preachers, 6,309; of white members, 1,123,498; of colored members, 654; of Indian members, 4,958; total of preachers and members, 1,140,097; net increase during the year, 32,641; number of baptisms-of adults, 52,363, of infants, 31,052; number of Sunday-schools, 12,215, with 85,694 teachers and 672,896 pupils; of churches, 11,432, having an estimated value of $16,030,254. III. Methodist Church of Canada. The following is a summary of the statistics of this church, by conferences, as given in the“ Annual Minutes" for 1889:

Number

1,579

108

288 420,688 83,921

Sunday

Ireland and Irish mis

schools.

1,445 96

19,076 106,075

The total income of the Missionary Society for the year ending in June, 1889, was $215,775, and its expenditure was $210,692. The society sustained domestic missions in all the conferences, Indian missions in eight conferences, French missions in the Montreal Conference, Chinese missions in the British Columbia Conference, and a foreign mission in Japan; altogether employing 596 paid agents and returning 46,944 members. The Indian missions returned 4,697 members. The mission in Japan, with 1,538 members, had been organized into an annual conference.

The programme of arrangements has been published, by the committee having the subject in charge, for a celebration of the centennial of Canadian Methodism, to be held in connection with the ensuing quadrennial session of the General Conference, which will take place in the fall of 1890. It contemplates a public meeting to be held in Montreal during the meeting of the General Conference there, and meetings and celebrations under the direction of the Annual Conferences, to be held after the session of the General Conference. The objects of these meetings will be: Thanksgiving to God and the education of the people in the history, doctrines, and polity of the church; and the raising of funds, by contributions and subscriptions, one half of which shall be appropriated to the sustentation funds of the several conferences, and the remainder to the extinction of the debt of the Union Church Relief fund and to the formation of a General Church Extension fund. The plan further comprehends the preparation of historical sketches and papers on various subjects pertaining to Methodism, to be published in a Centennial volume. Among them will be a paper on the "Origin and Providential Mission of Methodism"; Historical Sketches of the Wesleyan and New Connection Methodist Churches of Canada; of Methodism in the Eastern Provinces; of the Methodist, Methodist Episcopal, Primitive Meth

The numbers of ministers in the Australasian and Canadian churches are not included in this table, but are given in the minutes of their respective conferences. The committees in charge of the several funds of the connection reported to the conference the following as the amounts of their receipts from all sources for the year: Foreign missions, £150,364; home missions, £37,490; Auxiliary fund, £31,436; Ministers' Children's fund, £28,967; Schools fund, £20,681; theological colleges, £11,670; General Chapel fund, £9,060; Education fund, $5,980; fund for the Extension of Methodism, £4,655.

The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was held in London, April 29. Mr. T. Morgan Harvey presided. The ordinary income of the society for the year had been £105,000; but although it exceeded the ordinary income of 1887, it had not met the expenditure of the year. It had, however, been supplemented by the proceeds of other sources of income, so that the committee had been able to balance the year's accounts and apply £6,487 to the reduction of the debt. The report of the mission work represented the Continental missions as making encouraging progress. In the West Indies and Central America, the conferences were occupying new ground. Native brethren trained in England had been appointed to vacant posts on the west coast of Africa, but supervision and direction could not be relaxed at present. Rapid movements of population in South Africa had caused new congregations to gather, calling for pastoral service. The committee might be compelled by the local law to sell the mineral rights on some of its lands in this region. If this were done, the proceeds would be devoted to lessening the annual charges on account of the missions. Success in China had added to the opportunities for extension. Criticisms against the methods of work pursued in India were answered in detail, so as to show that the society was continuing to act on the principles that had been recognized from the beginning.

The Wesleyan Conference met in Sheffield, July 23. The Rev. Charles H. Kelly was chosen President. A committee appointed at the previous conference to consider the tests of mem

bership-or the relations of communicants to the church, and the advisability of recognizing as members godly persons who will not attend class-reported that non-attendance at class was not a sufficient reason for removing a name from a class-book. A committee appointed to consider the means of preventing waste and friction among the various Methodist bodies, particularly as represented in the same town, and of promoting brotherly intercourse between them, reported that it was impossible to formulate any specific arrangement whereby there might be a withdrawal in places where the work of the various Methodist bodies develops. At the same time, in order to promote brotherly intercourse, the recommendation was made that where it should be deemed practicable and desirable, united meetings for Christian fellowship should be held; an interchange of pulpits should be occasionally arranged; and meetings of ministers and other representatives of the churches should be held from time to time. The Conference decided to reduce the length of time that must elapse before a minister can return to any circuit from six years to three. The order of holding the pastoral and the representative (of which layman constitute a part) sessions of the Conference was modified; so that instead of beginning the Conference with the pastoral session and closing with the representative session, there will be first a pastoral session, in which, how ever, no vote shall be taken on questions affecting both orders till it shall have been also considered in the representative session; then a representative session, in the second week of the Conference; and following this a second pastoral session. Resolutions were adopted defining and defending the policy pursued under the direction of the missionary society in the foreign missions, particularly in India, to the effect that the main work of the Wesleyan Missionary Society has always been evangelistic rather than educational; that, indeed, the latter kind of work is wholly subordinate to the other; that it is necessary to sustain the existing mission-school agencies; and that the success which has attended missionary labors among the lower castes and non-castes is occasion for joy, and indicates that increased effort should be exerted in this direction. Further inquiry was ordered into this subject. A committee was appointed to consider the relations of the educational interests of the Connection as affected by the operation of the Local Government Bill, and to represent the Conference in case of parliamentary legislation on the subject. An application from the Institute of Journalists for the admission of professional reporters for the press was declined. A home for lay evangelists, instituted by the Rev. Thomas Champness, at Rochdale, was recognized, and a special appointment to the charge of it was given to its founder. It was represented that some seventy or eighty men were under the care of the institution, who were sent out to needy districts to do evangelistic and revival work under the eye of the superintendent of the circuit within the limits of which they may be laboring. A special agent was appointed to secure funds for the continued maintenance of the London City Mission. In connection with this a plan was approved for the establishment of a Methodist settlement in

southeast London, a center for evangelistic work and social culture, after the model of "Toynbee Hall," for which funds have been assured to start it and maintain it for six years.

V. Primitive Methodist Connection.-The Primitive Methodist Conference met at Bradford in May. The Rev. Joseph Toulson was chosen president. The method of electing students to Manchester College and the recognition to be given to evangelists received attention. Respecting the latter subject a special committee was appointed to prepare a scheme for the recognition of a distinct order of evangelists, the same to be sent to the quarterly meetings of the stations in December and thence to the district meetings and the Conference of 1890. A United London Committee, composed of two of the regular standing committees and the committees of the two London districts, was appointed to prepare the best scheme of evangelization in London. The General Committee was directed to prepare legislation, to be considered by the Conference, on the question of allowing any person who sells intoxicating drinks to hold any office or conduct any service in the Connection, and on the class meeting as a test of membership. Separate lists of books for examination were provided for university graduates desiring to be examined as ministerial candidates, and for ministers on probation who have been graduated in arts. For the purpose of compelling investigation and discipline in cases of misconduct by official members in high position, power was given to the committee of each district to call upon any station to take official action when it is believed by the committee to be necessary and to send a deputation to the court of the station to see its direction fully carried out. Each district committee was authorized to send one representative to the "Methodist Ecumenical Council," to be held in the United States in 1891, at its own expense.

VI. United Methodist Free Churches.The statistical reports of these churches, presented to the Annual Assembly, in July, give: Number of ministers, 370; of local preachers, 3,356; of leaders, 3,908; of church members, 77,343; of probationers, 8,116; of chapels, 1,387; of preaching rooms, 201; of Sunday - schools, 1,366, with 26,707 teachers and 203,883 pupils.

The Annual Assembly met in Redruth, July 9. The Rev. R. Abercrombie was chosen president. Owing to a change in the time of closing of the connectional year, the reports of the funds, unless otherwise mentioned, were made for nine months. The profits of the Book-Room had been nearly £400. One hundred thousand copies of the new school hymn-book had been disposed of in eighteen months. The Chapel Relief fund had received £804, the Loan fund had a capital of nearly £12,000, the sum of £31,448 had been expended in church building during the year. Fifty-four pupils were attending Ashville College. The receipts of the Beneficent and Superannuation funds had been £6,370 and the expenditure £5,248; the capital amounted to £37,402. The home and foreign mission account returned an income of £20,429 and an expenditure of £18,472. The Fire Insurance fund, instituted at the previous Annual Assembly, had gone into successful operation, and had issued.

159 policies. Four persons were engaged in evangelistic work under the direction of the Assembly's committee and had conducted 74 missions. The Connectional Temperance League returned 74,105 members, showing an increase of 3,512. A committee was appointed to meet with a similar committee already chosen by the Methodist New Connection for conference on the desirability and practicability of an organic union between the two bodies. A deputation appointed by the previous Annual Assembly to visit the mission in Jamaica reported concerning the settlement of chapel property and the adjustment of other matters there. A proposition to contribute £300 toward a fund which the British African Trading Company was collecting for the purchase of the freedom of fugitive slaves who had taken refuge at stations on the east coast of Africa was vigorously debated. It was objected that to make the grant would be to sanction traffic in human flesh and blood, encourage further applications, and promote interests that were solely commercial. On the other hand, the interests of humanity and religion were urged, and the measure was held to be politic. The matter was referred to the Connectional and Missionary Committees, with power to take such action as they might deem expedient.

The annual meeting in behalf of the United Methodist Free Church missions was held in London, May 13.

VII. Methodist New Connection. - The statistical reports of this body, presented to the Conference in June, showed that it embraced 196 ministers, 1,255 local preachers, 30,760 members, and 5,187 probationers, with 510 chapels, 11,292 teachers, and 82,263 pupils. The net increase of members was 382, of probationers 91, and of pupils 2,391.

The ninety-third annual Conference met at Dudley, June 10. The Rev. Alfred R. Pearson was chosen president. The returns of the voting in the quarterly meetings on certain proposed amendments to the Connectional rules showed large majorities in favor of substituting the word "church" for society; of an alternative test (other than that of attendance on class meeting) for church membership; of instituting a circuit Sunday-school officer; of an increased minimum of ministers' stipends; and of provision for afflicted ministers. On the subject of a test for church membership, the Conference, while it recorded its conviction of the intrinsic value of the class meeting as a means of maintaining Christian fellowship and promoting spiritual life, and its appreciation of the esteem in which it is held, yielding to the desire of a majority of the Connection as expressed in the voting for some modification of the conditions of membership, enacted the rule that, while the class-book should still be kept as the only basis of enumeration, "members shall be received who comply with the essential conditions of Christian fellowship by attending the public ordinances of worship, the Lord's Supper, and the class meeting or fellowship meeting or church meeting." The special regulations concerning the admission and registry of members were modified in adaptation to the new rule. A committee was appointed to confer with a similar committee rep

resenting the United Methodist Free Churches in order to ascertain how far the question of union is feasible.

VIII. Bible Christians.-The following is a summary of the statistics of the Bible Christian Connection, in the home and colonial stations, as presented to the Conference in August: Number of itinerant preachers, 247; of local preachers, 1,845; of chapels, 839; of preaching places, 165; full members, 30,754; members on trial, 1,115; of juvenile members, 709; of teachers, 9,087; of pupils, 51,427.

The Conference met in Holsworthy, Aug. 1. The Rev. Mark Brokenshire was chosen president. The income for missions at home and abroad was returned at £7,043, and the expenditure at £7,834. The home missions were prospering. The Conference decided to open a considerable number of new missions in large towns. The receipts of the Chapel fund had been £25,688. The year's business in the Book-Room had been the most successful in the history of that institution. A committee was appointed to consider and define exactly what should be understood by a "special case" permitting the extension of the pastoral term beyond the ordinary limit, and the Conference determined that no special cases should be considered at its ensuing session until this decision had been presented for discussion.

The annual meeting in behalf of the Bible Christian Missions was held in London, April 30. The report embodied a brief history of the society for sixty-eight years. The first foreign mission had been established in Yunnan, China, in cooperation with the China Inland Mission.

MEXICO, a confederated republic of North America; area, 761,640 square miles. It is divided into twenty-seven States, one Federal District, and one Territory (Lower California). The population is 12,328,609, the gain from 1880 to 1888 having been 1,487,701. Nineteen per cent. of the population are whites, 38 per cent, pure Indians, and 43 per cent. mixed races. The census recently taken of the Federal District shows the population of the city of Mexico and suburbs to be 451,246.

Government.-The President is Don Porfirio Diaz, whose term of office will expire on Dec. 1, 1892. His Cabinet is composed of the following ministers: Foreign Relations, Señor Iguacio Mariscal; War, Gen. Pedro Hinojosa; Public Works, Gen. Pacheco; Justice, Señor Joaquin Baranda; Finance, Señor Manuel Dublan; Interior, Señor Manuel Romero Rubio. The Minister to the United States is Señor Matias Romero; the United States Minister at Mexico is Hon. Thomas Ryan; the Vice-Consul-General is William M. Edgar; the Mexican Consul-General at New York is Dr. Juan N. Navarro.

Boundary Line.-The ratifications of the Boundary-Line Convention were exchanged at Washington on Oct. 12. The convention provides that, as the original convention of July 29, 1882, between Mexico and the United States, providing by the resurvey of their boundary line, has lapsed for reason of the failure of the two governments to provide for its further extension, its term shall be extended for a period of five years from the date of exchange of `ratification hereof.

Fiscal Differences with the United States. -Section 2,501 of the United States Revised Statutes provides that a discriminating duty of 10 per cent. ad valorem, in addition to the duties imposed by law, shall be levied on all goods that shall be imported in vessels not of the United States, except where entitled, by treaty or act of Congress, to exemption from such discrimination. The old treaty under which goods in Mexican vessels were exempted had long expired, and this left Mexico almost the only commercial state of importance on such a footing with the United States. A Mexican vessel entered the harbor of New Orleans with a dutiable cargo, and the collector imposed the discriminating duty of 10 per cent. Appeal was made to the Secretary of the Treasury, who sustained the action of the collector. Subsequently the Treasury Department issued an order obstructing the importation duty free into the United States of Mexican argentiferous lead ores, which had been so admitted for eight years. One of the regulations prescribed that the products of different Mexican mines shall not be mixed together before arriving at the American custom houses, the ruling being that if the ore has more of value in lead than in silver it is to be subject to a duty of 14 cent a pound, and it is the duty of customs officers to decide which is the preponderating metal. If the importers bring any ores in which the lead preponderates over silver in value, they have the alternative to pay the duty or take it back. In any case of attempted fraud the Government may confiscate the lot. Another regulation prescribed that the value of lead in Mexican ores shall be the value of lead in New York minus one cent a pound. The result of these regulations was the decrease of Mexican silver-lead importation into the United States by half. On Aug. 27 the Mexican Government began to retaliate by imposing a duty on living animals and fresh meat, which had been on the free list, these new duties being for horses, $20 a head; for lambs and sheep, 35 cents; for swine, $2.25; for beef cattle, $3; for mules, $2; and for fresh meat, 4 cents a pound. Sausage, smoked and salted meats-including hams and shoulders per kilogramme net, 25 cents; geldings, each $40.

Finances.-The foreign debt amounts to $75,000,000, and the home debt to $16,000,000. On May 1, 1889, Mr. Bleichroder, the Berlin banker, made a demand for the remainder of £2,900,000 of the 6-per-cent. loan of £10,500,000 authorized in December, 1887. The Minister of Finance has reduced the foreign debt by $88,000,000 in four years, and paid off a large amount of floating debt besides. The actual income proves to have been $40,962,044 in 1887-'88, compared with $32,126,508 in 1886-'87. During the autumn of 1889 the Government floated a 5-per-cent. loan for £2,700,000 in Germany. The 5-per-cent. loan of the city of Mexico for £2,400,000 was placed in London early in March at 70, £1,000,000 additional being optional should be required for the drainage of the valley of Mexico.

The coinage of Mexican mints up to Jan. 1, 1888, was $112,671,000 gold, $3,194,111,828 silver, and $5,940,438 copper, a grand total, since the conquest, of $3,312.723,266. The Mexican mints coined in 1888 $6,276,364 of silver.

The Army. The strength of the permanent army is 30,000, commanded by 2,000 officers. The available forces are 67,000 foot, 13,312 horse, and 25,000 artillery; in actual war they would be 160,000 of all arms.

Postal Service.-The number of items of mail-matter handled by the Mexican post-offices has increased from 5,788,182 domestic in 1880 to 27,390,288 in 1888, and foreign from 1,366,608 to 1,627,146. In 1880 the net receipts were $605,652, in 1888 $805,784. The representative in the city of Mexico of Thomas A. Edison made, in November, a contract with the Government for the establishment of a phonographic postal service.

Commerce.-From June 30 to Dec. 31, 1888, Mexico exported $8,280,499 worth of merchandise, against $7,710,235 during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year; and $18,566,492 specie and bullion, against $16,567,182; indicating a total exportation for the year 1888-'89 of $53,000,000, the largest ever known. The exportation to the United States alone during the fiscal year 1887-'88 was $13,144,510 worth of merchandise, and $17,915,116 of specie and bullion (nearly all silver), while Mexico imported from the United States in the same fiscal year $19,039,540 worth of merchandise and $225,134 coin. The statistics (of merchandise only) published at Washington present, for the calendar years 1888 and 1887, the following figures:

Railroads.-The number of kilometres in running order on April 1, 1889, was 8,022. The annual meeting of the Mexican Central stockholders was held on April 30, in Boston. The annual report shows: Gross earnings for 1888, $5,774,331; increase over 1887, $887,752. Expenses, $3,418,837; increase, $701,384. earnings, $2,355,493; increase, $188,367 (this is in Mexican currency); equivalent in United States currency, $1.748,458; increase, $68,163. Subsidy, $440,932; increase, $236,087. Surplus, $223,049; increase, $233,517.

Net

In August, a concession was granted to Richard Honey, an Englishman, for the construction of the Zacualtipan Railroad. He is authorized to construct a line from Pachuca to Tampico, passing through the rich manufacturing districts of Apulco and Tacualtipan, with the right to build branches to connect the Tulancingo, Trinidad, Los Reyes, Encarnacion, and the Guadalupe Iron Works with the main line. He receives on the main line a subsidy of $9,000 a mile.

On Nov. 12 work was begun on the Chiapas Railroad, the engineer's camp being pitched at San Cristóbal de las Casas. About the middle of the month the Government authorized the construction of a railroad from Bagdad, on the Gulf of Mexico, to Matamoras, opposite Brownsville, Tex. The Interoceanic Railway to Perote was opened on Nov. 17: the last contract for the completion of this railroad from Mexico to Vera Cruz was signed during the month. Two sub