284: 



FRANCE. 



629 rupees. The debt amounts to 10,754,300 francs. 

 The chief exports is oil seeds. There were 428 ves- 

 sels, of 562,000 tons, entered and 432, of 560,868 tons, 

 cleared in 1895. The post office carried 672,698 

 letters. 



French Indo-China comprises Cochin China, 

 Tonquin, Annam. and Cambodia. The imports of 

 Annum in 1896 were 3,860,682 francs in value, and 

 exports 2,898,610 francs. Sugar and cinnamon are 

 the chief articles exported. There are 23,370 troops 

 to preserve order in Annam and Tonquin, of whom 

 14,500 are natives. Tonquin now includes a tract 

 of 110,000 sqiiuiv miles on the east side of the 

 Mekong that was formerly claimed by Siam, but 

 was conceded to France in 1893. The chief product 

 ia rice, which is largely exported to Hong-Kong and 

 China. The total imports for 1896 were valued at 

 1 U 1 1 :l francs, and exports at 7,560,898 francs, not 

 iiu-luding a transit trade with Yunnan amounting 

 to about 5,000,000 francs of imports and 3,200,000 

 francs of exports. The railroad from Phulang to 

 Langson, (54 miles, is to bo extended to Xacham, on 

 the Chinese frontier. The local revenue and ex- 

 penditure of Annam and Tonquin in 1897 was 

 7,962.000 Mexican dollars. France's expenditure 

 in 1S98 was 24,450.000 francs. 



The budget of Cambodia for 1897 was 2,025,000 

 Mexican dollars. The population includes, besides 

 the various native races, 250,000 Chinese and Anna- 

 mese and 40,000 Malays. The exports are rice, 

 cotton and cotton seed, betel, tobacco, pepper, in- 

 digo, and cinnamon. The value of the imports in 

 1896 was $4,000,000 and of exports $10,000,000. 



Cochin China is an organized French colony. 

 The population, numbering 2,034,453 in 1897, con- 

 tains, besides Annamese, Chinese, Malays, and 

 Malabar natives. There was a net immigration of 

 3,687 Asiatics in 1894 The French population is 

 4,335. The military force consisted in 1897 of 1,217 

 French troops and 2,400 Annamese soldiers. The 

 rice crop was 8,281,300 piculs in 1896. This is ex- 

 ported to China, Java, and Europe. Other exports 

 are cotton, silk, hides, fish, pepper, and copra. Im- 

 ports were valued at 55,828,250 francs in 1896, and 

 exports at 91,117,500 francs. There is a railroad 

 from Saigon to Mytho, 51 miles. The telegraphs 

 have a length of 1,905 miles, with 3,077 miles of 

 wire. The number of dispatches in 1896 was 321,- 

 536. The local revenue and expenditure in 1897 

 were $12,420,000; expenditure of France, 3,150,000 

 francs. 



French Guiana is a penal settlement with a con- 

 vict population of 4,500. The border territory in 

 which gold has been discovered was disputed with 

 Brazil, and in April, 1897, a convention was signed 

 agreeing to leave it to arbitration. The export of 

 gold in 1896 was 101,938 ounces. The local revenue 

 and ttjModitaM in 1897 was 2,770,000 francs. The 

 expenditure of France in 1898 was 6,161,000 francs, 

 including 4,732,000 francs for the penal establish- 

 ment. 



St. Pierre and Miquelon and adjacent islands off 

 the south coast of Newfoundland are stations for 

 the French cod-fishing fleet. The local budget for 

 1897 WM 463,000 francs; the expenditure of France 

 in 1898 was 302,500 francs. 



The penal colony of New Caledonia had imports 

 in 1896 amounting to 9,198,545 francs, and exports to 

 5,748.552 francs, of which 3.500,000 francs represent 

 nickel and chrome ores. There were 120 vessels, of 

 132,829 tons, entered and 154, of 175,993 tons, 

 cleared at the port of Noumea. The local budget 

 for 1897 was 2..VM.OOO francs; the expenditure of 

 France for 188 was 7,H33,000 francs, including 

 4,716.000 franca for the iK'iial establishment. 



The Loyalty ami Wai I is groups, the Isle of Pines, 

 and some smaller islands are dependencies of New 



FREE BAPTIST CHURCH. 



Caledonia. The French establishments in Oceania 

 comprise the Society Islands, of which the chief 

 ones are Tahiti, Moorea, the Tetearoa group, and 

 Meetia. the islands of Raiatea, Tubuai-Manu, Hua- 

 hine, Bora-Bora, and others in the northwest, and 

 the Marquesas, Tuamotu, Gambier, and Tubuai 

 groups and Rapa island, all under one governor. 

 The total imports in 1896 were valued at 2,923,957 

 francs, and exports at 3,269,888 francs. The leading 

 exports were mother-of-pearl for 1,464,265 francs, 

 copra for 855,590 francs, vanilla for 405,425 francs, 

 and cotton for 205,737 francs. Breadstuffs, provi- 

 sions, canned goods, and calico are imported from 

 the United States and Europe. The local budget for 

 1897 was 1,110,000 francs; the expenditure of 

 France in 1898 was 856,000 francs. (See MADAGAS- 

 CAR, WEST AFRICA, WEST INDIES.) 



FREE BAPTIST CHURCH. The following is 

 a summary of the statistics of this body as they are 

 given in the " Free Baptist Yearbook and Register " 

 for 1899: Number of quarterly meetings, 190; of 

 churches, 1,507; of ordained missions, 1,343; of li- 

 censed preachers, 240; of members, 87,620; value 

 of church property, $2,854,651 ; amount of benevo- 

 lent contributions for foreign missions, $14,275 ; 

 for home missions, $7,890 ; for the Educational So- 

 ciety, $4,057 ; for the Woman's Mission Society, 

 $7,781. Tables, very incomplete in detail, are given 

 of 21 other bodies associations and quarterly 

 meetings not connected with the General Confer- 

 ence, which include 367 churches, 333 ministers, 

 and 16,471 members, with church property valued 

 at $10,890. These bodies are in the States of Ala- 

 bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi. Missouri, 

 North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Indian 

 Territory. The mission churches in India (in- 

 cluded in the above total enumeration) return 6 

 principal stations, 27 American missionaries, 5 of 

 whom are now in the United States, 233 native 

 helpers, 791 members, with 32 additions by baptism 

 during the year, 3,303 pupils in Sunday schools, 'Jn!> 

 Christian Endeavorers, a native Christian commu- 

 nity of 1,704 persons, 87 Christian and 67 non-Chris- 

 tian teachers, and 2,981 pupils in all, in the schools, 

 of whom 533 are Christians, 1,286 Hindu, 82 -Mo- 

 hammedan, and 1,034 Santal pupils. The total con- 

 tributions of the mission churches and Sunday 

 schools were 1,961 rupees, or about $654. 



The Nova Scotia Free Baptist Conference returns 

 41 churches, 3,836 members, with 91 additions dur- 

 ing the year ; 39 Sunday schools, with 232 teachers 

 and 2,509 pupils, contributing $470 ; and contribu- 

 tions of $8,200 for local work, $500 for foreign mis- 

 sions, and $400 for other purposes. It has one for- 

 eign missionary, in India. 



The triennial General Conference met at Ocean 

 Park (Old Orchard Beach), Me.. Aug. 25. The Rev. 

 Dr. R, D. Lord, of Brooklyn, N. Y., presided. The 

 report of the committee on the ministry, as adopted, 

 declared, in substance, that persons having gifts 

 and qualifications for prayer and personal Christ i;m 

 work ought to be recognized by the local churches 

 without ordination ; that married persons not liv- 

 ing in married union should not be ordained un- 

 less for reasons satisfactory to a, council ; that the 

 course of studies required by the General Confer- 

 ence, or its equivalent, should be the minimum "f 

 acquirements for ordination ; that ministers should 

 report their work to the State organizations for 

 approval ; that ministers coming from ot her denom- 

 inations should be as carefully and thoroughly ex- 

 amined as those proposing to enter the ministry 

 from the Freewill Baptist denomination ; and that 

 those ordained should be sound in doctrine and of 

 good report. The report on foreign missions ex- 

 pressed regret that a diminution had taken place 

 m the missionary force in India ; recommended 



