MAY we suggest that the approaching Census, which is to be taken on April 4th, is an excellent opportunity for a special thank-offering to the work of God? Another ten years of sparing and providing and forgiving mercy! And what better object for such a thank-offering can there be than the spread of the Gospel among the heathen by the agency of the Church Missionary Society?

In the Census years of 1861 and 1871, an excellent Christian lady, Mrs. Punnett, of Flushing, near Falmouth, suggested the collection of One Million of Pence for the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society, principally in connexion with the Census of 1861. At the Census of 1871 the effort was repeated; and even during the intervals this collection has quietly gone on, and yearly remittances have been made. Altogether the C.M.S. has received several hundred pounds on this account, and 61. 2s. was acknowledged in last year's Report. The same good lady is at work again this year, and we trust her appeals will be largely responded to. Meanwhile, we would invite all our readers to make a special collection before April 4th, count it out on that day, and send it up to the Church Missionary Society.

REPORTS, &c., RECEIVED FROM THE MISSIONS,

From January 20th to February 15th, 1881.

West Africa.-Mrs. Burton, Rev. C. Reichardt (Annual Letters).

Yoruba.-Rev. C. Phillips (Journal, August 11th to Nov. 13th, 1880); Mr. C. N. Young (Journal, July 4th to Nov. 18th, 1880); Rev. C. H. V. Gollmer, Rev. C. Phillips, Rev. J. White, Rev. T. B. Wright (Annual Letters).

Niger.-Bishop Crowther (Report for 1880); Rev. T. C. John (Report, Lokoja, 1880); C. Paul (Report, Kipo Hill, 1880); Mr. P. J. William (Report, Gbebe, 1880). East Africa.-Mr. J. W. Handford (Annual Letter).

Rev.

Nyanza.-Mr. A. M. Mackay, Kagei, Sept. 24th and 27th, Oct. 15th and 30th; Rev. G. Litchfield, Uyui, Oct. 26th and Nov. 30th; Mr. A. J. Copplestone, Uyui, Oct. 27th; Mr. C. W. Pearson, Rubaga, June 8th, 10th, and 19th, and July 13th.

Palestine. Rev. F. Bellamy, Rev. C. Fallscheer, Rev. T. F. Wolters, Rev. J. Zeller, Mr. G. Nyland, Rev. A. Schapira (Annual Letters).

North India.-Rev. W. R. Blackett, Rev. A. Stark, Rev. R. Elliott, Rev. T. R. Hodgson (Annual Letters); Printed Report of Christian Church, Azimgarh, 1880.

Panjab.-Rev. H. U. Weitbrecht, Mr. C. Matthews (Annual Letters); Rev. C. P. C. Nugent (Report of Jhelum Itinerancy, Nov. 18th, 1879, to Jan. 1880).

Western India.-Rev. S. Kharsedji, Rev. A. Manwaring, Rev. J. Alli, Rev. R. Nowroji (Annual Letters).

South India.-Rev. V. Vedhanayagam, Rev. M. Ratnam (Annual Letters).

Travancore and Cochin.-Rev. C. A. Neve (Annual Letter).

Ceylon. Rev. J. I. Jones, Rev. J. I. Pickford (Annual Letters).

China.-Rev. J. C. Hoare, Dr. B. van S. Taylor (Annual Letters).

Japan.-Rev. W. Dening, Mr. J. Batchelor, Rev. J. Williams (Annual Letters).

SELECTIONS FROM PROCEEDINGS OF COMMITTEE.

General Committee, January 10th.-The Committee took leave of the Rev. T. C. Wilson, about to proceed to the Society's Mission at Lagos. The instructions of the Committee having been delivered to Mr. Wilson, he was addressed by the Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, and commended in prayer to the favour and protection of Almighty God by the Rev. W. H. Barlow.

The Secretaries stated that they had received information that the whole question of Government Educational Policy in India was about to come under the notice of the Secretary of State for India, and that, therefore, it was important to make any representations on the subject without delay. Reference having been made to the withdrawal of the Grant-in-aid to St. John's College at Agra in 1875, and to the proposals of the Educational Report of 1879 with reference to that College, it was agreed to prepare a memorial to the Secretary of State for India asking for the restoration of the Grant-in-aid to St. John's College.

Committee of Correspondence, January 18th.-The Committee took into consideration the question of re-opening St. Peter's College at Allahabad, and reference having been made to the Educational Report of 1879, by which it was ordered to be closed, it was resolved that the College be resuscitated as a School for Christian Education and placed under the superintendence of the Missionary whom it is now proposed to locate at that city, it being understood that no expense is to be incurred by the Society from the reopening.

A telegram from the Rev. R. Clark was read, stating that Dr. Downes, of the Kashmir Medical Mission, was unwell, and asking that a medical man might be sent to replace him. The Secretaries were directed to make inquiries for a suitable Medical Missionary for Kashmir.

The Rev. W. H. Barlow having stated that an offer had been made through him to provide the salaries for three years (6401. per annum) of two Missionaries for Afghanistan, and as it appeared in the present state of Government policy that there was no likelihood at present of any opening in the interior of Afghanistan, the Committee, in view of their Minute of October 1879 on the subject of Frontier Missions, requested Mr. Barlow to suggest to his friend that the sum so kindly offered by him might advantageously be employed in sending two of the men now kept back for lack of funds to Peshawar and Multan, with the understanding that if any opening should hereafter appear in Afghanistan itself, and the Society's funds should allow of the establishment of a Mission there, the two men should be sent forward.

General Committee, January 25th.-The Committee considered certain plans of the Rev. R. Tomlinson for the establishment of a Mission station at Ankihtlast, in the Diocese of Caledonia, British Columbia, which had been already considered on two or three occasions by the Committee of Correspondence, and a full statement of Mr. Tomlinson's scheme having been submitted by him, it was approved, subject to certain conditions.

The Committee then took leave of the Rev. R. Tomlinson, who was about to return to the North Pacific Mission. He was addressed by Bishop Perry and the Rev. Canon Hoare, and commended in prayer to the favour and protection of Almighty God by the Rev. Prebendary Čadman.

Committee of Correspondence, February 1st.-The Committee took leave of the Lay Secretary, Edward Hutchinson, Esq., and of the Rev. J. B. Whiting,

who were about to proceed to Madeira as a deputation from the Committee to meet Bishop Crowther and other Missionaries on the West Coast of Africa for conference on the position and prospects of the Sierra Leone, Yoruba, and Niger Missions. Full instructions on the subjects to be discussed having been considered and adopted, the deputation were commended in prayer to the favour and protection of Almighty God by the Rev. W. H. Barlow.

The Committee took into consideration certain resolutions of the CheKiang Missionary Conference with regard to the Boys' Boarding School carried on at Ningpo by Miss M. Laurence. Miss Laurence's views having been explained to the Committee, and that with the money she was collecting in England she hoped to carry on the school free of expense to the Society for the next three years, it was resolved that, on her return to Ningpo, she be authorized to continue her Boys' School as an elementary and industrial school, ever bearing in mind that the principal object of the Society is that the school should be a distinctly evangelistic agency.

Letters were read from the Rev. H. P. Parker, Secretary to the Calcutta Corresponding Committee, the Rev. W. Hooper, Principal of the Divinity School for the North-West Provinces, and from Sir W. Muir, with reference to a proposal for locating the Divinity College, which Mr. Hooper had recently gone out to establish, at Allahabad instead of at Benares. The Committee concurred generally in this important proposal, and adverting to their recent action with reference to re-occupying Allahabad with a well-qualified European Missionary, and the re-opening of St. Peter's College, and also to their desire to maintain a strong Mission at Benares in accordance with their policy of concentration at important centres, referred the further consideration of the detailed arrangements necessary for the carrying out of these plans to the Calcutta Corresponding Committee.

A letter was read from the Rev. A. H. Arden, Secretary to the Madras Corresponding Committee, communicating an offer from the Rev. H. Goldsmith, who had recently joined his brother, the Rev. M. G. Goldsmith, of the Society's Mohammedan Mission at Madras, to undertake missionary work in connexion with the Society without salary. The Committee had much pleasure in receiving the Rev. H. Goldsmith into connexion with the Society as an honorary Missionary, and sanctioned certain arrangements consequent thereon.

A letter was read from Mr. H. M. Warry, in charge of the Society's Institution in the Seychelles, stating that the Government of Mauritius had asked whether the Society would object to that Institution being enlarged so as to answer the double purpose of an African Mission School and a Government Reformatory Training School for the Seychelles Islands, the Government being prepared to pay all expenses connected with the necessary alterations, and to provide for an increased staff of teachers. The proposal was referred to the Bishop of Mauritius for his views upon it.

With reference to the Minute of Committee of January 18th, a letter was read from the friend of the Rev. W. H. Barlow who had offered to support two Missionaries in Afghanistan, accepting the Committee's proposal, on the understanding that during the next three years every effort be made, consistent with the state of the Society's funds and the claims of Missions already established, to open a Mission in the interior of Afghanistan, which country seemed to him to have urgent claims on the Church at home.

Committee of Funds, February 10th.-The Central Secretary reported proceedings of the meeting of Association Secretaries held January 12—14,

from which it appeared that in almost every instance their Reports spoke of steady progress, although in consequence of the state of the agricultural counties, several expressed fears for the future. In the counties of Suffolk, York, Derby, Salop, Devon, Hants, Berks, Bucks, Cambridge, Beds, Leicester, and Northampton, the system of Honorary District. Secretaries had been extended during the past year in such a way that all these counties were now mapped out, with an Honorary Secretary for almost every district. The Central Secretary further presented the following statistics:-Number of churches in England and Wales, 15,326; number of parishes or districts in which the C.M.S. has been supported by sermons or meetings, 5705; parishes gained, 182; parishes lost, 68; number of sermons preached for the Society, 7356; number of meetings, 2846; sermons preached by Association Secretaries, 1720; meetings attended by ditto, 1650; which figures show that, assuming a thousand sermons to have been preached by missionaries on the deputation staff, there would still remain more than 4600 sermons preached for the Society last year by volunteers.

NOTES OF THE MONTH.

ORDINATIONS.

On Dec. 19, the Rev. Nasir Odeh was admitted to Priest's Orders by the Bishop of Jerusalem.-On Dec. 21, 1880, the Rev. S. Pearse was admitted to Priest's Orders, at Lagos, by the Bishop of Sierra Leone.

DEPARTURE OF MISSIONARIES.

North India.-The Rev. E. Champion left London in November, 1880, for Calcutta.
North Pacific.-The Rev. R. Tomlinson sailed from Queenstown for his Mission on Feb. 2.

RETURN HOME OF MISSIONARIES.

Japan. The Rev. J. and Mrs. Piper left Japan on December 18, 1880, and arrived in England on Feb. 9, 1881.

Mrs. Hutchinson, wife of the Rev. A. B. Hutchinson, Missionary from China, died at Exeter on Feb. 1.

Contribution List.

In the following list of receipts from Jan. 11th to Feb. 10th are acknowledged all remittances from Associations, Benefactions, and Legacies of 51. and upwards, and Collections of 10s. and upwards. All other sums are acknowledged in the Annual Reports. Parties not finding such payments duly acknowledged are requested to inform the Secretary without delay.