496 



METHODISTS. 



were in course of erection. The Book-Room 

 Committee reported their total receipts to have 

 been 2,798 5s. *Id., and their expenditures 

 2,570 8s. lid., leaving a profit of 227 16*. 8d.; 

 16,916 books had been sold during the year. 

 The financial statement of the foreign and 

 Colonial Missions showed the total income 

 for the year to have been 6,148 11*. 3d., be- 

 sides which the fund had a balance in hand at 

 the beginning of the year of 2,626 19*. The 

 expenditure had been 4,849 19s. Id. 



XII. UNITED METHODIST FKEE CHURCHES. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this body as they were reported to the Annual 

 Assembly in July, 1875 : Number of itinerant 

 preachers, 328 ; of supernumeraries, 26 ; of 

 local preachers, 3,248 ; of leaders, 4,293 ; of 

 members, 68,652; of members on trial, 6,193; 

 of chapels, 1,309 ; of other preaching-rooms, 

 249 ; of Sunday-schools, 1,263 ; of teachers in 

 the same, 25,281; of Sunday-school scholars, 

 170,718. The reports showed an increase 

 from the previous year of 1,281 members, 33 

 Sunday-schools, 664 Sunday-school teachers, 

 and 5,190 Sunday-school scholars. Thirty-one 

 chapels had been built during the year, and 

 eleven chapels enlarged. 



The Annual Assembly of the United Meth- 

 odist Free Churches met at Nottingham, July 

 28th. The Kev. Joseph Kirsop was elected 

 president. The death of the Eev. Charles 

 New, a missionary of the Connection in East- 

 ern Africa, was reported from the Missionary 

 Committee, together with an account of out- 

 rages and robberies which had been committed 

 upon him by the chief of Chaga. A resolution 

 was adopted by the Assembly, calling the at- 

 tention of the Government to the facts as nar- 

 rated, and asking it to secure, if possible, 

 greater protection to the lives of British sub- 

 jects while traveling in Eastern Africa. An 

 address was read from the native members of 

 the Church connected with the Chinese mis- 

 sion of the Connection. A plan for the estab- 

 lishment of a connectional school for the edu- 

 cation of the sons of ministers and laymen was 

 approved, and a committee was appointed to 

 take such preliminary steps as may be needful 

 for the accomplishment of that object, and re 

 port to the next Annual Assembly. A plan 

 was approved for the organization of a special 

 fund for the purchase of sites and the erection 

 of chapels, in aid of home-mission work, and 

 efforts were advised for the raising of 10,000 

 in five years, said fund to be under the manage- 

 ment of the Connectional Committee, and to be 

 applied conditionally, according to the recom- 

 mendations of the Annual Assembly of each 

 year, in furthering the objects for which it was 

 instituted. The Assembly recommended to the 

 churches the practice of total abstinence from 

 the use of intoxicating drinks ; expressed a de- 

 sire for " more rigid legislation on the subject 

 of the liquor-traffic; " voted thanks to Mr. 

 Gladstone for his pamphlets on the Vatican 

 Decrees ; and resolved, " That the most stren- 



uous efforts of the Christian Church should be 

 exerted until the separation between church 

 and state should be complete." 



The eighteenth annual Missionary Meeting 

 of the United Methodist Free Churches was 

 held in London, April 26th. Alderman Green, 

 J. P., of Tynemouth, presided. The home re- 

 ceipts for the missions were reported to have 

 been for the year 11,119 12*. 5d., or 1,617 

 7*. lid. more than those of the previous year. 

 The expenditures had been 10,397 13*. 5d. 

 The number of church-members on the foreign 

 stations was 6,112, showing an increase during 

 the year of 224 accredited members, besides 

 whom there were 545 persons on trial for 

 membership. Adding the number of members 

 on the home circuits to the number reported 

 from the home fields, the total number in all 

 the missions was shown to be 67,371, with 6,195 

 probationers. The Missionary Committee had 

 aimed at the development of the native agency, 

 and native laborers had been employed in 

 China, West Africa, and East Africa. The 

 Chinese mission circuit now comprised six 

 preaching-places, with Wingpo for the centre. 

 Premises suitable for the work had been bought 

 at this place. An increase of 117 members 

 and financial prosperity were reported in the 

 Jamaica mission. Several new chapels had 

 been built, one of them at Kingston. An in- 

 crease of 63 members was reported in the New 

 Zealand mission. A decrease in the number 

 of members had taken place in the Australian 

 mission. The death of the Rev. Charles New, 

 a missionary of this Church, which took place 

 at Dummer, Africa, February 13th, was spoken 

 of as that of an heroic, intrepid, and devoted 

 laborer, whose contributions to science, dis- 

 coveries in geography, and explorations in the 

 interests of civilization and Christianity, had 

 been very good and great. 



XIII. WESLEYAN REFORM UNION. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistical returns 

 of this denomination as made to the delegate 

 meeting of 1875 : Number of chapels and 

 preaching-places, 242 ; of preachers, 538 ; of 

 preachers on trial, 89 ; of ministers, 15 ; of 

 leaders, 465 ; of members, 7,587 ; of members 

 on trial, 506; of Sunday-schools, 180; of 

 teachers in the same, 2,944; of Sunday-school 

 scholars, 18,760. The report of the Boole- 

 Room showed that a slight decrease had taken 

 place in its business within the year. The ac- 

 counts of the Chapel Relief Fund showed that 

 there was a balance of 96 15*. Id. in the 

 hands of the treasurer, and that the loans out 

 amounted to 255. The net increase for home 

 missions for the year was reported to have 

 been 394 9*. 3d. Three home missionaries 

 had been employed at the beginning of the 

 year, and two in the latter part. 



XIV. AUSTRALASIAN METHODIST CHURCH. 

 The General Conference of the Australasian 

 Methodist Church met at Melbourne, May 12th. 

 The Rev. S. Wilkinson, President of the New 

 South Wales and Queensland Conference, aa 



