to meet annually, in such place and on such day in the month of November as shall be appointed by the Corresponding Secretary, to determine: 1. What amount each Conference shall be asked to raise by collections for the use of the Board dur ing the ensuing year; 2. What amount may be donated and loaned within each Conference during the same period; and 3. What amount may be applied to general and special purposes not included in the above.

¶ 396. The General Committee shall also have authority to counsel and direct the Board in the general administration of the trust committed to its care. It shall also have authority to revise the list of members of the Board, and for inattention to the duties of the office, or for other cause, to declare the seat of any member vacant, and to fill any existing vacancy on the Board.

¶ 397. If a vacancy should occur in the Committee by death, resignation, removal from the District, or otherwise, the Bishop having charge of the Conference within which such vacancy occurs shall fill it.

T 398. Expenses incurred by the Committee in the discharge of its duties may be paid by the Treasurer of the Board.

¶ 399. All applications for Aid shall be made in accordance with blank forms to be furnished

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by the Parent Board, and shall set forth, 1. Thị number of Church Members, of Sunday-school Children, and of the Congregation to be accommodated, the population of the place, and prospects of growth. 2. The legal incorporation of the Church or Board of Trustees. 3. The location, size, present and prospective value of the site, the validity of the title thereto, and whether held in trust for the Methodist Episcopal Church. 4. A description of the building to which aid, if granted, will be applied; and, if required, a copy of the plans and specifications of the architect shall be submitted, and, if deemed necessary by the Parent or Conference Board, modified as may be suggested. 5. The estimated and probable cost when completed. 6. The available resources and amount of reliable subscriptions; and that those immediately interested have done or are doing all that could reasonably be expected. 7. What amount of debt, if any, may be allowed to remain against the property, and how soon the Trustees or others will agree to remove it. 8. Is the property insured? Will it be? In what company? To what amount? 9. Whether the Church, if aided, will probably become selfsupporting, and how soon, and to what extent it may be expected to aid in the general work of the Church. 10. Any additional facts and circumstances that will assist the Board to a proper decision on the application.

¶ 400. Every such Application for Aid shall be first submitted to the Conference Board of Church Extension, and said Board shall certify its action thereon to the Parent Board; and aid shall be granted only by the concurrent action of both the Conference Board and of the Parent Board, and, except in cases of great emergency, within the amount authorized by the General Committee; provided, however, that for the procurement of property in Mission territory the Parent Board may appropriate funds specially authorized by the General Committee without such Application or Recommendation by a Conference Board; but in all such cases the title to such property should vest in the Board of Church Extension.

Duties of Presiding Elders.

¶ 401. It shall be the duty of each Presiding Elder to bring the subject of Church Extension before the Quarterly Conference of each Circuit and Station within his District at the last Quarterly Conference in each year; and said Quarterly Conference shall appoint a Committee of not less than three nor more than five, of which the Preacher in Charge shall be Chairman, to be called the Committee on Church Extension, whose duty it shall be to aid the Preacher in Charge in carrying into effect the provisions of

the Discipline and plans of the Boards for the support of this cause, and in securing at least the amount asked of the Circuit or Station for its aid; and the Presiding Elder shall inquire, in the third Quarterly Conference of each year, what has been done for this cause, and whether the amount asked has been received; and if not, he shall urgently request the Preacher in Charge and the Quarterly Conference to take such measures as will secure the amount before the close of the year.

Duties of Preacher in Charge.

¶ 402. It shall be the duty of the Preacher in Charge, aided by the Committee on Church Extension, to provide for the diffusion of information concerning the work and wants of the Board of Church Extension; he shall preach, or cause to be preached, a sermon on this subject in each Congregation in every year, and solicit contributions from each, endeavoring to secure at least the amount asked as above provided; and he shall, at each Conference, report the amount asked and the amount received for Church Extension. He shall also invite special contributions and bequests to the Loan Fund.

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PART V.-CHAPTER V.

SOUTHERN WORK.

Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society.

¶ 403. The work of the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society shall be the establishment and maintenance of institutions of learning in the Southern States among Freedmen and others who have special claims upon the people of America for help in the work of Christian education. In presenting the claims of this cause the Preacher in Charge shall state plainly that the educational work of this Society is among both colored and white people.

¶ 404. Care is to be taken in locating institutions of learning so that the greatest advantages may be secured to the Conference or Conferences to be benefited, and special efforts are to be made to develop self-help among the people where the Schools are located. The Society is to be especially careful to educate those persons who are called to preach, or who propose to become Teachers; and to employ as Instructors only those who will conscientiously work in our SundaySchools, and cheerfully co-operate with our Ministers.

T 405. The Board of Managers shall consist