PRESBYTERIANS. 



657 



part of this Church, nor if made by other churches, 

 or parts thereof should be publicly considered by 

 any part of this Church until the General Assembly 

 shall have properly authorized such proceedings. 



IX. Presbyterian Church in Canada. The 

 report of the Church and Manse Building Fund for 

 Manitoba and the Northwest showed that since the 

 fund was established, sixteen years ago, 305 churches 

 and 63 manses hud been built with the assistance 

 of the committee. These buildings were valued at 

 more than $500.000. 



The report of the Aged and Infirm Ministers' 

 fund showed that the contributions for the past 

 eleven months had been $712 greater than for the 

 previous full year. The churches had, however, 

 failed to make up for the adverse balance from the 

 preceding year. There was therefore a shortage 

 in the fund, so that the question of paying annui- 

 tants in full upon the modified scale that had been 

 acted upon during the last few years had become a 

 serious one. The fund is made up of dues paid by 

 ministers who connect themselves with it and of 

 contributions from the churches; while ministers 

 who do not contribute are given a share in the bene- 

 fits. A special committee reported measures urg- 

 ingall ministers on ordination to connect themselves 

 with the fund, and giving all who reach the age of 

 sixty-seven years and have paid all the yearly rates 

 the privilege of retiring from the active duties of 

 the ministry and being placed upon the fund ; min- 

 isters who fail to pay the annual rates not to be 

 entitled to make any claim upon the fund as a mat- 

 ter of right, but to have their cases considered by 

 the General Assembly. An effort is to be made to 

 bring the fund up to at least $200,000. 



Reports from 993 Young People's Societies, 783 

 of which were Christian Endeavor Societies, gave a 

 total of 36,521 members, a decrease from the pre- 

 vious year of 1,883. Some societies had been dis- 

 banded and many new ones had been formed, and 

 the actual whole number was estimated to be nearly 

 1,200. The proportion of young men to young 

 women in the societies was about as 37 to 64. The 

 number of young men was relatively larger in the 

 rural districts, while in towns and cities it was 

 sometimes quite insignificant. The contributions 

 of the societies had been smaller than in 1896 

 $29,303, as against $34,181 and the average per 

 society had fallen from $38 to a little more than 

 $29. 



Reports from 2,144 Sabbath schools showed an 

 attendance of 18.819 officers and teachers and 154,- 

 000 pupils, nearly 68 per cent, of whom were present 

 every Sabbath, while 67.169 persons were studying 

 their lessons at home. The figures show an increase 

 during the year of 227 schools and 3,750 pupils, and 

 a decrease of 381 studying their lessons at home. 

 The Sabbath schools had contributed $24,541, an 

 increase of $276, to the schemes of the Church, and 

 $9,821 to other objects; while the congregations had 

 contributed $11,956 to the support of the schools, 

 and the schools $52,262 to their own support. 



The work of French evangelization included 38 

 fields, having 94 preaching stations, served by 28 

 ordained missionaries, 16 colporteurs and students, 

 and 21 missionary teachers. The interest among 

 the people to whom the work is directed was repre- 

 sented as increasing. 



The General Assembly met in Montreal, June 15. 



"le Rev. Robert Torrance, D. D., was chosen mod- 

 erator. The Home Mission Committee of the east- 

 ern section including the maritime provinces, 

 Labrador, and Bermuda reported that its receipts, 

 $14,245, had been $849 less than those of the pre- 

 ceding year ; the latter had, however, been increased 

 through the responses to a special appeal for the 

 removal of the debt. The receipts of the committee 

 VOL. XXXVHI. 42 A 



for the western section, including the other prov- 

 inces of the Dominion, had been exceptionally large, 

 having been increased by gifts of $12,000 from 

 British sources, and by contributions of $?,<XM) for 

 the special Klondike fund. A suggestion was made 

 in the. discussion of these reports that it might be 

 advisable to give the home missionaries a furlough, 

 such as is given them in India and elsewhere, so 

 that they might be refreshed by a visit to the pres- 

 bytery and to the Assembly, privileges which are 

 now denied to many. The statement was also mudo 

 that no Church in the new world or the old world 

 had so large a home mission field in proportion t<> 

 its resources as the Presbyterian Church in Canada. 

 Communications were received from the woman 

 missionaries in India, taking exception to certain 

 representations which had been made to the Church 

 at home, such as that the friction in the mission 

 was aggravated by the women not confining their 

 speaking and voting to their own work. The woman 

 missionaries said that they had no desire to infringe 

 on the rights of presbyteries, but expressed them- 

 selves opposed to the ruling adopted by the General 

 Assembly at its last meeting, tnat they should be 

 constituted into a council, with the right to meet, 

 discuss, and formulate their views on all matters 

 bearing upon (heir own work. They held that in 

 all matters ecclesiastical there ought to be perfect 

 equality, with one council, composed of men and 

 women, and that the formation of a second council 

 would be very injurious to the work. The subject 

 was referred to a committee, upon whose report 

 the Assembly agreed that ordained missionaries of 

 one year's standing who have passed their first ex- 

 amination in the native language shall be a finance 

 committee ; that a women's council shall be formed 

 of the woman missionaries, the estimates of the one 

 and the plans of the other to be under the super- 

 vision of the Foreign Mission Committee. A prop- 

 osition for the reorganization of the Home Mission 

 Committee, assigning to it the duty of looking after 

 the men and the money for the supply of the whole 

 field; while the supervision of the details of home 

 mission work should be left with the various synods 

 as was already done with respect to the Western 

 Synod was referred to a committee to report upon 

 it the next year. Provision was made for obtaining 

 from the various legislatures and the Dominion 

 Parliament acts of incorporation for the Board of 

 Trustees of the Presbyterian Church in C'anada. to 

 have power to receive gifts and conveyances, and to 

 make a legal transfer of them. The reports of the 

 colleges Morrin College, Quebec, Manitoba College, 

 Queen's University and College. Knox College, To- 

 ronto, and the Brantford Ladies' College engaged a 

 considerable proportion of the attention of the 

 Assembly. 



X. Church of Scotland. The 1.789 churches 

 and preaching stations of the Established Church of 

 Scotland returned for 1898 about 1,850 ministers, 

 641,803 communicants, and 2,200 Sunday schools, 

 with 21,174 teachers and 229,302 pupils. 'The total 

 income of the Church for all purposes was 485,695. 

 The reports showed increase in nearly every depart- 

 ment. The income for home missions was 12,688, 

 an increase of 600. The receipts for foreign mis- 

 sionsnearly 50,090 were the largest ever re- 

 corded. These missions returned 8.156 bapti/cd 

 persons, 13,000 pupils in mission schools, and 1,400 

 zenana pupils. The number of im-mK'rs in the 

 home churches was 8.395 more than in the previous 

 year. The Association for the Augmentation of 

 Smaller Livings had distributed 8,178 among 

 335 livings. A further sum of 6.000 would be re- 

 quired to bring all the livings up to 200 per an- 

 num. Seventy-one livings had been permanently 

 augmented. 



