METHODISTS. 



480 



cent, i if the appropriations were to domestic mis- 

 sions. >'.") per cent, to Indian minions, t |><T cent, 

 to French miions, 2 per cent, loChinoe mis- 

 sions in British Columbia, !l per cent, to tin- .la- 

 pan inisMon, mid X.M per cent, to (lie China mis- 

 sion. Appropriations of $242,002 wen- made for 

 the ensuing \ear at the mooting of tho Board in 



October. 



VIII. Wesleyan Methodist Connection 

 (liritish). The. " Wosleyan Methodist Calendar" 

 tor is c .) | ^ive statistics showing that in Great 

 Britain there are associated witli this Connection 

 2,101 ministers and 4(50,064 members, including 

 those on trial ; in Ireland, 220 ministers and 26,- 

 7'J:! members; associated with foreign mis-ions 

 arc :!(;.' mini-tcrs and 44,258 members ; and in 

 connection with the French, South African, West 

 Indian, and Australasian conferences, 947 minis- 

 ters and 200,688 members a total of 8,636 min- 

 isters and 726,283 members. The amounts raised 

 during the year for Wesleyan connectional funds 

 were: Foreign missions, 127,878; home mis- 

 sions, 3.~>,092 ; Theological Institution, 15,- 

 665; General Chapel fund, 9,026; Education 

 fund, 7,053; Auxiliary fund, 38,036; Schools 

 fund, 22,016; Children's fund, 30.895; Ex- 

 tension fund, 1,759. The sum expended on the 

 erection of Wesleyan new chapels and other 

 trust property was 335,431. 



The "Calendar" also gives the yearly statistics 

 of the various sections of Methodism throughout 

 the world. The Wesleyan Connection has in 

 Great Britain 2,302 ministers and 478,692 com- 

 municants, and abroad, 1,175 ministers and 189,- 

 502 communicants ; or a total of 3,477 ordained 

 ministers and 668,194 communicants. The New 

 Connection has. at home and abroad, 201 minis- 

 ters and 38,055 members ; the Bible Christians, 

 230 ministers and 31,991 members ; the Primi- 

 tive Methodists, 1,100 ministers and 193,467 mem- 

 bers ; the United Methodist Free Churches, 421 

 ministers and 36,805 members ; the Wesleyan 

 Reform Union, 22 ministers and 8,174 members; 

 the Independent Methodists, 360 ministers and 

 6.855 members. If to these be added 36,195 min- 

 isters and 5,197,032 members in the United 

 States, and 1,819 ministers and 241,376 members 

 in Canada, a total is given of 44,775 ministers and 

 6,348,029 communicants. 



The report of the Education Committee showed 

 that the number of day-school departments was 

 828, with 176.593 pupils and an average attend- 

 ance of 133,528. The sum of 32,822 had been 

 expended during the year upon Sunday and day 

 schools, and 6,265 upon alterations and enlarge- 

 ments. The total income of the schools had been 

 L"J r>.l 74, and the expenditure 253.056. The 

 Sunday schools numbered 7,024, with 128,955 

 teachers and 939,938 pupils. 



Tho report of the Chapel Committee, published 

 in January, shows that the ordinary income of 

 the fund was 8.933. The Relief Loan fund 

 amounted to 46,000, and the Erections Loan 

 fund to 50,000. A total of .I'M.oO.") had been 

 advanced from those two funds. The committee 

 had sanctioned 355 cases in all since the last re- 

 port, and 53 modifications of ca-es previously 

 sanctioned, making a total estimated expenditure 

 of l'v?78,736. The proposed new chapels, with the 

 enlargement sand other works, would give sitting 

 accommodation for 21,290 persons. During the 



year 819 other cases had been reported through 

 the district synod-,, ivpiv-cnt ing an expenditure 

 oi 809,904, and 81,199 additional sittings, 'ihe 

 total amount, expended on \Veshryan trust prop- 

 erty and red net ion of debt during the year had 

 been 378,137. The net amount actually con- 

 tributed in (ireat Britain was 292,583. 



Report was made to the Conference of the 

 "Joyful News" mission that it new included 18O 

 lay evangelists, 12 women evangelists, an excel- 

 lent working plan legally secured, and an annual 

 income of 6,000. 



In the London mission, 15 ministers, 20 lay 

 agents, 60 ' sisters," and several hundred unpaid 

 workers had been engaged during the year in va- 

 rious parts of the metropolis in evangelistic work 

 which had resulted in gathering congregations of 

 between 10,000 and 15,000 persons, with a mem- 

 bership of about 5,000. 



The report of the Worn-Out Ministers' and 

 Ministers Widows' fund showed an increase in 

 almost every item of income. Of the 36,132 

 promised to the special fund, more than 20,300 

 had been paid. 



Wesleyan Missionary Society. The annual 

 meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was 

 held May 2. Mr. R. W. Parks, M. P., presided. 

 The income of the society, after reducing the 

 legacies to the average for twenty years, had 

 been 127,078, showing an increase of 1,950. 

 The expenditures had been 127,169, while the 

 debt brought over from 1891 caused a present 

 deficiency of 21,521. Three hundred and forty 

 principal mission stations were maintained in 

 various parts of the world, with 1,767 chapels 

 and other preaching places, and 338 missionaries, 

 including supernumeraries. Of other laborers 

 there were 2,295 paid agents and 4,783 unpaid 

 agents. The stations returned 37,466 church 

 members and 6,825 on trial, with 70,973 pupils 

 in Sunday or day schools. 



Conference. The Wesleyan Conference met 

 at Swansea in July. The Rev. Henry J. Pope 

 was chosen president. In the pastoral session 

 modifications were instituted in the method of 

 trying accused chairmen of districts, and an ad- 

 ve'rse report by committee on a proposition to 

 extend the franchise in the election of the presi- 

 dent of the Conference by giving the right of 

 voting to all ministers of ten years' standing, 

 whether present in Conference or not, was ap- 

 proved. In the representative session (in which 

 representatives of the laymen take part with the 

 ministers) a number of changes were made in 

 the system of the Connectional high schools, and 

 measures were taken for the liquidation of the 

 debt of the Schools fund; a committee report 

 was adopted adverse to further extending tin- 

 limit of time (now three years) of continuous 

 ministerial service at a single station ; a former 

 expression of disapproval was reiterated and em- 

 phasized of raising money for Methodist pur- 

 poses by any method in which the element of 

 gambling is involved ; the Sunday schools were 

 given proportionate representation, corresponding 

 with the average attendance upon them, in tin- 

 circuit quarterly meetings ; and in the discus- 

 sion on the state of the churches, the propriety 

 of the people's recognizing their own ministers in 

 times of marriages and funerals, instead of going 

 to the Established Church, was insisted upon; 



