and educational officers in the matter of aiding in the carrying out of the plans of the commission were defined.

II. Methodist Episcopal Church, South.The numerical returns of this Church give it 5,950 ministers, 14,190 churches, and 1,460,272 members, with church property valued at $5,400,000.

The business done by the Southern Methodist Publishing House during 1899 amounted to $383,746, or $40,447 more than in 1898. The net gain in assets, $33,889, was less than heretofore in proportion to the operations of the concern. The capital was returned as amounting to $920,531. A branch house established in Dallas, Texas, had realized a profit of more than $4,000 in the first year of its existence. The establishment of a branch in China has been determined upon, to take place as soon as a suitable man can be found to manage it.

The reports of the Board of Education represented it as being in better financial condition, taking everything into consideration, than at any previous time. More than $800,000 had been raised toward a contemplated twentieth century fund of $1,500,000. The agitation of this movement, it was believed, had done much to arouse enthusiasm on the subject of education. The entire sum of $25,000 for Haygood Memorial Hall had been

raised.

The report of the Epworth League Board showed that 441 senior and 111 junior chapters had been added during the year, with a total of 23,730 members, making the whole number of chapters 4,977 senior and 606 junior, with 245,175 members in all. A number of lapsed and inoperative leagues had been revived and set to work under better conditions, and a more general understand ing of the purpose of the League and its plan of work was being diffused throughout the connection. A growth of missionary spirit was also mentioned in the report.

The report of the Sunday School Board showed gains of 30 schools and 12,637 teachers and pupils, the whole number of schools being 13,940 and of teachers and pupils 951,824. The collections from all sources, including those for the Children's Day fund, amounted to $2,845, which, added to the balance on hand from the previous year, gave $15,742, while the disbursements had been $3,204, leaving a balance, April 1, 1900, of $12,538. Of this sum, $10,000 were in the form of a loan to the Board of Missions, only the interest of which is used for helping Sunday schools.

The Board of Missions at its annual meeting, May 11, appropriated $222,541 for the work of the missions in Brazil, China, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, and among the Indians, the German populations, and the conferences of the Rocky mountains. The apportionment of amounts to be asked from the several conferences contemplated the raising for the ensuing year of $300,000.

III. African Methodist Episcopal Church.The following numbers were given in the episcopal address to the General Conference as representing the statistics of this Church for 1900: Of annual conferences, 65; of churches, 5,095; of ministers, 5,439; of communicant members, 663,706; of adherents, 1,659,765; of colleges, 20, with 165 teachers, 5,237 students, and 660 graduates; value of church property, $10,310,993. Between 1884 and 1899 $1,140,013 were raised for education. The twenty-first General Conference (quadrennial) met in Columbus, Ohio, May 7. The episcopal address began with a review of the progress of the African Methodist Episcopal Church during the four years since the preceding General ConVOL. XL.-24 A

ference, in which a considerable increase in numbers was spoken of, and as evidences of growth in vital piety were mentioned the better performance of the Church's duties on all observable lines, the emboldening and enlargement of the missionary spirit, a greater grasp of duty and devotion to the performance of it, and the facts that the denomination had built more churches and educated more persons and had had a greater number of conversions than in any previous four years. A financial scheme for the support of the educational interests of the Church was adopted, under which funds were apportioned to 16 institutions of collegiate and academic grade in sums ranging from $1,600 to $200 each, and a plan was arranged for raising money for the educational department, (1) by appropriation from the "dollar money," 6 per cent. of which shall be paid to the Secretary of Education; (2) by private donations and bequests, which shall be paid according to the wish of the donor; (3) by the contributions of educational societies, the formation of which was recommended to the churches of the connection; (4) by public appropriations; (5) by the maturing of life insurance policies; (6) by contributions of pastoral charges for educational purposes; (7) by the proceeds of collections taken at the annual conference educational anniversaries; and (8) by the establishment of a day throughout the connection for taking collections in all the churches, the avails of which shall be used exclusively as an endowment fund for the several connectional institutions after present indebtedness is met—the anniversary to be known as Endowment Day, and held on the third Sunday in each September. The office of Secretary of Christian Endeavor Work was instituted, to be filled by appointment by the bishops. Steps were taken for having the Church represented on the Board of Control of the American Bible Society. Provision was made for the incorporation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in foreign lands where it is working. A measure was passed for debarring from the pulpit any man who is separated from his wife except for the scriptural cause. The report of the committee on the state of the Church advised against the drawing of the color line, and urged that the negro should be allowed to advance in accordance with his social and economical efficiency. Two native Africans were present as delegates from the conferences in South Africa. Five additional bishops were elected -the Rev. Evans Tyree, D. D.; the Rev. M. M. Moore, D. D.; the Rev. C. S. Smith, D. D.; the Rev. C. T. Shaffer, D. D.; and the Rev. J. L. Coppin, D. D., making the whole number of bishops 14. In the adjustment of episcopal districts, 11 were constituted for the United States (with the Bahama Islands), 1 for Canada, Bermuda, the West Indies, South America, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands (Bishop Smith), 1 for the west coast of Africa (Bishop Moore), and 1 for South Africa (Bishop Coppin).

IV. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The statistical reports of this Church give it 9 bishops, 96 presiding elders, 3,200 itinerant preachers, 2,800 churches, and 520,000 members. The general statistician reported to the General Conference that the total value of the church property was $4,865,372; that $2,177,000 had been raised during the past four years for pastors' salaries, $614,800 for current church expenses, and $3,763,996 for new churches and the payment of debts. The sum of $114,000 had been raised for the general fund, $7,500 for home and foreign missions, and $20,000 for purposes of church extension.

The report of the Varick Christian Endeavor Society gave the number of organized societies as more than 600, and that of members as exceeding 20,000.

The General Conference met in Washington, D. C., May 2. The quadrennial address of the bishops reviewed the condition of the Church and presented a number of recommendations of matters to be considered by the Conference. The report of Livingstone College represented that the institution, besides paying its current expenses, had reduced its debt by the amount of $3,900. The collecting agents for the institution reported upon the collection of funds approaching $50,000 in amount. The property of the institution was valued at $117,950, with liabilities of $19,055. The agent of the Greenville College reported having obtained $2,705. The report of the educational secretary represented that the school property had been so improved as to be worth $143,500; that $75,000 had been raised and 1,073 students had attended the schools. The Rev. John Wesley Alstork, D. D., was chosen bishop in place of Bishop Jehu Holiday, deceased, but no additional bishops were elected. Among the measures of policy adopted was a rule requiring the appointment of presiding elders directly by the bishop instead of by the annual conference on nomination by the bishop, and the abolition of the office of Conference steward, in consequence of which pastors will hereafter make their financial reports monthly to the general steward. A special service was held in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Brown.

V. Methodist Protestant Church.-The Statistical Committee of this Church reported to the General Conference in May that there were connected with the 59 conferences 1,645 ministers, 1,135 local ministers and preachers, 177,066 members, 4,250 probationers, 2,001 churches, 531 parsonages, and 2,042 Sunday schools, with 16,680 officers and teachers and 126,031 scholars. The total value of church property was $4,756,721. The receipts of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society for the year were $7,804. After meeting current expenses, a balance of $3,397 remained.

The eighteenth quadrennial General Conference met at Atlantic City, N. J., May 18. The president, Dr. Joshua W. Hering, in his address at the opening of the Conference represented that the recommendation he had made at the previous General Conference for a closer contact through correspondence between the annual conferences and the president of the General Conference had been, he was convinced, the means of accomplishing much good. The correspondence had had a wide range, embracing requests for the construction of law and for advice in the management of what were regarded as difficult cases. The Rev. D. H. Stephens was elected president to succeed Mr. Hering. The Committee on Publishing Interests reported that the assets of the two publishing houses were about $63,000. The circulation of Sunday-school literature had increased to about 140,000 copies. The report of the Board of Ministerial Education remarked upon a substantial increase in the collections, and showed an increase of the permanent fund from $5,184 to $16,529, with additional pledges amounting to about $10,000. The board had in training for the ministry 39 students beneficiaries and about 75 not beneficiaries. Its receipts for the four years since the preceding General Conference had been $25,495 and its disbursements $25,609. The Theological Seminary had 14 students on its roll, while 50 of its alumni were preaching in the Church. Six free scholarships had been established dur

It

ing the year. The receipts of the Board of Home Missions for the quadrennium had been $25,607. The Board of Foreign Missions had received during the past four years $52,688. returned for the mission in Japan 12 foreign missionaries, 15 native preachers, and 19 stations, having properties, including schools and colleges, valued at $40,000. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society returned an income of about $7,000 a year and property in Japan having an estimated value of $15,000. The society does educational and evangelistic work, and has 6 missionaries, 76 pupils in the school, a kindergarten, and a number of native workers. A mission had been started in Shanghai, China, with 2 missionaries. The Woman's Home Missionary Society, which was formed to organize missions among the Indians, reported some evangelistic work done and no debt. The Conference decided that the term for which foreign missionaries shall be engaged be fifteen years, with the privilege of returning home every five years. Provision was made for the election by the Conference of a Board for the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. A proposal to consolidate the Boards of Home and Foreign Missions was referred to a committee, which brought in two reports, one favoring the continuance of the home board under its own management and the other presenting a plan of consolidation. The plan to consolidate the boards was rejected, and the whole matter was then laid on the table. It was decided that a layman has not the right of appeal from the quarterly conference to the annual conference. The question being raised whether a local preacher can act as a lay delegate in the annual conference next preceding the General Conference, the Conference found that the constitution of the Church required that all such delegates should be laymen. The word "catholic," which had been stricken out from the Apostles' Creed by the previous General Conference, was restored. An overture providing for the exclusion from representation in the General Conference of a conference which fails to raise 25 per cent. of its assessments for the general interests of the Church, and an overture looking to the abolition of the electoral college and the election of delegates to the General Conference by a direct vote of the annual conferences, were sent down to the annual conferences. Provision was made for the preparation of a new hymnal. A higher standard of literary qualification in candidates for the ministry was insisted upon.

VI. American Wesleyan Church.-A summary of the statistics of the spring and fall conferences of this Church (omitting three conferences which failed to make reports), published in the Wesleyan Methodist for Jan. 23, 1901, gives the following numbers: Of elders, 393; of superannuated ministers, 33; of quarterly conference licentiates, 304; of members, 15,653; of Sunday schools, 471, with 465 superintendents, 1,948 teachers, and 17,290 pupils; total amount of contributions, $119,244, of which $61,093 were for preaching, $10,369 for missionary enterprises, $1,695 for educational purposes, $5,629 for the support of Sunday schools, $861 for superannuated ministers, and the remainder for other benevolences and church building and expenses. At the annual meeting of the Connectional Boards of this Church the reports showed the aggregate assets of the Connectional societies to be $153,294. The Publishing Association had received $20,080 for the year and added $2,650 to its capital, while its total assets were $67,213. The receipts for foreign missions had been $7,804, those for home missions $2,995, and those for the Education So

ciety $6,991. The first year's operation of a school of college grade had been satisfactory as to number of students and standard of scholarship. Twentynine students had the ministry in view.

VII. Free Methodist Church.-The Executive Board of this Church, at its annual meeting, acted upon the memorial of a member who considered himself aggrieved by the operation of the rule of the Church against membership in secret societies, including labor unions. A preamble and resolutions were adopted, in which the position against secret societies, as expressed in the Discipline and affirmed by the committee in 1899, was reaffirmed, with the declaration: "We are unequivocally opposed to all secret societies, and can not make any change in our rules on this subject, nor can we relax in the least our determination to enforce this rule vigorously without exception or favor. We can not, however, allow this position to be misinterpreted and misconstrued as opposition to organized labor as such. We are not opposed to such proper organizations as seek to promote the interests of laboring men. It would be unreasonable and inconsistent for us to do so, as fully three quarters of our membership are found among the laboring classes. To oppose organized labor that seeks the betterment of the laboring classes would be to oppose our own interests. It has been represented to us that there is a possibility of our mitigating the unfortunate condition of many of our members who hold their loyalty to our Church to be above

VIII. Methodist Church in Canada.-The following is a general summary of the statistics of this Church for 1900: Number of annual conferences, 11; of ordained ministers, 1,790; of probationers for the ministry, 242-making in all 2,032 ministers; of local preachers, 2,290; of exhorters, 1,174; of class leaders, 7,133; of members, 284,901; of Sunday schools, 3,405, with 33,023 officers and teachers and 267,654 scholars; of Epworth Leagues, 1,850, with 74,920 members; of churches and places of worship, 4,334; of parsonages, 1,133; of colleges and educational institutions, 19; value of church property, $15,397,634. The 1,850 young people's societies of various names include 760 Epworth Leagues, 717 Epworth Leagues of Christian Endeavor, 70 other societies, and 303 Junior Epworth Leagues, with 48,299 active and 26,621 associate members. These societies contributed in 1899 $24,004 for league purposes, $19,902 for missions, $478 for the Superannuation fund, $119 for the educational fund, and $62,043 for other purposes.

The Woman's Missionary Society received from all sources $42,562. Reports were made at the nineteenth annual meeting of the Board of Managers, Oct. 23, from stations and schools in Japan, China, among the Chinese in British Columbia, among the Indians, and among the French.

IX. Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain).-This Church includes, acording to the information furnished by the Conference book steward for 1900:

all temporal considerations by conferring with the representatives of organized labor." A committee was therefore appointed to confer with the chief officers of the labor organizations and set before them the true attitude of the Free Methodist Church in reference to secret societies, and to secure, if possible, an arrangement by which its members may continue in their various employments, and may be employed by the various corporations, contractors, and operators, without pledging themselves to secrecy and thereby violating their church vows. A digest of Free Methodist law was submitted in manuscript, and ordered published upon approval by the superintendents.

The report of the treasurer of the Missionary Board showed that the total contributions for foreign missions, including certain special gifts, had been $27,929, averaging more than $1 per member for the whole Church, including probationers, and being the largest amount for one year during the history of the board. The missionary work in South Africa had been interfered with to a considerable extent by the Transvaal war, but no injuries to the property were known of. The appointment of a general superintendent of the work in South Africa, the affairs of the mission in Japan, and the sending of missionaries to Cuba or Porto Rico were considered by the Missionary Board at its meeting in October. The treasurer of the Board of Education reported a little more than $1,200 on hand. The board decided to begin disbursing its fund by loans to accredited applicants in moderate sums, according to the provisions of the Discipline, at its regular meeting in October, 1901.

as

The total income of the Education Committee, as shown in its sixtieth annual report (March, 1900), was £272,923, and the total expenditure was £283,275. The sum of £28,936 had been received "scholars' pence." The collections and subscriptions mentioned, amounting to £5,965, showed an increase of £88 over the previous year. The 743 day-school departments returned 159,716 pupils, with an average attendance of 128,992. The special Government aid grant allotted to the 6 Wesleyan school associations, amounting to £36,146, had been distributed by the governing bodies according to the necessities of the several schools. Full particulars were given in the report of the principal day-school extensions and enlargements, all going to indicate a revival of the interest taken by the connection in elementary education.

The report of the Home Missionary Society to the Conference showed that its total income had been £42,000. Grants had been voted of £9,809 to dependent circuits, £4,251 toward the support of home missionary ministers, and £3,300 to district home mission committees. The Committee on Work in the Army and Navy reported that 193 ministers were wholly or in part engaged in this field, and that there were 31,275 declared Wesleyans in the services. The Chapel Committee reported upon the building of 95 chapels, at a cost of £288,339; of 22 ministers' houses, at an estimated expenditure of £20,594; and of 10 schoolrooms. The new chapels, with enlargements, would give a total additional accommodation of 21,488 sittings. The estimated outlay for 387 contemplated cases was £441,017. The present number of Wesley Guilds was 1,130, with 75,154 mem

bers, the figures showing an increase of 114 guilds and 4,859 members. The report on education represented that the school departments had increased during the year from 743 to 750, while the number of scholars was 16,787, showing an increase of 1,071. The reports on church member ship showed a net increase of 6,225 members.

The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was held in London, April 30. Mr. Edward Aston, of Manchester, presided. The total ordinary and special income, home and foreign, had been £133,757, of which £1,834 had been contributed for special missions and £8,787 had been received from the mission districts. In addition to this sum, £1,874 had been contributed for the relief of West Indian distress, £1,358 for the Indian famine fund, and £300 for special extension funds. The total expenditure had been £133,738, and the separate expenditure of the Woman's Auxiliary for Female Education in Foreign Countries amounted to £13,467 additional. The report from the mission fields accounted for 315 central stations or circuits and 2,450 chapels and preaching places, 366 missionaries, 3,090 catechists, day-school teachers, and other paid agents, 6,133 unpaid agents (local preachers, Sunday-school teachers, etc.), 47,372 church members, 13,265 probationers, and 92,488 pupils. Thirty-six missionaries had been sent out during the year to stations in India, Burmah, China, West Africa, Ceylon, the West Indies, Portugal, South Africa, the Bahamas, Honduras, and Cairo, and 9 missionaries and 2 wives of missionaries had died.

The Conference met at Burslem, July 24. The Rev. Thomas Allen, D. D., was chosen president. A resolution was adopted in the pastoral session in reference to the appointment of assistant secretaries and Conference letter writers, which had heretofore been made by acclamation, that henceforth a small committee should be designated to select a list of names, from which or from other persons who may be nominated the Conference shall make its selections. The pastoral session recommended that a roll of membership, compiled from the class books, be kept by every society, the names of members standing in their several classes, the lists to be corrected, if possible, once a quarter, or at least once a year, and the superintendent being responsible for seeing that the roll is duly kept.

The committee on the proposed change in the order of the sessions r ported that all the synods had accepted the resolution passed by the previous Conference, although some had suggested minor alterations in the details, and the measure was finally adopted. Under it the representative conference will hereafter consist of 300 ministers and 300 laymen, and the representative session, instead of being preceded and followed by a pastoral session, will meet first, to followed by the pastoral session. The report on the Twentieth Century fund showed that 733,313 guineas had been promised, while the total amount actually in hand was £317,443. There were now required 266,687 additional promises to complete the fund (of 1,000,000 guineas). Out of 814 circuits, only 22 had reported inability to complete their promises, and these only represented subscriptions of less than 2,000 guineas. The Executive Committee had decided to give a year's grace for any additional promises now made. Additional subscriptions of more than 40,000 guineas were taken in the Conference, making the whole amount pledged 771,500 guineas, or £810,075. A proposal to form a fund for meeting the expenses of the Connection -to be called the Connectional fund, the income for which shall come from an annual collection in

each chapel and from special donations-having been approved by the synods, was finally adopted. A proposal by the Home Mission Committee for the institution, instead of small, separate district committees for home missions and chapel affairs, of one larger united committee for both purposes, was provisionally approved and sent down to the synods for consideration. It is contemplated that this committee shall consist of 10 ministers and 10 laymen; that it shall give special consideration to all grants to dependent circuits and home mission stations, to all requests for additional or fewer ministers, and to all proposals for the division or amalgamation of circuits; and that it shall advise respecting the purchase of sites and the promotion of schemes for the extension of Methodism in towns and villages. The report on the proposed (Ecumenical Conference of Methodism to be held in 1901 provides that the conference shall be constituted of 500 members, 300 being assigned to the western section and 200 to the eastern. The eastern section will comprehend British Methodism and affiliated conferences and mission fields, and the western section the United States and Canadian conferences and their foreign work. The conference will be held in Wesley's Chapel, London, and will be opened on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1901. Of the eastern section, there were allocated to the Wesleyan Methodist Church 86, Primitive Methodists 34, United Methodist Free Church 18, New Connection 10, Irish 10, and Bible Christian 8. Others were allocated to the South African, Australian, and French Churches. The Conference decided to send out a secretary to the west coast of Africa. A minister was designated to serve as secretary of the Wesley Guild, to give his time entirely to the interests of that organization. A special committee was appointed to consider during the year the best means of providing for the training and equipment of class leaders and of obtaining a large increase of new leaders, especially from the ranks of the young people. Thanks were voted to Mr. Samuel Smith, M. P., for directing the attention of Parliament to the evils of indecent plays in the theaters and of gross license in the streets of London. In view of proposed legislation in reference to secondary education, the Conference by resolution declared itself opposed to grants of public money being made to denominational secondary schools without the provision of a conscience clause, and also recorded its strong opinion that in cases where public school educational authorities establish secondary schools "no formularies distinctive of any denomination should be permitted to be taught therein, and no dogmatic or ecclesiastical tests should be introduced." The committee appointed to consider the relation of baptized children to the Church recommended in the pastoral session that a larger measure of recognition be given to those children, and that more definite attention should be paid to the instruction of them in their duties and privileges as disciples of Christ; that such instruction should be extended to those not baptized, in order to bring them into membership with the Church; that for these persons special classes should be provided to meet for six or eight weeks in the spring of the year; and that more regular instruction should be given in the duties of the parents of the baptized children. These recommendations were adopted, to be sent down to the synods, and the committee was reappointed. The committee having in charge the revision and completion of the regulations appended to the rules of the society reported that it had collated the various regulations contained in the resolutions of past conferences, and

that in some instances changes had been suggested. One paragraph dealing with public worship had raised the question of the use of the liturgy in Wesleyan service, relating to which different views were expressed as to the use of the Book of Common Prayer and of the Psalter. These questions were referred back to the committee.

X. Primitive Methodist Church.-A report presented to the Conference in June reviewing the growth of this Church since its foundation in 1810 with 8 members gave the present number of members as 196,408, with nearly 1,200 ministers, 614,093 hearers, and 4,548 chapels having a total value of £3,950,182. These figures represented the present condition of the denomination after setting off more than 5,000 members who had joined the United Methodist Church in Australia.

The Sunday-school department reported 4,359 schools, with 60,867 teachers and 467,790 pupils, 29,166 of whom were members of the Church and 26,177 more were members of catechumen classes. Twelve hundred and twenty-one Christian Endeavor Societies returned 41,681 active and associate members, 27,652 of whom were members of the Church. The connectional temperance secretary reported 2,062 Bands of Hope and 299 adult temperance societies, with nearly 300,000 members in all.

The annual meeting of the Primitive Methodist Missionary Society was held in London in May. The year's receipts of the general fund had been £15,276 £680 less than in the previous yearand those of the African fund £5,898. There were now in Africa 10 principal stations and 31 out stations, 12 European and 3 native missionaries, with 3 trained native evangelists, 53 native local preachers, 8 native class leaders, and 1,466 members, the last number showing an increase of 55. The larger proportion of the African stations were in the field affected by the operations of the South African War, and had suffered considerably therefrom. Others were on the African mainland, opposite the island of Fernando Po, one of the stations being in a district which would probably on the adjustment of boundaries fall to the Germans. In that case the mission and the people would remove to British territory.

The Conference met at Bristol, June 13. The Rev. Joseph Odell was chosen president. Reports were made that the sales at the Book Room had amounted to £37,814, or £2,352 more than in any previous year; that the income of the Connectional fund had reached £7,378, the largest amount in its history; that the Chapel Aid Association had a deposit account of £232,446, and was helping chapel trustees to reduce their liabilities automatically; that the General Chapel fund had made grants of £1,006 during the year, and the Chapel Loan fund had assisted trustees to the extent of £2,000; that the Connectional Insurance Company had 5,237 current policies and a reserve fund of £27,623; that 309 annuitants were supported by the Superannuated Ministers' Widows and Orphans' fund; that the Aged and Necessitous Local Preachers' fund, with an income increased by £150, had granted aid to 235 applicants; and that the Jubilee Thanksgiving fund had reached its goal of £50,000. The Missionary Society returned a total income of £17,561. A scheme of church extension was approved by the Conference under which an annual expenditure of £20,000 a year for five years in building new churches in populous suburbs and watering places is contemplated. To the special fund which it is proposed to raise for this purpose, Mr. W. P. Hartley, J. P., offered to give 25 per cent. of all the

connection should raise. The Conference determined to continue its mission work and to arrest at all costs the gradual decline to which it had been subject. The proposition for union with the Bible Christian Church submitted by the preceding Conference to a vote of the circuits had been rejected by a very large majority. The present Conference, after discussion, decided, that while no further negotiations for organic union should be pursued, fraternal relations should be maintained, and a committee of 6 members was appointed to act with representatives of the Bible Christians. The resolution on education, which was adopted unanimously, declared that no system of public education is satisfactory which does not give popular management where public money is granted, and which does not entirely abolish all sectarian tests where public grants are received.

XI. Methodist New Connection.-The one hundred and fourth annual Conference met at Newcastle, June 11. The Rev. George Stephenson Hornby was chosen president. The Annual Committee having been charged by the preceding Conference with the consideration of the expediency of providing for Connectional extension, reported adversely to the institution of an entirely new fund, and to the making of another special appeal, and advised the utilization of existing institutions and the larger development of ordinary resources. The Conference, however, decided upon immediate action, for which a committee was appointed, and the whole question was further referred to a larger committee for consideration during the year. The three young people's de partments were placed under the care of a single committee. The policy was adopted of making a minister in active service instead of a superannuate, as heretofore, secretary of the two mission funds. Resolutions were passed condemning the state regulation of vice, the endowment of a Roman Catholic university in Ireland at the public expense, the new education code, sectarian training colleges, and "sacerdotalism and lawlessness" in the Established Church. The Twentieth Century Evangelical Mission of the Free Church Federation was commended to the Connection.

XII. United Methodist Free Churches.The Annual Assembly met at Manchester, July 10. The Rev. Frederick Galpin was chosen president. Reports were made concerning the Connectional funds that by the aid of generous gifts a number of heavy trust liabilities had been removed and new enterprises made possible. Debts on chapel buildings, schools, etc., had been reduced by £30,000, £67,500 had been spent in building, and the value of the connectional property had been increased by £60,000. The capital of the Chapel Loan fund amounted to £13,809. The Beneficent and Superannuation fund returned 78 annuitants and an expenditure of £2,839. The capital of the Insurance fund amounted to £3,000. The Endowment fund of Manchester College amounted to £18,500. The committee of the Twentieth Century fund reported that more than 86,000 guineas had been promised and £21,307 had been paid in. The returns from foreign stations were not yet to hand. The subject of a reorganization of home church extension enterprises, involving a contemplated possible separation of home and foreign interests, was referred to the Connectional and Twentieth Century Committees for consideration. Reports were made of the London Chapel Extension fund, and of the work among young people. The question of appointing a minister to have combined charge of the temperance and young people's organizations was referred to the Connectional Committee. A