WESLEYAN MISSION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 197, 9 November 1871, Page 6

WESLEYAN MISSION.

The annual meeting of the Dunedin ' branch of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was held in the Trinity Church on the evening of Thursday last. The report sketched the rise and progress of the mission, which it was stated has secured an amount of success which compels .the grateful acknowledgment, "This is the Lord's doing, and it is wondrous in our eyes." Of the work, revenues and expenditure of the mission, the report says:' — '"In the. Friendly Islands, where the Society .employs eight British and ten Native Missionaries, 8013 of the inhabitants are • returned as church members ; 5267 children attend the Sunday School ) and there are 19,100 attendants on public worship. In Fiji there is a staff of eleven English and forty-nine missionaries ; the church members number 22,799 ; Sunday scholars, 51,913 ; attendants on public worship,' 104,223. In Samoa we have one Native and three British missionaries ; 813 church members; 1291 Sunday scholars, and 4882 worshipper's. In New Zealand there are still three English and five Native missionaries laboring for the evangelisation of the Maoris ; but owing to the disorganised state of the church occasioned by the protracted war, we cannot speak with certainty as to the number of church members' and worshippers. In Victoria two converted Chinamen are eraployed "By the Society in the capacity of catechists to labor among their countrymen. As a fruit of their toil, several Chinese have recently px-ofessed faith in Jesus, and have been received into the Church, of which they have thus far pi-oved most consistent members. The total cost of these missions for the year 1870, inclusive of the item £1619 18s 8d on acconnt of the John Wesley, missionary ship, was £13,633 Is lOd. Of this sum, the Colonial Churches contributed £5520 5a Gd ; the Native Churches supplied £5757 15s Id ; the Parent Society in England paid the balance, £2355 Is 3d. The Dunedin contribution for last year was £8 13s 5d." Addresses were delivered by the. Revs. Messrs. Ross, Roseby, Copland and Grow. A collection realising over £6 was made.