ANGLICAN CHURCHES. 





and benefices. Till the present time their augmen- 

 tations and endowments are equivalent to a capital 

 value of about 30,000,000. The report showed that 

 during the fifty years since 1840, when the commis- 

 sion was created, the commissioners had augmented 

 or endowed upward of 5,800 benefices by annual 

 payments charged on the common fund by capital 

 sums expended in the provision of parsonage houses, 

 etc., and by the annexation of tithe charges, etc. 

 The value .of the grants exceeded 818,880 per 

 annum in perpetuity, and was equivalent to a capital 

 value of 24,462,000. The value of benefactions met 

 for the most part by grants from the commissioners 

 exceeded 184.850 per annum in perpetuity, equiva- 

 lent to a capital sum of, say, 5,545,500. A further 

 sum of 26,000 per annum was also contributed by 

 benefactors to meet the commissioners' grants for 

 curates in mining districts. The total increase in 

 the incomes of benefices thus resulting from the 

 operations of the commissioners exceeded 1,024,- 

 230 per annum, which might be taken to represent 

 a capital sum of 30,787,500. 



Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 

 The annual meeting of the Society for the Propa- 

 gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was held in 

 London, May 5, the Archbishop of Canterbury pre- 

 siding. A resolution of sympathy with Mr. Glad- 

 stone in his illness was unanimously passed. It 

 recalled with gratitude the many occasions on which 

 since he became a member, in 1837, Mr. Gladstone 

 had been the society's " eloquent advocate and de- 

 vout supporter." The year's income of the society. 

 had been 317,512, including 205,434 in legacies 

 and 11,289 in rents, dividends, etc. More than 

 177,000 had been received under the bequest 

 of the late Mr. Alfred Marriott, but this in 

 no way relieved the general fund. More than 

 100,000 of the bequest had been invested, and the 

 rest had been distributed in North America (7,130) ; 

 the West Indies (4,505); Africa (23,730); Asia 

 (25,660) ; Australasia (8,975) ; and Europe (1,000). 

 Including 12 bishops, 744 missionaries were main- 

 tained by the society, of whom 249 were in Asia, 

 171 in Africa, 27 in Australia and the Pacific, 209 

 in North America, 48 in the West Indies, and 38 

 chaplains in Europe. Of these, 127 were natives 

 laboring in Asia and 50 in Africa. There were in 

 all about 2,900 lay teachers, 3,200 students in the 

 colleges, and 38,000 children in the schools. In 

 consequence of inadequate funds the mission sta- 

 tions were everywhere undermanned, and further 

 exertions were needed for the increase of the epis- 

 copate. 



The Church Missionary Society. The annual 

 .eeting of the Church Missionary Society was held 

 In London, May 3, Sir John Kennaway presiding. 

 The treasurer's report showed that the whole amount 

 received for the society's general work was 305,625, 

 7,000 more than in 1896, and 44,000 more than in 

 ,he year before that ; and that the total income of 

 the society, including all special funds, had been 

 331,598. This was the highest income ever re- 

 ceived for the general work. The associations had 

 contributed to the total of general receipts 197,224, 

 the largest amount ever sent up by them. Great 

 thankfulness was expressed in the report for the re- 

 sponse which had been given to the appeal made two 

 years previously on behalf of the " Three Years' En- 

 terprise," to which 42.000 had been already con- 

 tributed. Notwithstanding the large receipts and 

 the fact that the previous year's deficiency of 9,000 

 had been wiped off, the rapid development of the 

 work had resulted in an expenditure exceeding the 

 annual income by 20,000. From the mission fields 

 were returned 483 stations ; 411 ordained and 127 

 lay European missionaries, with 300 wives and 254 

 other woman missionaries, making a total of 1,092 ; 



357 native and Eurasian clergy, 5,601 native lay 

 teachers, 63,768 communicants, 15,139 baptisms 

 during the year, and 2,191 schools, with 82,696 

 pupils. New openings were reported in China, where 

 744 persons had been baptized during the year, 

 and a very interesting work was going on among 

 the policemen and soldiers of Japan. The Student 

 Volunteer Movement, or the World's Student 

 Christian Federation, was represented at the anni- 

 versary meeting of the society by its general secre- 

 tary, Mr. J. R. Mott, as a society whose special 

 object was the cultivation of the missionary spirit 

 and the promotion of the success of missionary 

 enterprise. It had been established ten years, and 

 had enrolled 6,000 young men and women students 

 in universities and colleges in all parts of the world 

 in co-operation with its work. 



The Church Army. The report of the Church 

 Army, made at its annual meeting, showed that dur- 

 ing 1897 about 80 trained men and women had been 

 added to its staff, which now included 316 parochial 

 evangelists, 120 van evangelists and colporteurs, 65 

 social officers, 154 mission nurses, rescue and slum 

 workers, and 77 associate trained evangelists. The 

 missionaries in charge of the 48 vans had conducted 

 during the year 2,400 seven-day parochial missions, 

 and had sold or distributed a large number of 

 Bibles and other good literature. The year's gross 

 income had been 98,000, showing an increase of 

 5.000. 



A statement of the social-work and labor-home 

 system of the Church Army, made at a meeting held 

 in London, March 14, represented that it had 70 

 labor homes and other institutions in the metropo- 

 lis and throughout the provinces for dealing with 

 the outcast men, women, and boys irrespective 

 of creed, character, and color. More than 13,000 

 cases had been dealt with in 1897, and 58 per cent, 

 of them had obtained a genuinely fresh start in 

 life. The only qualifications required for admis- 

 sion to the homes were freedom from physical 

 infirmity ; a desire to make use of the offered 

 chance of a fresh start ; and that the person's age 

 should not be more than forty years, or forty-five 

 if possessing a trade. Nearly 13,000 had been 

 paid in wages to the inmates of the homes during 

 the past year. The average length of stay in a 

 home was thirteen weeks. 



Sunday Schools. The report of the Church of 

 England Sunday-School Institute, May 10, shows, 

 from returns sent by 13,635 out of 13,872 incum- 

 bents, that the number of scholars in Church Sunday 

 schools in 1897 was 2,910,565, the year's increase 

 being 19,940. The teachers numbered 209,742. 

 Four hundred and two associations were in union 

 with the Institute, including 19 in India and 

 the colonies. The Church of England Bible Read- 

 ers' Union had 50,000 members. The report sug- 

 gested that Sunday schools needed further episcopal 

 recognition and support, and that teachers should 

 be admitted to their office at a service in church or 

 in the school. A properly organized effort was 

 also needed to improve the teaching. The year's 

 revenue had been 1,586 for the general fund, and 

 10,766 gross by the sale of publications. 



Clergy Relief. The Queen Victoria Clergy 

 fund was incorporated by royal celebration in the 

 sixtieth year of her Majesty's reign as a national 

 fund to supplement the diminished incomes of the 

 clergy. At a meeting in its behalf, held July 4, the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury represented that of the 

 14,000 benefices in the country, 6,000 were of the 

 value of less than 200 a year ; about 4,600 of them 

 had an average income of 150, and the remaining 

 1,400 an average income of 65. It was not only 

 the case that the incomes were so small ; a great 

 number of these gentlemen had larger incomes only 



