ful performance of their duties to the Quarterly Conference of the Circuit or Station, which shall have power to dismiss or change them at pleasure.

The Support of Bishops, and of the Families of Deceased Bishops.

T284. The General Conference shall determine which of the Bishops are Effective and which Non-effective.

¶ 285. It shall be the duty of the Book Committee to make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish a competent support to each Effective Bishop, considering the number and condition of his family; and the amount, if any, necessary to the comfortable maintenance of the Non-effective Bishops; and also the amount necessary to assist the Widows and Children of deceased Bishops: and the Bishops are authorized to draw on the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund for said amount, and also for their traveling expenses.

¶ 286. The Bishop presiding at an Annual Conference, within whose bounds a Widow or Orphan of a deceased Bishop may reside, shall be authorized to draw on the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund for such amount as may be estimated as aforesaid.

T287. The Book Committee shall divide the aggregate sum required to be raised for these

purposes among the Annual Conferences, on the basis of the total amount raised in the respective Annual Conferences for Ministerial support, exclusive of Missionary appropriations, and the Annual Conferences shall apportion the same to the several Districts, and the District Stewards to the several Charges. The amount apportioned to each Pastoral Charge for the support of the Bishops shall be a pro rata claim with that of the stationed Preachers and Presiding Elders; and no such Preacher or Presiding Elder shall be entitled to his allowance except to the extent to which the claims of the Bishops are also met by the Circuit, Station, or District with which such Elder and Preacher are connected. And it shall be the duty of the Annual Conferences to see that the amounts apportioned to the different Pastoral Charges for the support of the Bishops are raised and forwarded quarterly, when practicable, to the Treasurer of the Episcopal Fund.

T288. The Treasurer shall charge the sums paid to the Bishops, and to the Widows and Children of deceased Bishops, to "The Episcopal Fund;" and all collections received from the different Charges for the support of the Bishops shall be credited to said Fund. And the Treasurer shall report annually to the Annual Conferences the amounts received from the several Annual Conferences on account of said Fund, and also the expenditures made; and he shall also

make a full and detailed exhibit of such receipts and expenditures for the term of four years to the General Conference.

Support of Presiding Elders.

¶ 289. There shall be annually, in every District, a meeting composed of one Steward from each Circuit and Station, to be selected by the Quarterly Conference, whose duty it shall be, with the advice of the Presiding Elder, who shall preside in such meeting, to make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish a comfortable support to the Presiding Elder, and to apportion the same, including house-rent and traveling expenses, and also the claim of the Bishops apportioned to the District by the Annual Conference, among the different Circuits and Stations in the District, according to their several ability; and in all cases the Presiding Elder shall share with the Preachers in his District in proportion to what they have respectively received. But if there be a surplus of money raised for the support of the Preachers in one or more of the Circuits or Stations in his District he shall receive such surplus, provided he do not receive more than his allowance. The Minutes of the District Stewards' Meeting shall be kept by a Secretary chosen for the purpose, who shall also record the same in a book of which the Presiding Elder shall be custodian.

Support of Effective Ministers and Preachers.

¶ 290. It shall be the duty of the Quarterly Conference of each Circuit and Station at the session immediately preceding the Annual Conference to appoint an Estimating Committee, consisting of three or more Members of the Church, who shall, after conferring with the Preachers, make an estimate of the amount necessary to furnish a comfortable support to the Preacher or Preachers stationed among them, taking into consideration the number and condition of the family or families of such Preacher or Preachers, which estimate shall be subject to the action of the Quarterly Conference; and to which shall be added the amount apportioned for the support of the Bishops and Presiding Elder; and the Stewards shall provide by such methods as they may judge best to meet such amount. The Traveling and Moving Expenses of the Preachers shall not be reckoned as a part of the estimate, but shall be paid by the Stewards as a separate item.

¶ 291. Whenever a Member of an Annual Conference applies for a Location, it shall be asked, is he indebted to the Book Concern? and if it be ascertained that he is, the Conference shall require him to secure said debt, if they judge it at all necessary or proper, before they grant him a Location. Whenever any Claimant on the Funds of a Conference shall be in debt to the Book Con

cern, the Conference of which he is a Member shall have power to appropriate the amount of such claim, or any part thereof, to the payment of said debt.

T292. When a Member of an Annual Conference is accused of crime in the interval of his Conference session, and is suspended by a Committee, and subsequently convicted by his Conference and expelled, his claim upon the Funds of the Conference shall cease from the time of his suspension. And when a Member of an Annual Conference is suspended and is afterward restored, he shall have no claim on the Congregation, nor upon the Funds of the Conference, during the period of such suspension.

Support of Superannuated Preachers.

¶ 293. It shall be the duty of the Quarterly Conference of each Charge within whose bounds a Superannuated Preacher, or the Widow or Child of a deceased Preacher, may reside, to appoint a Committee whose duty it shall be to make an estimate of the amount necessary to assist such Preacher, Widow, or Child in obtaining a comfortable support; and such estimate shall be sent up to the Annual Conference with which the Claimant may be connected, and be subject to the action of said Annual Conference.

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