WESLEYAN CONFERENCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2049, 22 May 1890, Page 1

WESLEYAN CONFERENCE.

There is sitting in Sydney at present, a general conference of Wesleyans which meets only once in every two years. It consists of 130 members, half being laymen, and 18 of them being from this colony, The conference represents 840,000 people, of which 50,000 reside in New Zealand. At its first meeting a difficulty arose ; It met at 10 a.m., but the law required that no business could be done until the new president had been elected, and he could only be elected at an evening silting. The question of adjournment kept the conference arguing until the afternoon, when it adjourned to 7 p.m. The new president the Rev. Mr Wyback, was elected with 77 votes, the Rev. Mr Morley, of Christchurch, coming second with 27. The Rev, Mr Morley received 30 votes for the secretaryship, but it went to the Rev. Mr Burges by 58 votes. The Rev. Mr Dewsbury, of New Zealand, was appointed journal secretary. The receipts for expenses for the last two years were ; New South Wales and Queensland, £875 ; Victoria and Tasmania, £756 ; South and Western Australia, £398 ; New Zealand, £477; total £2506. The Rev. Mr Fitchett’s scheme giving discretionary power to annual conferences was carried. The Rev. Mr Simple, of Victoria, exchanges with the Rev, Mr Taylor, of Palmerston North. The debate on the class lest question was concluded to-day. The Rev. Mr Lewis’ amendment was lost by 60 to 45, and and the original motion carried by 57 to 50. The committee appointed to report on the question of membership recom-, mended that “class meeting” should be taken to mean regular weekly or monthly fellowship meetings ; that attendee should be enrolled in class books ; (hat the minister should have power, as leader of the meeting, to add the names of those attending for three months to the roll if no objection ip raised ; and that tickets should not be withheld on account of infirmity, affliction, or other satisfactory cause. The report was adopted. The exchange of the Rev, Mr Simple, and the Rev. Mr Taylor was rescinded, and the Victorian Conference directed to make a suitable interchange for Mr Taylor. It w»s agreed to form Queensland into a separate conference at the end of 1893. The next General Conference wag fixed for Adelaide in 1894,