any Department, Society, or Corporation, within or without the Church, provided such service is rendered by the appointment, or with the consent, of his Conference.

519. 3. All Ministers hereafter coming to us from other Churches shall be allowed a claim upon the Fund according to the number of years they shall have travelled in connection with our Conference.

520. 4. When a married man is received on trial by an Annual Conference, the widow of such minister shall have no claim for the first five years of his ministry among us.

521. 5. No Minister shall be allowed more than four years' claim before being received into full connexion and ordained. 522. 6. When a superannuated Minister has commuted his claim, and that of his widow, he shall not be allowed any further claims on this Fund, although he may return to the effective work by permission of the Annual Conference.

523. 7. When a superannuated Minister, who is a limited claimant, and shall have received the full amount of his claim on the Fund, and is restored to the active work, the claim of such shall date only from his recommencement as an effective minister in our work.

524. 8. When a Minister dies, who was employed in the active work thirty or more years, and leaves no claimant widow, but has a child or children unprovided for, the Central Board is authorized to make such provision for the support of such as the necessities of the case may seem to require. Nevertheless the amount shall not be more than the widow would have been allowed, and only for such a period as they may deem proper and necessary.

V. SCALE OF PAYMENTS.

525. 1. Every superannuated Minister who has travelled effectively in our work fifteen years and upwards, shall have

a sum of twelve dollars per annum for each year of such effective service.

526. 2. Every superannuated Minister who has travelled ten years, and less than fifteen years, shall have a claim of twelve dollars for each year of effective service he may have rendered, said payments to continue for five years only.

527. 3. The case of superannuated Ministers who have travelled less than ten years shall be referred to the Board of this Fund for consideration and adjustment.

528. 4. Any Minister who may locate and enter into secular business, and subsequently be received into the Conference, shall not be allowed any claim for the time previous to his location.

529. 5. The Board shall have power, upon the recommendation of an Annual Conference, to commute with such ministers as may be superannuated from causes which do not disqualify them for secular business, by payment of such sums as may be deemed equitable, instead of allowing them to become permanent claimants upon the Superannuation Fund.

530. 6. Ministers who retire temporarily from the work on account of ill health or accident, while they receive from the Superannuation Fund may also receive from the Contingent Fund or Missionary Fund for service rendered in the regular or Missionary work. Nevertheless in all such cases the Minister shall be required to contribute twelve dollars annually to the Superannuation Fund, while thus employed.

531. 7. Any Minister who may be expelled from the Conference, or shall hereafter leave our effective work for other employment, shall thereby forfeit the amount which he may have paid into the Superannuation Fund.

532. 8. Widows of deceased Ministers, being members of

our Church, shall receive four fifths of the amount their husbands would have received, according to the foregoing scale; except such widows as were fifteen years younger than their husbands, and were married after their husbands were fifty-five years of age, whose case shall be referred to the Board.

533. 9. Provided always, that when the claims upon this Fund for any year shall exceed the income of such year, each claimant shall have deducted from the amount of his or her claim such a sum as shall be equal to a pro rata amount of such deficiency.

534. Each subscriber of five dollars, or more, annually, shall have his or her name printed in the Minutes of the Annual Conference, and shall receive a copy of the Minutes gratis; and a subscriber of twenty-five dollars and upwards shall receive a copy of the bound Minutes of the three Western Conferences.

535. The Supernumerary funds of the Conferences embraced within the limits of the late Conference of Eastern British America, shall be managed by the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland Conferences.

SECTION III.

Constitution of the Contingent Fund.

I.-NAME.

536. This Fund shall be called the Contingent Fund of

the Methodist Church of Canada.

II. OBJECT.

537. The objects of this Fund shall be,-1st. To relieve cases of special affliction, and defray extraordinary expenses incurred in the service of the Church. 2nd. To aid those Circuits which have not been able to pay the salaries of their Ministers and Probationers for the Ministry.

538. The Fund shall be divided into two sections, Eastern and Western. The Eastern Section shall include the Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland Conferences. The Western Section shall embrace the Toronto, London, and Montreal Conferences.

IV. SOURCES OF INCOME.

The sources of Income shall be :

539. In the Eastern Section-

1st. Collections to be taken up on all the Circuits in the months of September and March, in each year.

2nd. The Public Collections taken up at each Session of the Annual Conferences.

540. In the Western Section

1st. Interest from the investment of the Commutation Fund.

2nd. Collections to be taken up on all the Circuits in the months of September and March, in each year.

3rd. The Public Collections taken up at each Session of the Annual Conferences.

V.-COMMUTATION FUND.

541. The Commutation Investment Fund shall be under the management of five persons, to be appointed by the

General Conference, and chosen from the Western Section, two of whom shall be the Clerical and Lay Treasurers of the Western Section of the Fund.

VI.-TREASURERS.

542. The General Conference shall appoint a Clerical and Lay Treasurer for each section, who shall receive, divide, and account for all funds, according to the basis of Union between the several Conferences embraced in each section. The Contingent Fund (embracing the annual income from the Commutation) shall be divided annually among the several Conferences according to the number of Church members, including those on trial. (See Minutes of W. M. Conference, 1873, page 173.)

VII. COMMITTEE.

543. I. Each Annual Conference shall appoint seven Ministers, who, with seven Laymen, appointed by the Lay members of the May District Meeting, contiguous to the place where the Annual Conference meets, shall be the Contingent Fund Committee of such Conference, whose duty it shall be to consider all claims properly presented to it, and appropriate to their proper objects the funds placed at their disposal, and report all their proceedings to the Annual Conference.

544. II. This Committee shall meet annually at the seat of Conference, at such time as the Conference may direct, and appoint a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer from among themselves, and also two auditors.

545. III. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a book, in which he shall record the proceedings of all meetings of the Committee, and sign all orders upon the Treasurer, which have been authorized by the Committee.