METHODIST CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1382, 7 March 1912, Page 6

METHODIST CONFERENCE.

';V FOREIGN MISSION . WOEK. ~, IB? Teleeranh.—Press V 4in»eiatloa.l '■'■ . Auckland, March 6, The Methodist Conference was continued -to-day. .■ .-■ .... , ■ During .the whole of the morning session thes conferenco sat in committee, discussing'the spiritual welfare of the Church. At'the close of. the debate, the ■ following motion was carried:—"That a committee bo set up from year to year, to be known as the 'Welfare of the Church Commit:, tee,' the duties of which shall be to collect information as to the spiritual state of the Church, the difficulties with which it is confronted in the present day, and tho most effective modes of meeting them. This committee shall also review the statistics for the year, and present a report to tho conferenco, and the conversation'on the .work of God shall take the form of a discussion based upon this report; , .' Subsequently a committee, appointed to report upon foreign missions, stated that the work had been- steadily maintained during :the, year. Improved organisation in some 'circuits had increased revenue, and if more were done in this direction greater benefits would accrue. The financial returns showed another record, the ninth in succession, the amount raised being .£3203 9s. lid., an increase of J2350 15s. 2d. above that of the previous year. In addition,'..£s4 19s. lid. had been, received in subscriptions to tho "Missionary Review," tho circulation of which had been increased, the financial returns showing an addition of ,£lB Is. Cd. Information, had been received that the Rev. J. T. Field had been selected for deputation work in New Zealand' for 1 1912. Ho ■would commence his itinerary immediately after the conference. Mr. Buttle said that since tho closing of necounts subscriptions totalling ,£ll7 11s. 7d. had been received, making a total for tho year of ,£3321 Is. 10d., a total increase of .£467 7s. Id. upon the amount collected in tho previous year. The Board of Missions had asked the New Zealand Conference to raise .£3200, and it had exceeded that amount by over £Y2.\. A eerics of resolutions was carried, rccoinjnending various means of enlarging the scope of the work in aid of foreign missions. The conference remitted to the committee for special consideration during the ensuing year the question of defining the future missionary policy of tho thurcli, particularly with reference to that portipn of. the field now under tho. jurisdiction of the General Conference, which should be taken over by the New Zealand Methodist Church. Tho committee was authorised to open negotiations with the Board of Missions. By S further resolution the conference sug.cested to the committee that tho work in Tonga, Samoa, and- Fiji (native and Inffian) was the most suitable sphere of activity, and it instructed the committee to confer with tho nome Missions Executive Committee as to tho advisability of including the Maori work in the scheme, and of treating it as part of the foreign mission enterprise.