PRESBYTERIANS. 



the year was returned at 299,307, and the total 

 ministerial income was 111,317. The Board of 

 Missions reported that the colonial mission had 

 a credit balance of 859, and the Continental 

 mission one of 536; while the other missions 

 had debtor balances the Irish of 1,969, the 

 Jewish of 1,549, the foreign of 6,778, the In- 

 dian Education fund of 200, the fund for weak 

 congregations of 16, and the home mission fund 

 of 2,702. 



XII. Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church. 

 The statistics of this Church, presented to the 

 General Assembly in May, gave it 1,579 chapels 

 and preaching stations, having sitting accommo- 

 dation for 500,000 persons, 976 Sunday-school 

 buildings, 191 manses, 461 chapel houses, 1,374 

 churches, 834 ministers, 890 preachers, 160,333 

 communicants, 74,522 children, 2,532 candidates 

 for membership; total in the churches, 237,277; 

 1,688 Sunday-schools, with 25,657 officers and 

 teachers and 204,777 members; and 323,951 hear- 

 ers in the churches. The collections for all pur- 

 poses amounted to 305,745. 



The General Assembly met in Liverpool, May 

 13. The Rev. Aaron Davis was chosen moderator. 

 The report of foreign missions showed that there 

 had been a considerable deficit in funds, while the 

 work in the Khassia hills of India had met with 

 encouraging success. The income of the society 

 had been 8,751, and the expenditure 14,526. 

 With the consent of the Assembly the De Luchai 

 field was transferred to the Baptist Missionary 

 Society. The Committee on the " Forward Move- 

 ment " reported that its receipts had been 5,898, 

 and its expenditure 3,454. The profits of the 

 book room had been 1,450. The General As- 

 sembly's mission to the Welsh in London was 

 represented to be in a satisfactory condition. 

 These people had now 16 churches and preaching 

 stations, 14 branch Sabbath-schools, 10 ministers, 

 8 unordained preachers, 95 deacons, 4,005 com- 

 municants, and 931 children, with 5,551 hearers 

 at their services, and had contributed 8,456 dur- 

 ing the year. The Committee of the Twentieth 

 Century Fund reported that 78,704 had been 

 promised to it, and 50,000 had been paid. The 

 fund would be open till the end of 1902. 



XIII. Presbyterian Church in New South 

 Wales. The General Assembly of the Presby- 

 terian Church in New South Wales met in Syd- 

 ney in June. The Rev. John Walker was chosen 

 moderator, and made an address insisting upon 

 thg necessity of the Church putting more energy 

 into its work and expanding it. As aids in the 

 improvement of existing conditions, he proposed 

 the institution of three new offices those of a 

 superintendent of parishes, a home mission or- 

 ganizing commission, and a church evangelist. 

 The suggestion for the appointment of a super- 

 intendent of parishes was accepted by the Assem- 

 bly, and Mr. Walker was chosen to the office. 

 The other suggestions were accepted in principle, 

 contingently on men and means for carrying 

 them out being found. 



XIV. Presbyterian Church of New Zea- 

 land. The union of the two Presbyterian 

 Churches in New Zealand the Church of Otago 

 and Southland and the Northern Church was 



I'ormally completed in December, 1901, when the 

 ict of union was unanimously adopted by the 

 Assembly, and the moderators of the two church- 

 es signed the uniting act and gave each other 

 ;he right hand of fellowship as representatives 

 )f their respective churches. The negotiations 

 r or union had been going on for a considerable 

 ;ime, but their completion was delayed in conse- 

 juence of an apprehension by the Southern 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. 585 



Church that the validity of certain trust deeds of 

 which it enjoyed the benefit might be impaired if it 

 lost its identity. This apprehension having been 

 set at rest by a decision of the courts, union became 

 easy. Conferences with reference to union have 

 been begun between committees of the Presby- 

 terian and Congregational Churches in Australia. 



XV. Conference of Psalm-Singers. A con- 

 ference of representatives of those Presbyterian 

 Churches which insist upon the exclusive use of 

 the Psalms in the service of song in worship 

 was held in Belfast, Ireland, Aug. 6-8. Among 

 these churches are the Presbyterian Church in 

 Ireland, the various Reformed Presbyterian 

 Churches in Scotland, Ireland, and the United 

 States, the secession churches, and the United 

 Presbyterian Church in North America. A dif- 

 ferent person officiated as chairman at each ses- 

 sion. The program included more than 30 papers 

 and addresses of argumentative, historical, and 

 critical character, presenting the subject in vari- 

 ous aspects. The divine authority of the Psalms 

 was insisted upon, while it was argued that 

 hymns were destitute of such authority. Argu- 

 ments were presented for the sufficiency of the 

 Psalms for all occasions of worship, and illus- 

 trations were adduced from argument and experi- 

 ence of the adaptation of the Psalms to all pur- 

 poses and contingencies. In a paper on The 

 Twentieth-Century Interdenominational Psalm- 

 ody Revision Movement, the Rev. J. C. K. Milli- 

 gan, of New York, described a movement for the 

 revision of the Psalms contemplating a metrical 

 version, which would more favorably commend 

 them to the Christian public. The effort would 

 be made to meet every objection that could be 

 brought against the Psalms by those who pre- 

 ferred hymns by correcting the defects in the old 

 revision and seeking to impress the exact thought 

 of each line of the original in the language of the 

 authorized and revised versions of the Bible and 

 in the best form attainable. Good progress had 

 been made with the work, and it was hoped that 

 the Psalter would be completed in May, 1903. 



PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, a province 

 of the Dominion of Canada; area, 2,000 square 

 miles; population in 1901, 103,259; capital, Char- 

 lottetown. 



Government and Politics. The ministry that 

 Arthur Peters formed early in the year as a result 

 of Premier Farquharson's retirement and election 

 to the Dominion Parliament, was composed of 

 himself as Premier, President of the Council, and 

 Attorney-General; Benjamin Rogers as Provincial 

 Secretary, Treasurer, and Commissioner of Agri- 

 culture; J. H. Cummiskey, Commissioner of Pub- 

 lic Works; and Messrs. R. C. McLeod, J. W. Rich- 

 ards, Peter McNutt, J. F. Whear, and George 

 Forbes as members without office. The only 

 changes were in the premiership and the substitu- 

 tion of Mr. Whear for Mr. M. McDonald. The 

 Legislature was opened by Lieut.-Gov. P. A. Mc- 

 Intyre on March 11, 1902, with an address from 

 the* throne, of which the following were the im- 

 portant passages: 



" I regret that the long-protracted war in South 

 Africa still continues. Another contingent from 

 the Dominion of Canada, including volunteers 

 from this province, departed for the scene of war 

 in the month of January. It is pleasing to note 

 the probabilities of an early conclusion of the war, 

 and that our citizen soldiers now serving in South 

 Africa will speedily return to their homes. 



"The untimely death of the late President of 

 the United States, the Hon. William McKinley, 

 caused a feeling of horror throughout this prov- 

 ince as well as in all parts of Canada. 



