METHODISTS. 



Tho Committee on General Kilucntion reported 

 iiinlit-r of day schools under local com- 

 s to be 880 ; number of day-schools not 

 local committees, 20 ; number of schol- 

 ,717, an increase from the previous year 

 J4fl; average attendance upon the day- 

 lools, 116,832; number of Sunday-schools, 

 ,787; of teachers and officers in the HHHK-, 

 10,128, showing an increase from the provi- 

 i year of 1,667; number of scholars, 688,986, 

 winu'im im-ivji*.- of -JL',220. Increatie of the 

 ooli : Amount of " children's pence " during 

 71,748; amount of Government an- 

 . 66,518 ; received from subscrip- 

 s, etc., 22,452 ; total income, 160,178, 

 ,126 more than the income of the pre- 

 >us year. 



The Chapel Committee reported that they 

 lad sanctioned during the year 885 erections 

 jiml enlargements, by which nearly 2,000 addi- 

 tional sittings were provided at a cost of 887,- 

 000. The total amount that had been expended 

 during the year upon erections and the reduc- 

 tion of debts was 878,000. The sum of 820,- 

 000 had been contributed for these purposes, or 

 80,000 more than had been received the year 

 before. There were now 5,712 chapels, with 

 1,563,797 sittings, an increase of 1,480 chapels 

 nnd 518,075 sittings since 1851. 



The Rev. William Morley Punshon, LL. D., 

 was elected President of the Conference. 



A plan was adopted for the organization of 

 a connectipnal Sunday-school union. 



lu'irulations were adopted in regard to local 

 preaching, having in view the encouragement 

 and assistance of suitable men in preparing for 

 this sphere of work, and the raising of the 

 standard of qualification. 

 A concentration of the system of education 



at the New Kingswood and the Woodhoose 

 Grove Schools was determined upon. 



A committee had U-, n nppointed by the 

 j>rv\ioiis ( 'onfVrence to consider the course 

 which should bo taken in reference to person* 

 not members of the society who may desire to 

 receive the Lord's Supper at the hands of <-<>ii- 

 noctional ministers. The number of persons 

 of tliis class was found to be increasing rapidly, 

 and it was considered desirable to adopt some 

 plan of action to bring them nnder pastoral in- 

 fluence and induce them to become members. 

 The committee made a report recommending 

 the following regulations to be observed toward 

 such persons: "1. They should in the first 

 instance be seen by one of the ministers resi- 

 dent in the circuit, and conversed with as to 

 their spiritual condition. 2. They should be 

 met or pastorally visited by one of the minis- 

 ters periodically, at least once a quarter. 8. 

 The names of all such persons should be re- 

 corded in a proper book, to be kept by one of 

 the ministers. 4. Communicants' tickets should 

 be given to such persons by one of the minis- 

 ters quarterly. The list of such communicants 

 kept by any minister should be handed to his 

 successor. 6. No such communicant shall be 

 eligible to be a member of the leaders' or quar- 

 terly meeting." A seventh rule authorized the 

 leader to withhold tickets in the case of any 

 communicant against whose character and con- 

 duct any reasonable objection should be enter- 

 tained. The recommendation of the committee 

 was sent to the district meetings for their action. 



The following is the summary.of the statistics 

 of the British and subordinate and affiliated 

 Conferences of this body, as officially published 

 in connection with the minutes of the British 

 Conference for 1874 : 



The numbers of ministers in connection with 

 the Conferences of Canada and Eastern British 

 America, which have heretofore been given in 

 connection with the general summaries, are 

 omitted from the present one, the connection 

 of those Conferences with the British Confer- 

 ence having been dissolved. 



The Irish Wetleyan Conference is subordi- 

 nate to the British Conference, and its returns 

 as to numbers and the condition of the funds 

 are included in the statistical reports of the 

 latter body. A separation of the accounts was 

 made in 1873, so far as they concerned the 

 auxiliary fund for worn-out ministers and wid- 

 ows, and the sum of 20,000 was allotted to 

 the Irish Conference as an offset to the claims 

 its members had on the general fund. At the 



meeting of the Conference in 1874 the sum of 

 10,000 was added to this amount by subscrip- 

 tions from the Irish laity. During the year 

 ending in June, 1874, 9,133 were raised for 

 the home mission and contingent fund, aftd 

 9,372 were expended on its account ; the re- 

 ceipts of the General Educational Committee 

 were 1,550, and their expenditures 1,449. 



The Irish Conference met at Dublin, June 8th. 

 The Rev. George T. Pecks presided. A com- 

 mittee had been appointed by the Conference 

 of 1873, to meet a committee of the Primitive 

 "Wesleyan Methodist Conference, with refer- 

 ence to bringing the two Churches into closer 



* Exclusive of missionaries in Ireland. 

 t The French ministers who are employed in the Chan- 

 nel Ilands district are not included in these returns. 



