The following statistics will give an approximate view of the present numerical and financial state of the Church:
Presbyterian population 130,000
Pastoral chai ges 145
■Ministers settled in pastoral charges 122
Unattached ministers supplying vacancies and
new stations 19
Elders 400
Attending divine service 60,000
Communicants 15,000
Churches (besides halls and school-houses) 234
Sittings in chinches 38,000
Sabbath-schools 204
Teachers 2,100
Scholars 23,000
Bible classes 73
Scholars l,soo
Income for all purposes, 1875-76 XS0,000
Capital funds held in trust for various schemes.. £60,032
The schemes of the Church embrace two departments, ministerial and missionary:
(I.) Ministerial. — In order to make statable provision for the ministry, the following funds have been estab- lished— (a.) A capital fund for the endowment and sup- port of a theological hall, established in 1865, with four chairs — Systematic Theology, Apologetics, Church His- tory, and Exegetics — held provisionally by four minis- ters of the Church, and attended by fifteen students, of whom five are studying with a view to mission work. £50,000 will be required for the endowment of these four chairs. £14,000 are now in the hands of the Church, yielding an annual revenue of £900. Two university scholarships of £50 and £25 respectively have been founded for intending theological students, and two theological scholarships of the same amounts. But the larger of these is not confined to Presbyterian students. It is open to all denominations. The As- sembly raises additional scholarships, when needed, by subscription, (b.) A sustentation fund, for the more
adequate support of the ministry, aims at securing a minimum stipend of £300 to every minister. Con- gregations lodge their moneys monthly in the post- oliice savings bank. Their ministers draw the deposits once a quarter to the extent of £300 a year. The balance that remains undrawn, if any, accrues to the general sustentation fund, which is distributed among ministers whose stipend falls short of the minimum, with the proviso, however, that no congregation re- ceives more than £50. Last year 38 out of 122 minis- ters participated in the fund. The income was derived from the following sources : Congregational subscrip- tions, £866; donations of £100 each from eight gentle- men. £800; small donations and legacy, £374; interest from savings bank, £35, in all £2075. (c.) A capital fund, for the support of aged and infirm ministers: in- stituted not only in the interest of ministers, but as emphatically of congregations, to relieve them, in some measure, at least, from a very painful burden, and to insure their enjoying the ministrations of men in the prime and vigor of life. It is raised by voluntary con- tributions, and by a payment of £25, spread over five years, from every minister. The allowance is £50 per annum, with £2 for every year beyond five that the an- nuitant has held a charge. (</.) A fund for the support of the widows and orphans of deceased ministers, raised by a minister's rate of £5 per annum, and an annual congregational collection. In 1870 these two sources of income yielded £990. Interest on capital, £1003 ; in all £2053. Annuities to twenty widows and twenty- four orphans, £965. The annuity is £50, with £10 for each child below eighteen. The latter sum is doubled when both parents are dead. By these respective agen- cies provision is made for the ministry in its four stages — when training for work, when at work, when past work, and when finally done with work.
(II.) Missionary. — Comprised under two branches — home and heathen missions : (<?.) The home mission is charged with — (1) securing a supply of ministers ; (2) admitting accredited ministers from other churches; (3) assisting presbyteries in supplying vacancies; and (4) fostering mission-stations. As the Church, in planting itself in a new land, is essentially a home mission, ami as the demand for ministers has always been ahead of the supply, little has been attempted outside its own community: One or two of the larger congregations have, however, been vigorously prosecuting, while oth- ers are commencing, territorial work at their own hand. The committee have received generous assistance from the home churches in the way of ministerial supply. But the need is by no means abated. At this moment at least twelve men are urgently required, (b.) The heathen mission embraces three departments: (1.) The Chinese, of whom there are about 17,000 in Victoria. They are scattered in groups of two or three hundred over the colony. They are generally of an inferior type, but are very accessible to the teachings of the Gospel, which are given them at various points by the Christian churches. The Presbyterian Mission has taken the form for the present of a seminary for train- ing Chinese catechists. It is conducted by one of the ministers of the Church, assisted by Mr. Cheong, a Chi- nese student. (2.) The Aborigines, now reduced to about 1G00. Charles Kingsley and others have put the natives of Australia at the bottom of the scale of ra- tional beings, "if indeed they are entitled to be called men." It seemed as if they were likely to furnish a link in the ascending development of humanity. The Presbyterian Mission at Kosmali has exploded this no- tion. It is under the charge of two Moravian brethren, and furnishes delightful proofs of the elevating influence of Christianity even upon the most degraded savage, while the children of the school have outstripped all their competitors in the State schools of Victoria. (3.) The New Hebrides, in conjunction with other churches in Scotland, Canada, and Xova Scotia. The Presby- terian Church of Victoria maintains a contingent of two