¶ 307. The claimants upon this fund shall be: all Superannuated Preachers and the Widows and Children of deceased Preachers. A Supernumerary Preacher may, by vote of his Conference, be made a claimant.

¶308. Each Annual Conference may organize a Board of Conference Claimants, auxiliary to the General Board, which shall, through its Secretary, report to the General Board, on or before the 1st of January or July next following the session of the Conference, the name and age of each claimant of the Conference, and give such other information as may be provided for by blanks furnished by the General Board. The Conference Board shall report to the General Board any urgent cases of need that arise during the Conference year, in order that relief may be given at once by the Board.

¶ 309. The Board shall have power to grant honorary membership to any person giving at any one time one hundred dollars, which shall allow such person a seat and voice in its deliberations, but not a vote. The Board shall have power to receive grants, gifts, or bequests, to be kept in the name of the donor, subject to the same rules as govern other parts of the Permanent Fund.

¶ 310. The Board shall cause a proper division of its funds to be made, based upon the number and needs of claimants, and through its Corres

ponding Secretary forward to the Bishop presiding at each Annual Conference the amount appropriated to said Conference; and the Conference Board, or the Conference Stewards in the absence of such Board, shall divide it among the claimants of the Conference on such a basis as the Stewards may determine, with the approval of the Conference.

1311. The division by the General Board shall be made on the first day of August yearly.

312. Any person may contribute to the Permanent Fund a sum to be preserved and perpetuated in his name, the interest on which shall go to the Disbursing Fund.

1313. The Board of Control shall, through the Corresponding Secretary, make to the General Conference a full report of all its doings during the preceding quadrennium. And it shall send to each Annual Conference an exact statement as to the condition of its funds, together with such other information as may be useful.

1314. 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 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 the Conference; but the Conference Board may consider and report upon the case of any claimant that the Quarterly Conference has failed to report.

The Chartered Fund.

¶ 315. To make further provision for the distressed Traveling Preachers, for the families of Traveling Preachers, and for the Superannuated and Worn-out Preachers, and the Widows and Orphans of Preachers, 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, namely:

§ 1. The Elders, and those who have the oversight of Circuits and Stations, shall be collectors and receivers of subscriptions, etc., 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 Agents, 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 as many equal parts as there are Annual Conferences, and each Annual Conference shall have authority to draw one of these parts out of the Fund; and if one or more Conferences shall draw out of this Fund in any given year less than one of these parts, 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 as 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.

§ 4. All drafts on the Chartered Fund shall be made on the Treasurer 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 living in such States respectively; provided, such securities and such deputies be proposed as shall be approved of by the Trustees in Philadelphia, and the stock in which it is proposed to lodge the money be sufficiently productive to give satisfaction to the

Trustees.

T316. The Board of Trustees shall have power to fill any vacancy or vacancies that may occur in their body by death, resignation, or otherwise, subject, however, to the approval of the first General Conference that may be held after such vacancy or vacancies shall have occurred.

The Permanent Fund.

T317. There shall be a Fund known as "The Permanent Fund," to be held by the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the principal of which shall be intact forever, and which shall be invested by said Trustees on first-class securities, and at as favorable rates as can be legally secured.

¶ 318. It shall be the duty of all our Ministers to obtain, as far as practicable, contributions to said Fund, by donations, bequests, and otherwise.

¶ 319. The interest accumulating from said Fund shall be subject to the order of the General Conference for the following purposes: 1. To pay the expenses of the General Conference. 2. To pay the expenses of Delegations appointed by the General Conference to Corresponding Bodies. 3. To make up any deficiencies in the salaries of the Bishops. 4. To relieve the necessities of the Superannuated and Worn-out Preachers, and of the Widows and Orphans of those who have died in the work.