

Ul O. 



in New Zealand Utwern the Wesley- 

 an, Bible Christian. and I'nit.-d Methodic 

 Churches Tin* plan of un;- n was under rai 

 stages of consideration in (In- other colon iem with 

 hopeful prospecta. The Rev. II r. Hurgess, of 



tralia,waschos 



era! Conference. The General Secretary of 

 eign Hustons repotted that the total receipts for 

 that cause for tbe four tears 1888. 1804, 1805. 

 and 1W6 hail been 32,336. and the expenditures 

 ..-,; ;-,... .. . .. . , LI.XM. The action 



of the Conference was in favor "f continuing the 



mWonanr work in New dum.-a. New Britain, ami 



the other Elands on its present scale ami with its 



, -inn y. and ..f beginning work 



nrntal Asia and Japan, and among the Chine** in 



northern Queensland whenever tin- means shall l>c 

 Mud, i in. -rest had been felt by th. 

 ministers and mrmln-r- in tin- subject of intercolo- 

 nial exchanges <>f n en from one 



conference to am>tli<T. but n<> general action was 

 .-('on fcn-mo, which confined it-elf to an- 

 ertain particular transfers. I 

 reeled that active m- ! 



Societies should be recognised a.* if meet \\\^ in class, 

 and thus qualified for church membership. Recom- 

 mpiidatioiiMif % i-titiiiional changes' 



brought to (})< a't- ntion of the Conferen 

 them one providing for the direct representation of 

 members in quarterly meetings, but tin- considera- 

 tinii -f them was deferred, the general view of the 

 members of the Conference being that in tin 

 prospect of the union of all the Methodist Chun-he- 

 measures should be postponed till that was 

 accomplished and they could be decided upon by 

 the united body. Tin-" formation of a new confer- 



in Western Australia was decided upon, to be 

 effected in th- \.-ar 1900. It was resolved that a 

 il institution for training candidates for the 

 ministry should be founded in connection with 

 Queen's College, Melbourne. Resolutions 

 passnd condemning the holding of lotteries or 

 games of chance for religious or charitable pur- 

 poses, commending proportionate giving to tin- 

 cause of ' expressing solicitude for tin- 



welfare of the young and a desire to shield them 

 from prevalent 



The Australasian Wesleyan Missionary Society. 

 which has charge of the Wesleyan mission- in An'- 

 tralasia and Polynesia, reports a deficiency on the 

 past Tear's operations of $7,990, the receipts hav- 

 ing been $67,195 and the expenditure $75,185, 

 The excess of expenditures was occasioned by the 

 re-erection of buildings destroyed or injured by the 

 hurricane in Fiji. The general expenditure wa- 

 smaller than for some previous years, and -v -n than 

 rars ago. No white ini--ionar:- 



artivn work died during the year, but the service 

 lost two native laborers. Among the additions to 

 the misionary force are a derman mi^i, nary and 

 his wife, sent t<> N.-w liritain in .rder to make in- 



ling missionary affairs more <-.,n- 



s German 



with the German authorities there. The 

 report define* the situation in Samoa as hopeful, in 



n"both sunshine and shallow." and in 

 Britain an - full of joy " : while steadilv rapid prog- 

 ress has bwn mado in New <; 



\IM. tretleraa Methodist < hnrdi in South 



e*,-The Wealeyan 



South Africa was constituted as an independent 

 body in 1888, when it had 309 churches. 824 r 

 of womhii.. 177 ministers. 1.318 local prea' 



.*h and 17.596 native members, making a 

 total of 20,742 member*.*? junior memers. and 14.- 

 710 pupils in day schools and 17. 



.WBpuj.ils in Sunday 



scho. ,rnel ft cfiurches, 1.798 



places of worship, 191 ministers, 171 evangelists. 



Knu'- 



nU-i> making a l.-tal if 



.lar ineiul uini..riuenil.er>. and 



^ular meint>ei->, 



"juniurs." ami MH-III|MT- mi t rial <-f sii.nl : i;oda\ 



I nchers and 



29.701 pupiU in Su: An inerea-- in 



finirteeii vear- -ular memlu-rs was 



-hown. The ii r i s '.'<; wa 



964d rlish and B8.789 i.\ 



native^,: circuit Income, 85,OM ; "properties" in' 



ji <!;.:>: i:; : 1,,-i.les 



W|IK h the Church receded -rants frmn Kngland of 



include the whole ,,f 



South Afr; .dim. for the chur<-hes JH t he 



Tran-vaal. Swa/ilaml. l'.echuanalan<l, and \l\\- 

 are still under the A: Miiit.c m l.,,n 



don. and coiin.-cicd \\iih the l',rili-h Confrrei 



>l I \ l( n. ial repulilic in North A 



ica, The h-u'i-lalivr powi-r is vested in a Senate of 

 from each St.. d for font- 



years by indirect -ulTra-r. and a 1 



' cted f..r two yearn 



bv universal suffrage. The President, whose tern 

 <>i oiliee i. four \eurs, is Gen. I>. Porlirio I)j a /. 

 \\lio\vas elect til f> r his fourth term and for the 

 third time on July l.'i. IsiMi. The 



Cabinet waa composed in is<7' ( ,f the following 



ineiul '.-lary -f l-'i.reii:ii AlTair-. I. M 



cal : Secretary of the Interior, den. M 



rctary of Finance and Commerce. J. I. 

 Limantoii! ' .lii-tice and I'ulilir- In- 



struction. J. Haram: 

 l-'ernande/.-Le;, pj "f Cointnunicatioii- and 



Public Works. Gen, I-'. '/.. Men rj of WM 



and Marine, den. I-'. \\. P.errio/alml ; State Treas- 

 urer. I-'. Kspinosa, 



1'inanees. The l.inlp-t for the year ending 

 June 30, 1898, makes the revenue of 'the Federal 

 dovernment *",<).: L>. r ),900, of which s 

 are derixed from customs. $'J0.7:' S .")<M) fi. 



'.(KM) from direct taxes, $1,720.000 fr-.m 

 and telegraphs, $200,000 from succession duties. 

 and $1,400,000 from rarioui The total 



.diture is estimated at s.'.o. i Hi.::rj. of \shich 

 !f24,765.419 is allocated to finanee. ^n. 

 war and marine. ^o.-MH.','^? to e<.mmiinicat ion- and 

 public works, x: to the interior, 



to jus) j, .,. and public instructioi 

 affairs, ^-4:{(I.H-,>1 to the Supreme Court. > 

 the Department <.f Fmncnto, or public weal, and 

 $80.9C!f to the i: 



In the budget for 1S{9 the r- 



M) expenditure The 



customs revenue js expected to amount t 

 000 and the yield from internal tuxes to $2:: 

 500. The accounts for IHin dosed with a surplus 

 of $7 ipts amounted to 



:.W.O<K). an increase of $1,000,000 over the preceding 

 The fall in the cxchaiip- value of the dollar 

 to 23r/. raised the estimate of the am. Mint r.-|iiired 

 for the external debt to > 



$1,162.177 more than the s-r\iceof the debt in the 

 financial year 1^!7. The public debt on Jin 

 1896, amounted to $1K: consisting ..f a 



I'.an of *:,].o;ii.00 raised in 1888, one . 

 200 raised in 1890,and the ]*<:', loan of s 

 all bearing 6 per cent, interest, the Tehuan 

 Railroad bonds for > 



ini; ."> per cent.. JfT f internal int. 



bearing debt, and $1,542,454 i-ayin^ no intei' 



I he \mi\ and Navy. The 'military I 

 sistof the active army, auxiliary troops, the r- 

 of the active army, and the general re-erve. The 

 strength of the active army on the peace footing in 

 1897 was 1.314 officers and*21.2!H men in the infan- 

 try, 188 officers and 2,101 men in the artillery, and 



