508 



METHODISTS. 



representation be brought into operation at the 

 conference of 1878. A deputation was re- 

 ceived, for the first time in the history of the 

 two Churches, from the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, South. It consisted of Bishop E. M. 

 Marvin and his traveling companion, the Eev. 

 E. K. Hendrix, who had been paying an offi- 

 cial visit to the mission stations of the Church, 

 South, in China. The representatives of the 

 Australasian General Conference presented a 

 request that a representative of the British 

 Conference be sent to the next triennial meet- 

 ing of that body, which is to be held in 1878, 

 indorsed by each of the four annual confer- 

 ences which constitute the Australasian Gen- 

 eral Conference. The Kev. Dr. Gervase Smith 

 was appointed such delegate. Of 183 candi- 

 dates for admission to the ministry presented 

 to the conference, 34 were from the mission 

 fields, and nearly all foreigners, the products of 

 mission work. Among them were Germans, 

 Italians, Portuguese, Cinghalese, Chinese, Afri- 

 cans, and West-Indians. 



Irish Wetleyan Conference. The 96th ses- 

 sion of the conference was held at Cork, be- 

 ginning June 20th. The reports of the com- 

 mittees of management of the various funds 

 were heard at meetings held previous to the 

 opening of the conference. The united com- 

 mittee of the Irish Wesleyans and of the Prim- 

 itive Wesleyans resolved to recommend to 

 the conference a series of resolutions defining 

 the terms of union, and providing for the man- 

 agement of all connectional interests, and the 

 appointment of ministers to circuit work and 

 connectional offices on terms of perfect equal- 

 ity. The difficulties hitherto existing in the 

 way of union were carefully considered, and 

 the committee recommended that mutual con- 

 cessions should be made by both bodies, and 

 earnestly desired the cordial reception of these 

 terms by both the approaching conferences, 

 with a view to an easy consummation of the 

 union. These recommendations were unani- 

 mously adopted by the conference, and a sum 

 of money was subscribed to aid in the consum- 

 mation of the union. The same report was 

 also adopted by the Primitive Wesleyan Con- 

 ference. The conference was for the first time 

 composed of ministers and laymen, the act for 

 the admission of the laymen having been rati- 

 fied by the British Conference of 1876. The 

 Rev. Alexander McAuley, president of the con- 

 ference, remarked in his opening address that 

 he was thankful that the admission of the lay- 

 men had been effected without the loss of a 

 single member. 



METHODISTS IN FRANCE. French Wesleyan 

 Conference. The 24th annual session of the 

 French Conference was held in Paris, June 

 22d. The following statistics of the connec- 

 tion were presented : number of chapels and 

 other places of worship, 167; of pastors and 

 candidates for the ministry, 35 ; of evangelists, 

 20 ; of local preachers, 106 ; of full members, 

 1,905; of persons on trial, 77 ; of day-schools, 



12, with 409 pupils; of Sunday-schools, 53, 

 with 322 teachers and 2,792 scholars ; of at- 

 tendants on worship, 9,267. The debts on 

 chapels had been diminished by 880, but still 

 amounted to 11,083. A scheme for the rep- 

 resentation of the laymen in the conference 

 had been prepared and accepted in 1874. Cir- 

 cumstances seeming to require that some 

 changes be made in it, a committee was ap- 

 pointed to prepare a new scheme for the next 

 conference. 



VII. PBIMITIVE METHODIST CONNECTION. - 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this body as they were reported to the confer- 

 ence in June: total number of members, in- 

 cluding those on trial, 180,634, an increase of 

 3,829 ; number of ministers, 1,020, an increase 

 of 40 ; of local preachers, 15,402, an increase 

 of 97; of class-leaders, 10,309, an increase of 

 97. It was computed that the returns of mem- 

 bers in the colonies would swell the increase 

 of members to 4,000. 



The annual meeting of the Primitive Metho- 

 dist Some and Foreign Missions was held in 

 London, May 15th. The total income of the 

 society for the year had been 34,494, of which 

 5,108 had been received from Australia, and 

 5,166 from Canada. In the provinces of Eng- 

 land the society had 107 missionaries ; in Wales 

 6, in London 4, in Scotland 8, in Ireland 9, in 

 the Australian colonies 53 ministers and mis- 

 sionaries; in Canada 75, in West Africa 5, and 

 in South Africa 2 ; in large towns in England 

 8. An increase of 800 church-members on the 

 mission stations was reported. Seventeen new 

 chapels and five schools had been built during' 

 the year. 



The fifty-eighth annual conference of the 

 Primitive Methodist Connection met at Scar- 

 borough, June 13th. The Eev. Thomas Smith, 

 governor of York College, was chosen presi- 

 dent. The total income of the book depot for 

 the year had been 26,209, and a balance of 

 1,875 remained in its favor. The total num- 

 ber of Sunday-schools was 3,855. The num- 

 ber included in the Connectional Sunday-school 

 Union was 2,181, and their total income had 

 been 53,000, exclusive of that of many schools 

 whose accounts were mixed up with chapeJ 

 accounts. The General Chapel Committee re- 

 ported that 141 chapels had been built during 

 the year, providing sittings for 32,855 persons, 

 at a cost of 129,374, toward which 53,125 

 had been contributed. The total number of 

 chapels in the Connection was 4,113, which 

 cost 1,871,643, and provided 787,969 sittings. 

 A question was presented concerning the inter- 

 pretation of a Connectional law which pro- 

 hibits any person who has become insolvent 

 from being an official member of the Connec- 

 tion without the sanction of the General Com- 

 mittee. One of the District Committees had 

 interpreted the rule so as to include within its 

 provision persons whose insolvency had oc- 

 curred while they were separated from the 

 Connection ; and the General Committee had 



