concurrence, but the Pastor, the Rev. Thomas Nattress, secured a declaration from six parishioners that they wished to change their votes. The Unionists took charge in June, 1925, and under the Quebec Act of 1926 a new vote was held which the continuing Presbyterians said was illegal. They refrained from voting. The Court ruling also told the pastor to pay rent at $20 a month for the manse. An interesting test case before Mr. Justice Rose at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Ont., arose out of the bequest of $5,000 by the Rev. John Ferguson to the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Mr. Ferguson's will was dated May 29, 1923, and he died on Aug. 19, 1926. On June 10, 1925, the Dominion and Provincial Acts forming the United Church of Canada came into force. The executors of the estate asked Mr. Justice Rose to determine whether the legacies went to the United Church of Canada or the Continuing Presbyterian Church. Mr. Justice Rose gave judgment in favour of the United Church, quoting from the Dominion Act of Union in support of his view that the Legislature's mind was that "the body that was the Presbyterian Church in Canada is now united with other bodies without loss of its identity." The Commission did not have jurisdiction to deal with Congregationalist and Methodist fields, funds or properties, and these without exception passed under the administration of The United Church of Canada in ways which were laid down in the Basis of Union and in subsequent legislation by General Council. The The 2nd General Council of The United Church of Canada, the first regularly elected since consummation of Union, convened in the American Presbyterian Church, Montreal, June 10 to 19, 1926. By its decisions the organization of administrative boards and other general committees of the Church was completed, certain important public questions were referred to Presbyteries and the preparation of a manual of constitution and government was authorized. A missionary and educational programme entailing a $3,400,000 annual budget, called "The Maintenance and Extension Fund," was adopted. The General Council elected as Moderator, Rev. James Endicott, D.D., and as Secretary, Rev. T. Albert Moore, D.D. (re-elected). A commission of seventy on permanent organization had been at work throughout the year since the first General Council, in order to frame constitution for the Boards. Its findings were adopted with substantial amendment and were to constitute the permanent general organization. The form of organization as decided on provided for the election of members of Boards partly by the General Council and partly by the eleven Conferences, the Conference being the representative unit and equality between ministerial and lay representation being guarded. Following are the Boards with chairmen and secretaries as elected: Board of Home Missions: Chairman, Rev. W. H. Sedgewick, D.D., Toronto; Secretaries, Rev. J. H. Edmison, D.D., and Rev. C. E. Manning, D.D.; Associate Secretary, Rev. C. G. Young, D.D. Board of Foreign Missions: Chairman, Rev. W. H. Heartz, D.D., Amherst, N.S.; Secretaries, Rev. James Endicott, D.D., Rev. A. E. Armstrong, D.D., Rev. J. H. Arnup, D.D. Board of Education: Chairman, Rev. James Little, D.D., Toronto; Secretary, Rev. J. W. Graham, D.D. Board of Evangelism and Social Service: Chairman, Rev. G. A. McIntosh, D.D., Montreal; Secretary, Rev. D. N. McLachlan, D.D.; Associate Secretaries, Rev. E. Thomas, D.D., Rev. John Coburn; Rev. G. I. Campbell, B.D., Ottawa; Rev. W. E. Millson, D.D., Saskatoon; Rev. Hugh Dobson, D.D. Vancouver. Board of Religious Education: Chairman, Rev. W. R. McIntosh, D.D. London; Secretaries, Rev. J. C. Robertson, D.D., Rev. Frank Langford, B.A.; Associate Secretaries, Rev. Manson Doyle, B.A., Rev. C. A. Myers, M.A. Board of Publications: Chairman, H. P. Moore, Acton, Ont.; Book Steward and General Manager, Rev. S. W. Fallis, D.D.; Associate Book Steward, Rev. D. M. Solandt, D.D.; Editors of The New Outlook, Rev. W. B. Creighton, D.D., Rev. G. S. Carson, D.D.; Editors of Sunday School Publications, Rev. G. M. Duncan, D.D., Rev. A. C. Crews, D.D.; Associate Editors of Sunday School Publications, Rev. G. A. Little, B.A., Rev. Archer Wallace, M.A. The Treasurer of the Church, Rev. Robert Laird, D.D.; Deputy Treasurer. H. W. Barker; Secretary-Treasurer of the Superannuation Fund, Rev. S. W Dean, D.D. Committee on Literature and Missionary Education-Chairman, Rev. P. M. MacDonald, D.D., Toronto; Secretary, Rev. W. T. Gunn, D.D. Secretary of Young People's Missionary Education, Rev. F. C. Stephenson, M.D Secretary of Maintenance and Extension Fund, Rev. Peter Bryce, D.D. Except where otherwise stated, the offices of boards and of secretaries were to be at Wesley Buildings, Toronto, Ont. Standing committees on negotiations looking to union with other communions, on worship and ritual, on church architecture, on law and legislation, on employed women workers, on transfer of ministers between Conferences, on relation to various Churches, and on preparation of Manual of Constitution and Government were appointed. The following subjects were sent down to the Presbyteries for consideration and finding: military training, ordination of women, and the right of women to election as members of Session, it being understood that committees would collate information for the use of Presbyteries on each question so submitted. Reports on men's organizations within the Church and on Christianization of Industry were referred to the Presbyteries for their information. A Commission was appointed to report to the next General Council on courses of study and theological training. Appreciation of Rev. S. D. Chown, D.D., LL.D., and Rev. R. P. MacKay, D.D., who were retiring, and of J. K. MacDonald, Chairman of the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund, was voted unanimously. On Apr. 19, 1927, a portrait of Rev. Dr. Chown, painted by J. W. L. Forster, was unveiled in the Eaton Memorial Church, Toronto. Receipts of the Maintenance and Extension Fund, as reported to Council for the period ending May 17, 1926, as audited, were $3,750,000. Instruction was given for the preparation of a Church hymnal. To conduct the necessary business of the Church until the next General Council, an Executive Committee was elected, representing all sections of the Church. The next General Council was to meet in Winnipeg in September, 1928. During the Autumn of 1926 the Very Rev. James Harvey, D.D., Ex-Moderator and Senior Principal Clerk of the United Free Church of Scotland, toured the Church in company with the Moderator, Dr. Endicott, and leading ministers, missionaries and laymen, addressing special Conferences on Dominion and World Service, convened in the principal cities and with practically all the pastors attending. In November, 1926, the Moderator, on instruction from the Executive Committee of General Council, undertook visitation of the various foreign missions of the Church. His colleague in the deputation to the Central India Mission on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee, in January, 1927, was Rev. William T. Gunn, D.D., Editor of The United Church Record and Missionary Review. Later the Moderator proceeded to the Far East, where his codelegate in bearing greetings from the Canadian Church was Rev. Principal Alfred Gandier, D.D. They conferred with the West China, South China and Honan Missions, the Korea Mission, and the Japan Mission. The 3rd Annual Conferences, meeting in May and June, 1927, elected the following officers: Newfoundland..... Maritime. Montreal and Bay of Quinte... Toronto...... Hamilton.. London Manitoba..... Saskatchewan Alberta...... British Columbia... President, Rev. C. R. Blount, Corner Brook, Nfld. President, Rev. C. W. DeMille, B.A., Oshawa, Ont. President, Rev. J. D. Byrnes, D.D., Barrie, Ont. President, Rev. R. M. Dickey, B.A., Hamilton, Ont. President, Rev. Robert Hicks, St. Thomas, Ont. President, Rev. W. M. Grant, M.A., Calgary, Alta. President, Rev. A. D. Braden, Vancouver, B.C. During the year subsequent to the 2nd General Council the Executive Committee fixed the date of the end of the Church year as Dec. 31 for 1927 and succeeding years; it advised that ministers in cases having to do with marriage of divorced persons should follow the custom of the Churches in which they had exercised their ministry hitherto; it appointed representatives on the Canadian Council of the World Alliance for the Promotion of International Friendship Through the Churches; it filled the office of Deputy Moderator, to act in the absence of the Moderator, by appointing Very Rev. George C. Pidgeon, D.D., immediate Ex-Moderator; it authorized an appeal to the Church for the relief of Protestant Churches in Europe; it approved estimates of $3,400,000 for the Maintenance and Extension Fund, 1928; it voted appreciation of Hon. Mr. Justice Duff, Chairman, and of the Dominion Commission on Church Property; and it constituted the National Committee of Direction of the Maintenance and Extension Fund with J. H. Gundy as Chairman. The books of the United Church of Canada for the first complete twelve months of the Church's history, closed in the second week of May, 1927, showed that $3,100,000 had been turned in by the congregations throughout the Dominion for the Maintenance and Extension Fund which, with $125,000 saved by economies and with large receipts from other sources, almost balanced the Budget expenditures of $3,600,000. This was an increase over the givings of the previous year, and showed, said Rev. Dr. Peter Bryce, Secretary of the Fund, "the loyalty of the people to the great service-enterprises of their Church." The Women's Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Dominion Board on Oct. 8, 1926, accepted $1,043,437 as their total budget for the ensuing year. This sum was to be allocated as follows among the different fields: Africa, $20,325; Central India, $92,140; West China, $156,999; Honan, $46,915; Shanghai, $1,917; South China, $13,009; Japan, $226,480; Korea, $67,381; Trinidad, $11,715; and Canada, $335,611. A Retirement fund was established of which three hundred missionaries were to be the beneficiaries. Mrs. John MacGillivray, Oswald Crescent, Toronto, was elected President in succession to Mrs. H. A. Lavell of Kingston, The Society, following the agreement on division of property, became responsible for 8 Indian boarding schools and 3 Indian day schools, 14 hospitals, 21 school homes, 5 Oriental missions, immigration work at 9 centres, and community missions in 40 places. The uniting societies of the three Churches brought into the United Society general funds amounting to $1,004,245 on May 31, 1926, as follows: Congregational, $3,777; Methodist, $960,936; Presbyterian, $39,471; and Interim Treasurer, $61.20. The Presbyterian At the 53rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada held at Stratford, Ont., in June, 1927, reports covering the first full year, 1926, of the Church's work subsequent to the majority of the members of the Church entering the United Church of Canada gave evidence of considerable progress. The Reports covered the 8 Synods: Maritime Provinces, Montreal and Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston, Hamilton and London, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The number of ministers on rolls of the 42 Presbyteries in these 8 Synods were 626, and the Church standing by statistics was as follows: self-sustaining charges, 432; augmented charges, 161; mission fields, 167; preaching stations, 1,248; members, 163,374— an increase of 9,131 during the year; number enrolled in Sunday Schools, 116,817, an increase of 11,088; money given to missionary and benevolent purposes, $715,469, which exceeded 1925 by $228,772; total revenue, $4,139,722, being an advance of $920,609, or nearly one million. The Women's Missionary Society, Western Division, had 6 Provincial Societies, 38 Presbyterials, 701 Auxiliaries, 133 Young Women's Auxiliaries, 395 Mission Bands, 178 Affiliated C.G.I.T. Groups, and 31 Associate Societies, in all, 1,438 branches, an increase of 237. The total membership was 41,533, an increase of 8,118; contributions were $167,094. The Women's Missionary Society, Eastern Division, had 8 Presbyterials, 158 Auxiliaries, 23 Young People's Societies, 30 C.G.I.T. Groups, and 71 Mission Bands; in all, 282 branches with a membership of 6,785, and contributions to the amount of $18,823. Officers and Chairmen or Convenors of Boards and Committees were as follows: Moderator of the General Assembly, Rev. W. Leslie Clay, B.A., D.D.; Clerks of Assembly, Rev. J. W. MacNamara, B.D., and Rev. T. Wardlaw Taylor, Ph.D.; Treasurer, E. W. McNeill, Toronto; Board of Administration, Chairman, Thomas McMillan; Secretary, Rev. J. W. MacNamara, B.D. Board of Trustees, R. S. Cassells, K.C., Toronto; General Board of Missions, Convener, Rev. D. R. Drummond, D.D., Hamilton, and Secretary, Rev. Dr. A. S. Grant; Sunday Schools and Y.P.S., Rev. M. B. Davidson, M.A., Galt, Ont., and Secretary, Rev. W. M. Kannawin, D.D., Toronto; Pension Board, Rev. D. T. L. McKerroll, Toronto; Pulpit Supply, Rev. S. Banks Nelson, D.D., Hamilton; Board of Education, Rev. D. J. Fraser, LL.D., Montreal; Worship and Aids to Devotion, Rev. R. W. Dickie, D.D., Montreal; Missionary and Deaconess Training Home, R. J. Lillico, Toronto, and Principal, Miss W. Ferguson; Historical, Rev. A. L. Budge, M.A., Hagersville, Ont.; Architecture, Dr. Murray McLaren, St. John, N.B., and Secretary, Rev. Stuart C. Parker, D.D., Toronto; Correspondence, Rev. Stuart C. Parker, D.D., Toronto; Church Extension, James Rodger, Montreal; Women's Missionary Society (W.D.), Mrs. D. T. L. McKerroll, Toronto; Eastern Division, Mrs. L. A. Moore, North Sydney, N.S.; Knox College, Principal, Rev. Thomas Eakin, Ph.D., D.D.; the Presbyterian College, Montreal, Rev. D. J. Fraser, D.D., LL.D.; The Presbyterian Record, Convener, John Wilson, Editor and Manager, Rev. W. M. Rochester, D.D.; The Glad Tidings, Editor, Miss Mamie C. G. Fraser, Toronto; The Message, Editor, Mrs. W. MacNab, Halifax, N.S. The faculty and students of both the United Church and the Presbyterian Church enjoyed joint occupation of Knox College for two years and this would have continued until June, 1928, if the United Church had not given notice it would relinquish this privilege. Rev. Thomas Eakin, Ph.D., D.D., was inducted by the |