550 



METHODISTS. 



tutions around the Provincial University. The 

 proposition for federation was approved, after 

 a debate of three days in the Conference, by 

 a vote of 138 to 118. The perfection of the 

 scheme requires the collection of a fund of 

 $450,000 for the erection of new buildings and 

 the better equipment of Victoria College, and 

 toward this amount $90,000 were raised in the 

 Conference. The question arose as to whether 

 one General Superintendent or two officers of 

 that name, as was contemplated but not stipu- 

 lated for at the time of the consummation of the 

 union, should be appointed. The Conference 

 decided in favor of two, and General Superin- 

 tendent Carman was re-elected for the term of 

 eight years, and the Eev. Dr. Williams, already 

 serving in place of Superintendent Rice, de- 

 ceased, was chosen for the term of four years. 

 A Superintendent of Missions for the North- 

 west Territories was also determined upon and 

 appointed. A proposition to extend the term 

 of the pastorate to four years was defeated. A 

 plan for the creation of a consolidated treasure- 

 ship of all the funds of the Church, with a lo- 

 cal advisory committee, was referred to a 

 committee for consideration and report to the 

 next General Conference. An arrangement 

 was approved by which the Methodist Church 

 of Canada and the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in the United States shall co-operate in the 

 maintenance of a theological college for the 

 training of native Japanese ministers in Tokio, 

 Japan. A plan was provided whereby Meth- 

 odist and Presbyterian missions occupying the 

 same territory, under conditions in which they 

 may be liable to be brought into conflict or 

 rivalry, may be consolidated by mutual agree- 

 ment and put in the charge of the denomina- 

 tion whose church may be locally the stronger, 

 and a commission was appointed to carry out 

 the plan where it may appear practicable. A 

 plan for Church extension in the Northwest 

 was adopted. The Conference recommended 

 that non-alcoholic wine be used in the sacra- 

 ment of the Lord's Supper ; that juvenile tem- 

 perance societies be organized in all the con- 

 gregations; and that a day be set. apart in each 

 year, to be known as Temperance Sunday, 

 which should be entirely devoted to temper- 

 ance questions. It was mentioned in the re- 

 ports of the Sunday-schools that more than 

 84,000 of the pupils were pledged abstainers. 



IV. Wesleyao Connection. The following is a 

 summary of the statistics of the Wesleyan (Brit- 

 ish) and affiliated Conferences as reported to 

 the Conference at London in July, 1886 : 



The anniversary of the Wesleyan Missionary 

 Society was held in London, May 3. Mr. W. 

 Shepherd Allen, M. P., presided. The receipts 

 of the society for the year had been 138,165, 

 while the expenditures had been 131,364 for 

 general purposes, and 2,469 on account of 

 special missions. 



The Wesleyan Conference met in the City 

 Road Chapel, London, July 20. The Rev. Rob- 

 ert Newton Young, D. D., was chosen president. 

 One of the most important subjects consid- 

 ered was a proposition for the establishment 

 of a mission in Western London, with reference 

 to which a committee had been appointed at 

 a previous conference. The presentation of u 

 favorable report by this committee was fol- 

 lowed by a debate upon the expediency and 

 propriety of undertaking a work of evang*eliza- 

 tion in that quarter of the city, concerning 

 which considerable differences of opinion were 

 expressed. The project was finally sanctioned 

 by the Conference, the resolution to that effect 

 being carried by a large majority of the votes. 

 The Committee of the Mission was empowered 

 to select ministers for appointment in its work, 

 subject to the decision of the Conference. It 

 was understood that the Rev. H. P. Hughes 

 and the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse would be desig- 

 nated to conduct the mission. A committee 

 report was presented on " Village Methodism," 

 or relative to the openings offered for and the 

 prospects of the success of evangelistic work 

 under the auspices of the Conference in the 

 agricultural villages, to which an increased de- 

 gree of importance has been attached since the 

 recent extensions of the electoral franchise. 

 The report expressed satisfaction with the gen- 

 eral results of the committee':? investigation, 

 and cited as a special matter for gratulation 

 that 330 more villages were occupied by Meth- 

 odist preachers and evangelists and other labor- 

 ers than twenty-five years ago. It recommended 

 that the best efforts of the Connection be put 

 forth to render local preachers, exhorters, and 

 class-leaders thoroughly efficient, and to increase 

 their numbers ; that they should vigorously en- 

 gage in aggressive work, and that lay agents 

 should be employed and new village circuits 

 formed. A measure was proposed for a limi- 

 tation of the term during which ministers may 

 be allowed to remain in departmental office. 

 It was to the effect that, with the exception of 

 the editor and the tutors in the theological 

 institutions, no minister shall be allowed to 

 hold a departmental office for more than nine 

 years; and that no minister, having served the 

 Connection for a term of nine years in any de- 

 partment, shall be eligible for election to an- 

 other department without having previously 

 traveled three years in a circuit. ^This was 

 amended by the adoption of a provision that, 

 when an incumbent shall have completed six 

 years of his appointment, the committee con- 

 cerned in the case should be required to make 

 the nomination of three ministers, of whom 

 the Conference should be requested to appoint 



