REFORMED CHURCHES. 



593 



Besides these there were 45 other institutions, 

 universities, colleges, normal schools, etc., at- 

 tended by 11,626 students. ' The report showed 

 an increase of Roman Catholic schools, 66; pu- 

 pils, 4,795; and teachers, 390; and a Protestant 

 decrease of 8 schools and 1,167 pupils, and an 

 increase of 30 teachers. Out of 6,658 lay teachers., 

 only 391 were men, a decrease of 15; and 6,267 

 women, an increase of 149. Of the 391 men, 307 

 were engaged in superior schools. The increase 

 in the number of religieux was 286, showing 

 a reversion to the high figures in this class of six 

 or seven years since. The number of teachers 

 without diplomas was: Roman Catholic, an in- 

 crease of 119; Protestant, 54. There was a 

 marked increase of Protestants from 83 to 137 

 which arose probably from the recently intro- 

 duced policy of compulsory attendance at the 

 normal school. Graduates often declined the 

 small salaries that were offered, and the school 

 boards illegally appointed teachers who were 



without diplomas and did not appear to care if 

 they thereby forfeited the Government grant, as 

 this was very small. As to average salaries, 

 there was a general increase. It was most no- 

 ticeable with the Protestant female teachers, with 

 diplomas in superior schools, who were raised 

 from $152 to $201. 



Criminal Statistics. The sentences for 

 drunkenness in the province numbered 1,493 in 

 1900; for theft, 688; for vagrancy, 662; for as- 

 saults, 206. The maintenance of the prisons cost 

 $126,717, against $116,602 in 1899. The follow- 

 ing quotations and statement are from the an- 

 nual report of the Inspectors of Prisons and Asy- 

 lums for 1900: "The total number of prisons in 

 the province of Quebec in 1900 was 4,753 3,919 

 being men and 834 women against 4,626 in 1899 

 (3,787 being men and 839 women). The number 

 of prisoners under sixteen years of age is decreas- 

 ing year by year. We had only 37 in 1900, 

 against 56 in 1899." 



REFORMED CHURCHES. I. Reformed 

 Church, in America. The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of this Church as they were 

 reported to the General Synod in June, 1902: 

 Number of classes, 35; of churches, 652; of min- 

 isters, 718; of candidates, 48; of families, 61,775; 

 of communicants, 112,896; of catechumens, 35,- 

 421; of Sunday-schools, 921, with a total enrol- 

 ment of 124,672 members; of members received on 

 confession during the year, 5,000; of baptisms, 

 5,897 of infants and 1,278 of adults. Amount of 

 contributions: Denominational, $276,028; for 

 other objects, $115,203; for congregational pur- 

 poses, $1,231,464. 



The Board of Education reported to the Gen- 

 eral Synod 62 divinity students in the theological 

 seminaries the smallest number since 1886. Re- 

 ports were made from Hope College, Michigan, 

 with 206 students, and from 3 academies in the 

 Northwest. The contributions to the work of 

 the board had been $7,375. 



The business of the Board of Publication was 

 represented as being in a satisfactory condition, 

 the receipts of the past year having been $25,829, 

 showing an increase of $2,208. The contributions 

 to the Benevolent fund having increased, the 

 board had been able to enlarge that side of its 

 workMn supplying needy churches and schools. 

 About 60 annuitants were receiving aid from the 

 Widows' fund. 



The Board of Domestic Missions had closed the 

 year without debt. The amount received from 

 all sources had been $95,243 for the mission work 

 an increase of nearly $10,000 and less than $8,- 

 000 to the Church Building fund. New churches 

 had been organized and new missions begun, 

 while several churches were about to become self- 

 supporting. The new mission work centering in 

 Oklahoma was prospering, and was represented 

 in the General Synod by the first Indian delegate 

 it had ever enrolled. The contributions in the 

 department of the Woman's Executive Commit- 

 tee had increased from year to year till they now 

 amounted to $31,425, more than $5,000 in advance 

 of those of the preceding year. The Indian mis- 

 sions and the work among the Kentucky moun- 

 taineers had been generously supported by this 

 committee. 



The receipts of the Board of Foreign Missions 

 had been $114,057 for its regular work and $35,- 

 470 for special objects. A debt of $9,110 had been 

 VOL. XLII. 38 A 



paid, and the board was able to present its report 

 to the General Synod free from indebtedness. 

 The receipts for the Arabian mission had been 

 $11,354 for the regular work and $7,030 for ob- 

 jects outside of the appropriations, among which 

 was the erection of the Mason Memorial Hospi- 

 tal, at Bahrein. The mission at Arcot, India, now 

 transferred to the Synod of the Church of Christ 

 in India, returned 16 missionaries, 460 Indian 

 agents, 114 non-Christian teachers, 2,305 commu- 

 nicants with a Christian community of 10,060 

 persons, 167 Sunday-schools, with 5,406 pupils, 

 and 217 other schools, with 6,226 pupils. The 

 mission was an aggregate of village churches, and 

 now included 157 such. Each village, as a rule, 

 had a school and a resident Christian teacher or 

 catechist. Connected with the mission were the 

 college at Vellore and the industrial school at 

 Ami. 



The ninety-sixth annual meeting of the General 

 Synod was held at Asbury Park, N. J., beginning 

 June 4. The Rev. Abbott E. Kittredge, D. D., 

 was chosen president. The reply, prepared by the 

 committee to which the subject had been referred, 

 to the questions presented to the previous Gen- 

 eral Synod by the delegate of the Christian Re- 

 formed Church concerned the future attitude of 

 the Church as to secret oath-bound societies, and 

 the reason why it did not include in its standards 

 the rejection of the errors of the Remonstrants. 

 As to the former question, regret was expressed 

 at the want of confidence implied in it toward a 

 Church so closely allied and in correspondence, 

 and answer was made to the effect that the 

 whole matter under the Reformed system of gov- 

 ernment was in the province of each consistory, 

 and the relation of the higher judicatories to it 

 was only appellate. Hence the General Synod 

 was not called upon to make a deliverance on the 

 subject. As to the other question, conditions 

 in America at the time of the adoption of the 

 Canons were such as to call for nothing beyond 

 a positive declaration of faith, and hence the 

 negative form, that of the rejection of the errors 

 of the Remonstrants, was deemed unnecessary, 

 and was omitted. The fifth annual report of the 

 special committee on the finances of New Bruns- 

 wick Theological Seminary showed that $4,994 

 had been added to the endowment during the 

 year, bringing the whole amount of addition 

 since the committee's work begun, up to $46,000. 



