THE MONTH.

FTER an interval of two months without the continuous labour of Committee and Sub-Committee meetings almost every day of the week-though not without the work and anxiety which can never cease in the conduct of such an organization as the Church Missionary Society-the Committee this month resume the ordinary course of business. We desire at this time to commend them and their deliberations to the special prayers of all the Society's friends. The last twelve months have brought many difficult questions for consideration from almost every part of the mission-field, and this at a time of (in more ways than one) change and weakened strength at home. The uncertainty and imperfection of all human plans must lead every faithful worker to cry, "O Thou who changest not, abide with me!" The history of the C.M.S. Missions from the beginning has been a succession of illustrations of God's strength made perfect in weakness. That we may all feel more and more our absolute dependence upon His grace alone, and for that very reason be enabled to work on with undaunted faith, is what we ask our readers to plead for with the gracious Hearer and Answerer of Prayer.

THE late Mr. Charles Wolloton, J.P., ex-Sheriff of the City of London, who died on Sept. 7th, had been a respected member of the C.M.S. Committee for two or three years. He took a very warm interest in the Society's

work.

WE regret to announce the death of the Rev. Henry George, of the NorthWest America Mission. He was an Islington College man, and went out in 1854. He laboured successively at Fort Alexander, Cumberland, and Westbourne, and on the death of his father-in-law, the venerated Archdeacon Cockran, in 1865, took charge of his station, Portage La Prairie; and there he died, on Aug. 7th. The Bishop of Rupert's Land, Archdeacon Cowley, and two other clergymen officiated at the funeral, which was attended by a great concourse of mourners and sympathizers.

THE Native Tamil Church at Jaffna, Ceylon, has sustained a severe loss by the death of one of its pastors, the Rev. Elijah Hoole. He was originally trained by the Wesleyan Mission at Jaffna, but joined the C.M.S. in 1850, and served the Society faithfully for thirty years as teacher, catechist, and pastor. He attended Bishop Copleston's Church Assembly at Colombo on July 6th and 7th, and died on the return voyage to Jaffna. A correspondent of the Ceylon Observer says, " He was a model Native pastor. In preaching he excelled all Native preachers known to us. He was a deep scholar, an earnest Christian, and an eloquent speaker." He was about 53 years of

age.

THE lamented death of Dr. Samuel Manning, Secretary of the Religious Tract Society, calls for one word of deep regret from a missionary periodical. The Tract Society is a most valuable auxiliary in the mission-field. There is scarcely a C.M.S. Mission or missionary in any part of the world that has not benefited by the liberality of its grants, both of its own admirable literature, and of funds for the production of Christian books and tracts in various languages. In India, for instance, the Punjab Religious Book Society, of

which the Rev. R. Clark is Secretary, and the Madras Tract Society, of which the Rev. R. C. Macdonald was Secretary for a time, besides other similar agencies, are largely supported by the R.T.S.; and one of the translations of its well-known Annotated Paragraph New Testament was done in Tamil by the Rev. W. T. Satthianadhan. And the loss of one so peculiarly large-minded and large-hearted as Dr. Manning will be felt by all those who in this and other ways have been brought into contact with the Society he so ably represented.

BISHOP MOULE held his first ordination at Shaou-hing on May 8th, when the Rev. J. B. Ost was admitted to priest's orders.

MR. W. SPENDLOVE, who went out to join the Athabasca Mission two years ago, was ordained by Bishop Bompas on March 18th, at Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River. He is now in charge of the extensive district of which that station is the centre.

THE REV. J. W. Balding, one of the Islington men ordained on June 29th, has been appointed to the Singhalese Mission, Ceylon, in lieu of the Rev. A. J. A. Gollmer, who is not going out at present. This leaves only five (new) men detained at home; and these are all usefully employed in curacies.

OUR readers will notice with pleasure, in the Selections from the Committee Minutes this month, a donation by the Society's venerable friend, the Rev. John Venn of Hereford, of 5001., towards supplying a medical missionary for Gaza, in response to an appeal made by Mr. Schapira through the Medical Missionary Association. (See also Canon Tristram's Report, in our last number.) Some further subscriptions have also been promised towards the same object.

IN the Selections from the Committee Minutes in our July number, there was a reference to a question which arose in Ceylon respecting the Bishop's license to the Rev. J. G. Garrett. The Bishop proposed to license him as Principal of the Kandy College, but such formal ecclesiastical sanction for educational work has, so far as we know, never been required either at home or abroad, and the Committee felt it undesirable that a precedent should be created. They accordingly asked the Bishop to license Mr. Garrett as chaplain of the church or chapel connected with the College, i. e. to directly ministerial work. To this the Bishop agreed, and the question is thus settled. Mr. Garrett received the license just before the meeting of the Church Assembly, and was thus enabled to take his seat, to which, however, it is right to say that the Bishop had proposed to invite him in any case.

THE Daily Colonist, a newspaper published at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, in its issue of August 13th gives the following account of the launch of the Evangeline, Bishop Ridley's new steamer :

Yesterday afternoon the little steamer built at Bales' ship-yard by Mr. Samuel Sea, for the Bishop of Caledonia, was launched. She was modelled and the drawings were made by the celebrated ship architect White, of Cowes, Isle of

Wight, and is the most graceful, and will probably, when completed, be the swiftest little craft in those waters. Her dimensions are-length, 46 feet; breadth of beam, 10 feet; and depth of hold, 4 feet; her register being about 10 tons.

The boiler and machinery were made at Birmingham. Though small and compact, yet they are very powerful, and with the propeller, 3 feet in diameter, which, by-the-bye, has excited much admiration, the vessel will attain a high rate of speed. She will have a comfortable cabin, but her carrying capacity will of course be limited. It is not yet decided whether one or two masts will be put in, Bishop Ridley being desirous of using sail whenever practicable.

At the appointed time yesterday afternoon, the Bishop of Columbia and Mrs. Hills, the Bishop of Caledonia, and others, went on board. The braces and blocks were knocked away, and

the beautiful craft slid smoothly and gracefully into her native element amid the cheers of several boats crowded with interested spectators. Just before she moved off, Bishop Hills offered up a short prayer for success on this missionary enterprise, and as she began to slide down the warp, Mrs. Hills broke the usual bottle of champagne over her bows, and named her the Evangeline. Immediately after getting afloat she was towed under the H.B. Co.'s shears, where she will receive her boiler tomorrow morning. She is to be equipped with all possible despatch, and will then proceed up the coast on her mission of usefulness, in which every one will wish her God-speed.

AN interesting gathering took place in the school-room of Breadfruit Church, Lagos, on June 6th, to take leave of Archdeacon Henry Johnson, proceeding to join the Niger Mission. The interesting account by him of Breadfruit parish which appeared in the Intelligencer of October last year, is sufficient evidence of the great services Archdeacon Johnson rendered to the Native Church at Lagos while in charge of that district; and we are not surprised at the esteem and affection manifested by the large meeting that assembled on the occasion referred to. The Rev. James Johnson, who has succeeded to the incumbency, presided, and several African clergymen and leading laymen took part in the proceedings.

OUR older readers will not have forgotten William Doherty, the Yoruba catechist who was taken captive by the King of Dahomey in 1862, and was supposed to have been crucified, but who was rescued in 1866, and still serves the Society at Ebute Meta. The Lagos Times mentions that a relative of his, Uriah Doherty, also a Christian convert, who was taken captive at the same time, but who became one of the king's chief servants, has now also escaped, with his wife and two children. He was a whole year getting away, stopping sometimes weeks at one place to disarm suspicion. He describes Dahomey as still what it was when Captain Forbes visited it in 1848-" a scene of terrible massacres and wholesale butcheries."

THE Rev. J. R. Wolfe writes to us respecting the statistical table of the Fuh-Kien Mission, printed in our August number, that a copy of it, with all its details, is regularly posted up, year by year, in each of the churches and chapels throughout the province, so that all the Native Christians may know the exact state of the entire Mission. "It is very interesting," he says, to compare the first list that was thus posted up with those of recent years. The first was not a foot long, nor a foot broad. Now it is several feet long and several feet broad, and stands in a prominent place in every chapel, inviting the inspection of friend and foe."

IT is some time since we noticed the little Mission in the Seychelles. Of the Society's Institution for African children-ex-slaves or the children of ex-slaves-at Capucin, in the Island of Mahé, Mr. H. M. Warry has con

tinued in charge, assisted by Mr. Pickwood, and writes hopefully of the effects of the Christian elementary and industrial education of his young charges, now forty-one in number.

Bishop Royston spent a month in the Seychelles Islands, on his way back to Mauritius from England, in October and November of last year, and on two occasions ascended the mountain to Capucin and stayed at the Institution. He writes very favourably of its condition and management. In such work disappointments must be expected, and much patience is necessary, as many Christian workers in England know well who are interested in Reformatories and Industrial Homes. But the Bishop testifies to the "marked progress" visible, and to the "promising results" of Mr. Warry's work, following on that of the Rev. W. B. Chancellor. He twice examined the children in the presence of the Chief Civil Commissioner of the Seychelles, and of some naval officers; and all were fairly satisfied with the result, both in Scriptural and secular subjects. "The after effects," he writes, "will, by God's blessing, be greater still in every direction, not only in the children, but among their future surroundings generally."

"Besides their constant Scriptural teaching and training in the Institution," continues the Bishop, "Messrs. Warry and Pickwood are doing what they can for the good of the similar population in the neighbourhood; specially by simple Sunday services at Pointe au Sel and Barbaron. A marked blessing seems to me to have attended these efforts, in spite of the opposition of the R. C. priests; and I had the pleasure of confirming some of the young people both from Capucin and Pointe au Sel."

A recent letter from Mr. Warry states that he and Mr. Pickwood have also begun work on a small scale at a place called Port Gland, each taking it in turns to hold Divine Service there on Sundays. He also speaks of the pleasure it gave him last May, to be of service to some of the officers of H.M.S. Ruby, who reached the Island suffering severely from fever. They resided for some weeks in the Institution, and derived great benefit from its healthful position. In recognition of Mr. Warry's services, Captain Foote, the commander of the ship, invited him and all the members of his black family to spend a day on board, "which we did," writes Mr. Warry, “and enjoyed it very much indeed, though some of the little children were rather frightened at the salute of twenty-one guns, as they had never heard or seen anything like it before."

A RECENT journal of Mr. A. J. Copplestone's relates his visit to the wellknown African chieftain, Mirambo, with whom Dr. Southon of the L.M.S. is stationed:

April 28th.-Started off this morning to see the chief, and on arriving at Kwikuru found him sitting outside under the shade of a tree, which appears to be the usual rendezvous or kwiwanza.

We were soon in a close conversation respecting my travels, and the various roads I had travelled; and I quite expected, that having heard I had been to Uganda, he would have had endless questions to ask; but he asked very few, and those I felt he knew as much about as myself. We then had a long conversation respecting the road he had just

come by from Smith's Sound, and which
he said was quite practicable and safe
for caravans having guides from him.
He said men with no loads can reach it
in four days; that is, they only have to
sleep on the road four days, and on the
fifth they arrive early in the morning:
so exact did he give the time.
a caravan would take nine days, and
perhaps ten going slowly. He spoke
of some very high hills there, which
correspond undoubtedly with Lieut.
Smith's Baridi Hills. All this time he
was talking to me he was transacting

But