'.'l ; 

 probationers, 512 ; Sunday-school teachers, 

 1,054 ; Sunday-school scholars, 13,104. The 

 sum received for home and colonial missions 

 was 5,087. 



The Conference of the Methodist New Con- 

 nection in Canada met at Dunnville, June 4th; 

 the greater part of the session was occupied 

 with the discussion of the plan of union with 

 the Wesleyon Conference, Tho plan was ap- 

 proved by the unanimous vote of the Con- 

 ference. 



Much irritation was afterward excited among 

 the Connection in Canada, by the procesd- 

 ings of persons supposed to represent tho 

 parent body in England, in the endeavor to 

 defeat the proposed Union. A paper was cir- 

 culated among the churches containing the 

 resolutions of the English Conference and 

 committee deprecatory of the Union, and tho 

 address of the English Missionary Secretary, 

 the design of all which was thought to be to 

 influence the members to vote against union. 

 On the 20th of October, the Executive Com- 

 mittee, in Canada issued a circular declaring 

 these movements to bo in direct violation of a 

 distinct agreement made between representa- 

 tives of the English Conference and tho Ca- 

 nadian Union Committee, that there should bo 

 no agitation of tho Union question while it 

 was pending; but that tho decision of the 

 whole matter should be left to the unbiased 

 judgment of the quarterly meetings to beheld 

 in November. 



The voting in the quarterly meetings result- 

 ed in fifty-six circuits declaring in favor of un- 

 ion and nineteen against it. 



X. PKIMITIVK METHODISTS. The following 

 is a summary of the statistics of the Primitive 

 Methodist Connection in Great Britain, the 

 colonies, and tho mission stations, for 1878: 

 Members, 16,658 ; decrease from the preceding 

 year, 806 ; traveling preachers, 1,005 ; local 

 preachers, 14,751 ; leaders, 9,997; connection- 

 al chapels, 3,797; other places of worship, 

 2,555 ; Sunday-school?, 3,506 ; Sunday-school 



