consisting of three or more Members of the Church, who shall, after conferring with the Minister or Ministers stationed among them, make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish to each a comfortable support, taking into consideration the number and condition of his family, which estimate shall be subject to the action of the Quarterly Conference; and to which shall be added the amount apportioned for the support of the Bishops and Presiding Elder; and the Stewards shall provide by such methods as they may judge best to meet such amount. The Traveling and Moving Expenses of the Ministers shall not be included in the estimate, but shall be paid by the Stewards as a separate item.

CHAPTER II.

AID OF SUPERANNUATED MINISTERS AND OTHER CONFERENCE CLAIMANTS.

¶ 292. Superannuated Preachers, the widows of deceased Preachers, and their children under sixteen years of age shall be Conference Claimants, unless the claim be voluntarily relinquished, or disallowed, in whole or in part, by the Conference. We recommend that each Annual Conference devote one service at each Annual Session to the interests of Conference Claimants; that each Annual Conference establish a permanent fund subject to its own control, and under such regulations as it may adopt, the income of which may be added to the other moneys for the support of its own Claimants; and that each Congregation shall annually observe a Sunday upon which the Pastor shall present this cause to the Members and friends of the Church. A collection shall be taken

annually in each Congregation for the support of Conference Claimants. The names of all Claimants on the funds of the Conference hereinafter provided for shall be referred to a Conference Board of Stewards. Each Conference shall determine for itself whether the action of this Board shall be final.

¶ 293. All moneys received by the Annual Conferences for distribution in aid of the support of Conference Claimants shall be divided into two sums: The first shall be called the Conference Claimant Fund, consisting of (1) the annual collections, taken in the Churches for the purpose; (2) the proceeds of the Chartered Fund and dividends of the Book Concern, in whole or in part, as may be determined by each Annual Conference; and (3) specific gifts and bequests. The second shall be called the Special or Annuity Fund, which shall consist of such sources of revenue as may be devised and appropriated by cach Annual Conference. The Conference Claimant Fund shall be distributed annually among the persons whose claims are allowed on the basis of necessity. The Special or Annuity Fund shall be distributed upon the following basis: Each Superannuated Minister shall be allowed annually $10 for each year of his effective service; each widow shall be allowed annually $5 for each year in which she was the wife of a Minister during his effective service; provided, her name be entered on the Annuity List by order of the Conference; each child under sixteen years of age of a deceased Minister shall be allowed annually $2 for each year of the father's effective service. These claims shall be paid pro rata from the moneys in hand by the Conference Board of Stewards, or by such Board as the Conference may approve. An amount sufficient to meet the allowance of the Conference Claimants under

the provisions of this plan shall be apportioned among the Charges upon such a basis as the Conferences may determine.

¶ 294. It shall be the duty of the Quarterly Conference of each Charge within whose bounds a Superannuated Minister or the widow or child of a deceased Minister may reside, to appoint a Committee whose duty it shall be to make an estimate of the amount necessary to provide such Minister, widow, or child a comfortable support; such estimate to be sent to the Board of Stewards of the Annual Conference with which the Claimant is connected. The Conference Board, however, may consider and report upon the case of any Claimant overlooked by the Quarterly Conference Committee.

T 295. Effective Ministers who have not been able to obtain their allowance from the people among whom they have labored may present a claim to the Conference to be paid out of the money at the disposal of the Conference; and such claim may be paid, or any part thereof, as the Conference may determine. In no case, however, shall the Church or Conference be held ac countable for any deficiency, as in the case of debt.

¶ 296. Whenever any Claimant on the Funds of a Conference shall be in debt to the Book Concern, the Conference of which he is a Member shall have power to appropriate the amount of the claim allowed to him, or any part thereof, to the payment of said debt.

¶ 297. When a Member of an Annual Conference is accused of crime in the interval of the Conference session, and is suspended by a Committee, and subsequently convicted by his Conference and expelled, his claim upon the Funds of the Conference shall cease from the time of his suspension. And when a Member of an Annual Conference is suspended and is afterward restored,

he shall have no claim on the Congregation nor upon the Funds of the Conference during the period of such suspension.

298. Every Annual Conference has full liberty to adopt and recommend such plans and rules as it may deem necessary the more effectually to raise supplies for the respective allowances. Each Annual Conference is authorized to raise a Fund, if it judge proper, subject to its own control, and under such regulations as its wisdom may direct, for the relief of distressed Effective and Superannuated Ministers, their wives, widows, and children; and it shall be the duty of each Annual Conference to take measures,. from year to year, to raise money in every Circuit and Station within its bounds for these purposes.

CHAPTER III.

CHURCH PROPERTY.

I. Trustees Their Appointment and Duties.

¶ 299. Each Board of Trustees of our Church property shall consist of not less than three nor more than nine persons, each of whom shall be not less than twenty-one years of age, and two thirds of whom shall be Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

T300. In all cases where the law of the State or Territory requires a specified mode of election, that mode shall be observed.

¶ 301. Where no specific requirement is made, the Trustees shall be elected annually by the Fourth Quar

terly Conference of the Charge, upon the nomination of the Pastor or the Presiding Elder of the District. In case of failure to elect at the proper time, a subsequent Quarterly Conference may elect; and all the Trustees shall hold their office until their successors are elected.

¶ 302. All the foregoing provisions shall apply both to the creation of new Boards and to the filling of vacancies, whether for houses of worship or dwellings for the Preachers.

¶ 303. No Trustee shall be ejected while he is in joint security for money unless such relief be given him as is demanded, or the creditor will accept, provided he remain a Member of our Church.

¶ 304. Charters obtained for our Church property shall conform in the manner of creating and filling Boards of Trustees to the provisions of this chapter.

¶ 305. The Board or Boards of Trustees in any Charge shall hold all our Church property, using so much of the proceeds as may be needful to pay debts or to make repairs, and shall be amenable to the Quarterly Conference to which they shall make an annual report, at the Fourth Quarterly Conference, embracing the following items: 1. Number of Churches and Parsonages. 2. Their probable value. 3. Title by which held. 4. Income. 5. Expenditures. 6. Debts, and how contracted. 7. Insur8. Amount raised during the year for building or improving Churches or Parsonages.

ance.

¶ 306. In no case shall the Trustees mortgage or encumber the real estate for the current expenses of the Church.

II. Form for Conveyance of Church Property.

¶ 307. Before any real estate is purchased for either Church, Parsonage, or other purpose, let the Society, in