of the preachers, to the payment of family

expenses.

6. There shall be a meeting in every district, of one steward from each station and circuit, to be selected from among the stewards by the quarterly meeting conference, whose duty it shall be, by and with the advice of the presiding elder, (who shall preside in such meeting,) to take into consideration the general state of the district in regard to temporalities, and to furnish a house, fuel, and table expenses, for the presiding elder.

7. The Book Agents and the Book Committee in New-York, shall be a committee to estimate the amount necessary to meet the family expenses of the bishops, which shall be annually paid by the book agents out of the funds of the book concern.

8. It shall be the duty of each annual conference where missionaries are to be employed, to appoint a committee, whose duty it shall be, in conjunction with the president of the conference, to determine on the amount which may be necessary for the support of each missionary, (agreeably to the regulations of the discipline,) from year to year, for which amount the president of the conference for the time shall have authority to draw on the treasurer of the society in quarterly instalments in behalf of the missions.

It is recommended that within the bounds of each annual conference there be established a conference missionary society, auxiliary to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with branches, under such regulations as the conferences respectively shall prescribe. Each conference missionary society shall annually transmit to the corresponding secretary of the parent society a copy of its annual report, embracing the operations of its branches, and shall also notify the treasurer of the amount collected in aid of the missionary cause, which amount shall be subject to the order of the treasurer of the parent society.

The treasurer of the parent society, under the direction of the board of managers, shall give information to the bishops annually, or oftener, if the board judge it expedient, of the state of the funds and the sums which inay be drawn by them for the missionary purposes contemplated by the constitution. Agreeably to which information the bishops shall have authority to draw upon the treasurer for any sum within the amount designated, which the missionary committee of the annual conferences respectively shall judge. necessary for the support of the missionaries and of the mission schools under their care. Provided always, that the sums so allowed for

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the support of a missionary shall not exceed the usual allowance of other itinerant preachThe bishops shall always promptly notify the treasurer of all drafts made by them, and shall require regular quarterly communications to be made by each of the missionaries to the corresponding secretary of the parent society, giving information of the state and prospects of the several missions in which they are employed. No one shall be acknow. ledged a missionary, or receive support out of the funds of the society, who has not some definite field assigned to him, or who could not be an effective labourer on a circuit.

In all cases of the appointment of a missionary the name of such missionary and the district in which he is to labour, together with the probable expenses of the mission, shall be communicated by the bishop or the mission committee of each annual conference, to the treasurer of the parent society, that a proper record of the same may be preserved.

In all places where drafts are drawn in favour of any mission, if there be funds in the possession of any auxiliary conference missionary society, where such mission is established, the drafts for the support of the mission shall be paid from said funds: if there be no auxiliary society, and there be

money belonging to the book concern, the book committee, or presiding elders, or preachers, shall pay the missionary drafts from the book money which may be in their possession; which drafts, when paid, shall be transmitted to the treasurer at New-York; and in no case, where any such moneys are at command, shall the drafts be sent to the treasurer in New-York to be paid.

SECTION VI.

Of the Chartered Fund.

Quest. What farther provision shall be made for the distressed travelling preachers, for the families of travelling preachers, and for the superannuated, and worn out preachers, and the widows and orphans of preachers?

Answ. There shall be a chartered fund, to be supported by the voluntary contributions of our friends the principal stock of which shall be funded under the direction of trustees, chosen by the general conference, and the interest applied under the direction of the general conference, according to the following regulations, viz.

1. The elders and those who have the oversight of circuits, shall be collectors and receivers of subscriptions, &c, for this fund.

2. The money shall, if possible, be conveyed by bills of exchange, or otherwise, through the means of the post, to the general book steward, who shall pay it to the trustees of the fund otherwise it shall be brought to the ensuing annual conference.

3. The interest shall be divided into seventeen parts, and each of the annual conferences shall have authority to draw one seventeenth part out of the fund; and if in one or more conferences, a part less than one seventeenth be drawn out of the fund in any given year, then in such case or cases, the other annual conferences, held in the same year, shall have authority, if they judge it necessary, to draw out of the fund, such surplus of the interest which has not been applied by the former conferences and the bishops shall bring the necessary information of the state of the interest of the fund, respecting the year in question, from conference to conference.

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4. All drafts on the charter fund shall be made on the president of the said fund, by order of the annual conference, signed by the president, and countersigned by the secretary of the said conference.

5. The money subscribed for the chartered fund, may be lodged on proper securities, in the states respectively in which it has been subscribed, under the direction of deputies