METHODISTS. 



535 





the year, making a total of 88,154 5*. 7dL, 

 |ir..iiii-nl it since its establishment in 1874. 

 Four large chapels and two temporary erec- 

 tions had been assisted during the year through 

 tin- Metropolitan Chapel Fund. Thereportof 

 i !.. Home Mission Committee represented that 

 tin- missionary labors in the various districts 

 had been attended with success. 



It was reported, in the Lord's-Day Commit- 

 t.-r. that in a canvass organized in different 

 parts of England by the Central Sunday-Clos- 

 ing Association of Manchester, to ascertain 

 the state of public opinion in reference to the 

 forced closing of public-houses on Sunday, 

 476,766 votes had been given in favor of and 

 68,847 votes against closing. 



A report was presented to the conference 

 from the Leys School, Cambridge. It was 

 opened in the spring of 1875, with fifteen 

 pupils. The number had steadily increased 

 during the year, and between seventy and 

 eighty pupils were expected at the beginning 

 of the next term. The objects of the founders 

 of the school were to take advantage of the 

 facilities offered by a university town for ob- 

 taining teaching of the highest class,, to pro- 

 mote university education in the Methodist 

 Connection, and at the same time provide a 

 sound and real training for boys intended for 

 mercantile pursuits, carry out the main prin- 

 ciples of public-school discipline, and lay the 

 foundation of Scriptural knowledge and Chris- 

 tian principle. 



The anniversary of the Wesleyan Home 

 Missions was held May 2d. Mr. William New- 

 burn presided. The treasurer reported that 

 the income for the year had been 86,379 10. 

 7<Z., and that the expenditure had fallen short 

 of that sum. The debt had been reduced by 

 1,384 8*. 5^., and now stood at 8,423 15*.7rf. 



The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Mis- 

 sionary Society was held in London, May 1st. 

 Mr. Alexander McArthur, M. P., presided. 

 The treasurer reported that the home receipts 

 of the Society for the year had been 137,000 

 13. 7^., and the foreign receipts (from the 

 Australasian Conference and Mission Districts) 

 22,105 11s. 9<Z., making a total of 159,106 

 5. 4rf. The following general summary was 

 presented of the missions under the immediate 

 direction of the Wesleyan Missionary Commit- 

 tee and British Conference in Europe, India, 

 China, South and West Africa, and the West 

 Indies : 



Central or principal stations called circuits 808 



Chapels and other preaching-places in connec- 

 tion with the above-mentioned central or prin- 

 cipal stations an far as ascertained 2,195 



Ministers and assistant missionaries, including 



supernumeraries 860 



Other paid agents, as catechists, interpreters, 



day-school teachers, etc 1,448 



Unpaid agents, as Sabbath-school teachers, etc 6.698 



Full nnd accredited church-members 78.039 



On trial for church-membership 10,045 



Scholars, deducting for those who attended both 



the day and Sabbath schools 79,428 



Printing-establishments 8 



The Society had in Ireland 85 ministers, 3,566 



members, 1,770 scholars; in France (includ- 

 ing a part of Switzerland), 87 ministers, 1,989 

 in tubers, 8,005 scholars, under the car. >( 

 the French Conference ; in Italy, 2 Kngliah 

 and 21 Italian ministers, 1,149 members, 866 

 scholars ; in Spain and Portugal, 8 minister* 

 and an agent in Minorca, 246 members (in- 

 cluding those at Gibraltar), 1,096 scholars ; in 

 Germany, 2 English and 18 German minis- 

 ters, 2,844 members, 2,871 scholars ; in all the 

 Continental missions, 83 missionaries, 5,728 

 members, 7,888 scholars. In other continents 

 there were reported : in India and Ceylon, 89 

 missionaries, of whom 52 were natives; in 

 China, 12 missionaries, including one native, 

 with 3,816 Indian and Chinese members, and 

 18,787 scholars ; in South Africa, 94 mission- 

 aries, of whom 16 were natives, 15,858 mem- 

 bers, and 16,932 scholars; in West Africa, 25 

 missionaries, of whom 17 were natives, 10,849 

 members, 8,091 scholars ; in the West In- 

 dies, 91 missionaries, 48,637 members, 28,202 

 scholars. Complete returns had not been re- 

 ceived from the Australasian churches and 

 missions. The most recent returns of the 

 purely mission work in Polynesia at the last 

 meeting, held at Sydney (in February, 1876), 

 gave 80 missionaries, of whom 63 were na- 

 tives, 26,389 members, 58,475 scholars, ex- 

 clusive of the Chinese mission at Victoria. 

 The Society had small establishments for edu- 

 cational purposes in other countries. 



A new mission of this Society was started 

 in 1875 in the islands of New Ireland and New 

 Britain, under the direction of the Rev. George 

 Brown, who took with him ten native cate- 

 chists, with their wives, from the Feejee Isl- 

 ands. The mission was reenforced during 1876 

 by eleven other native Feejee catechists and 

 their wives. It is supported by the Polynesian 

 churches. 



The Wesleyan Conference held its one hun- 

 dred and thirty-third session at Nottingham, 

 beginning July 26th. The Rev. Alexander 

 MacAulay was chosen president. The most 

 important subject that engaged attention was 

 that of giving to the laity of the Church a rep- 

 resentation in the deliberations of the confer- 

 ence. The question had been submitted to 

 the advice of counsel by a committee appointed 

 by the preceding conference whether such rep- 

 resentation could be given without violation of 

 the constitution of the conference, and without 

 detriment to the legality of its organization, 

 and the opinion had been given by the counsel 

 that it could. The subject had been referred 

 by the conference of 1875 to the district 

 meetings to obtain the expression of their 

 views upon it, and afterward to a mixed com- 

 mittee of ministers and laymen, formed for the 

 purpose of receiving and comparing the ex- 

 pressions of the district meetings, and em- 

 bodying their suggestions in a measure suitably 

 shaped for the action of the conference. . The 

 mixed committee met June 6th and adopted 

 resolutions declaring that in their opinion the 



