PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VICTORIA.

Southland Times, Issue 1256, 27 May 1870, Page 3

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VICTORIA.

The Commission of Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria commenced its sittings on the 3rd inst. in Scots' Church, Collins-street, the Rev. I. Hetherington, the moderator, in the i chair. The proceedings were opened with prayer. The Eev. J. Nish, in the absence of the Eev. Mr Macmillan, the convener, brought up the report of the committee on statistics for 1869. The returns which had been received showed; that there; -vtere' 126 distinct charges connected withthe. church. In many of these charges there were two, and in some cases even a larger number of congregations. The number of ministprs settled in charges was 106, being an increase of 9in the number of last year. Besides these there were also 14 unattached ministers who supply vacant and preaching stations, so that the whole number of ministers engaged in jthe colony belonging to thechurch was 120,jbeingan increase of 10 over the previous y£ar. The number of churches and other public buildings in which service was conducted was 330. The number of worshippers was 40,616, or an addition of nearly 2000 over the previous year ; communicants, 11455;: number of; elders, 301. Ther number of Sabbath schools was 236, being 6 more than last year ; number of children attending, 15,485. Last year the number of Sabbath-school children was 14,396. If; to the Sabbath-school children were added L.793, or the number attending bible classes, the total number of the young who received religious 'in- . struction in connection with the church was 17,278, There were 1544 Sabbathsehool teachers: "From the "financial jre-,.. turns it was found that the total contributions of the congregations during the year amounted to £61,052 Us 6;|d. Last year the r revenue of the several congregations was stated to be £68,420, so that there was somewhat of a decreaseduring the year in the income of the congregations generally. In this amount of £61,052 ;not* included what tad been contributed to the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund, nor to the Theological Hall, nor donations to missionary purposes unacknowledged in congregational returns. FromTthe accounts laid before the last General Assembly, it appeared that these contributions amounted to £4239, so that the whole revenue of the, church- for, the,, year ,might be stated^ to-"- be- - £65,291. -The report concluded by trusting that for the future more attention than ever would be . given to the subject of statistics by the congregations" of " the Church. On the motion of the Eev. Mr Campbell, seconded by the Bey. Mr Mackie, the report was adopted, and a vpte of thanks passed to the committee for their labors. The " Figaro " states that the cutlers of Sheffield are making the " Tropmann Knife!" ,-• : ■ < \ /J ;' Since its formation the British Museum has cost the country between £3,000,000' and £4,000,000. There are twenty-seven head executioners in France — one "for every assize town. Their united salaries amount to £8000 a year. : A correspondent says there was one thing about the recent French ball in New York suggestive of Paradise : They were all naked and were not ashamed ! Messrs William and Edward Gray, photographers," have just entered on a bold and spirited enterprise, being nothing less than photographing the principal objects of interest in the Land of the Pharpahsr WithCtbis .object in view, they sometime since purchased at Glasgow a small screw steam-yacht of 16 tons burden. Steam is kept up by burning oil instead of coal, and the .little craft left the Clyde j on February 9th, via the Forth and Clyde Canal, the Straits of Dover, the English Channel, and thence by the Languedoc Canal, across rFrance, and up the Mediterranean to the .Nile. The Washington Chronicle makes the startling statement that the agitation of the question of removing the capital " has already cost the people of ; Washington not less than $12,500,000 within a year in the depreciation of real estate." The Washington Chronicle says:— A female captain of. a canal boat was among the merchants of Georgetown yesterday, soliciting freight and she talked as much " business " as some other skippers who wore bifurcated, garments. Two daughters of a thrifty farmer ; in ' Princeton, Illinois, fifteen and seventeen, years old, completed on the 17th January the task of walking eighty 'miles' within twenty consecutive hours for a prize of--100 dols. They had one hour and thirtyseven minutes to spare. i I A Cork policeman recently furnished a definition of the crime- of " being disorderly " which it may be useful to record. He brought up a man whom he charged with this offence, and which the prisoner hotly denied. Asked by the Magistrates to state what he meant by disorderly, thepoliceman replied, " Well, yer Honour, be was shouting out * Death or Glory ?' " . [ : Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to signify to Mr Crauford, M.P. for 'the Ayr Burghs, through General Sir Thomas Biddulph, X.C.8., her acceptance of the glove-box and jewel-case, made from the original rafters of Burns's cottage, and, offered to her Majesty by Ex-Covener Cowan of Ayr. HoUoway's Ointment aud J Pills. — It i 8 admitted by everyone "who has personally tried these noble remedies for any eruptions, sores, ulcers, bad legs, &c., or who have witnessed their purifying and healing effects on others suffering from such maladies, that nothing more can be. desired than these medicaments possess. The Ointment relaxes the swollen muscles, diminishes inflammation, assuages pain, and even alleviates dangerous maladies which may have lasted! for ! months, or even years. Hofioway's excellent preparations are effective singly— -resistless; in combination — and haye been recommended j by grateful patients to be sought, as the alternatives, when all other means of regaining health have failed. Their action ia temperate j not violent or reducing. . i