534 



.METHODISTS. 



of four years ; William H. Hillery, J. P. Thomp- 

 son, and Thomas H. Lomax, were elected new 

 bishops. Bishop Hood reported that, in accord- 

 ance with the directions of the General Con- 

 ference of 1872, he had compiled the "Book 

 of Discipline." Bishop Clinton had compiled 

 a "Guide to the Discipline," for which Bishop 

 Moore had furnished the history of the Zion 

 Connection, and Bishop Hood the history of 

 the episcopacy. Both works were accepted 

 and ordered published. The conference or- 

 dered a church newspaper organ to be estab- 

 lished, to be called Our National Progress and 

 Zion Church Advocate ; also, a Sunday-school 

 paper was approved. The conference decided 

 to assist in the erection of a monument to 

 Bishop Allen, the founder of the African Meth- 

 odist Episcopal Church, which the members 

 of that Church have undertaken. Action was 

 taken favorable to the support of the two 

 institutions of learning, the Rush University, 

 Fayetteville, N. C., and Zion's Hill Collegiate 

 Institute, near West Middletown, Pa. 



VI. METHODIST CHURCH OF CANADA. The 

 Central Board of Missions of the Methodist 

 Church of Canada met at St. John, N. B., Oc- 



tober 10th. The fifty-second annual report of 

 the Missionary Board of Canada was presented. 

 It showed that the income of the board for the 

 year ending June 30, 1876, had been $162,639, 

 an excess of $3,962 over the expenditures for 

 the same period. The report showed that there 

 were in British Columbia five Indian missions 

 and four missionaries; in the Northwest Ter- 

 ritory, eight missions, five missionaries, one 

 native assistant; in Manitoba, five missions, 

 four missionaries, one Indian assistant ; in On- 

 tario and Quebec, twenty-five missions, twen- 

 ty-eight missionaries, six Indian assistants, six 

 supplies; in Japan, three mission stations. 

 The board had also six German and eight 

 French mission stations in Canada, with seven 

 missionaries each. The total number of paid 

 agents of the board was 515. The number of 

 domestic mission stations throughout Canada 

 was 339, with 383 missionaries, and 36,472 

 members. 



VII. WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION. 

 The following is a general view of the statistics 

 of the Wesleyan Conference of Great Britain 

 and the conferences affiliated with it, as given 

 in the " Minutes of Conference " for 1876 : 



N. B. In this table the number of ministers and members in connection with the Conferences of Canada and Eastern 

 British America now combined in the Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Dominion of Canada are not 

 given. 



The condition of the trust-funds and benevo- 

 lent enterprises of the Connection is repre- 

 sented in the reports of the annual meetings 

 of the Committees of Review, which were 

 held the week preceding the meeting of the 

 conference, beginning Friday, July 21st. The 

 report of the Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove 

 Schools showed a satisfactory working for 

 the first year of the scheme by which they had 

 been placed under one management 129 boys 

 had attended at Kingswood, and 131 boys at 

 Woodhouse Grove. The report of the Educa- 

 tion Committee on the day-schools showed that 

 there had been a decrease of six schools, with 

 390 scholars. The total number of schools 

 was now 884, with 173,379 scholars. The to- 

 tal income of the schools had been 176,871, 

 and the total expenditure 181,358. Four 

 schools had been transferred to the school 

 boards, and twenty-four schools had been 

 closed. The committee expressed regret for 

 the decrease of schools, and hoped that the 

 number would be in the future fully main- 

 tained. The number of Sunday-schools was 

 5,990; number of teachers and officers in 

 the same, 113,503; number of Sunday-school 

 scholars, 725,312. The increase from the pre- 

 vious year was 97 schools, 2,500 teachers, and 



25,102 scholars. Of the schools, 1,859 were in 

 connection with the Wesleyan Sunday-school 

 Union, 880 more than were so connected the 

 previous year. Four hundred children were 

 reported in the various branches of the Chil- 

 dren's Home. Two hundred and fifty children 

 had already been sent under the auspices of 

 this institution to Canada. The Committee on 

 the Theological Institutions reported that 140 

 students had attended the three colleges. 

 About 11,000 were invested as a reserved 

 fund for an additional college in the midland 

 counties. In the Chapel Committee report was 

 made that 136 new chapels and 93 enlarge- 

 ments had been authorized, at a total cost of 

 353,112, to provide 26,210 additional sittings; 

 and 271 new buildings had been completed, at 

 a cost of 345,595, of which 247,487 had 

 been raised by subscription. Debts had been 

 discharged to the amount of 40,390, and to a 

 total amount in twenty-two years of 1,117,- 

 477. Five hundred and eight loans were now in 

 operation. The Committee on the Extension 

 of Methodism in Great Britain reported that 

 9,140 had been promised to the fund during 



* Exclusive of missionaries in Ireland. 

 t The French ministers who are employed in the Channel 

 Islands district are not included in these returns. 



