P.S.-The long Psalms of 10s.-e.g., the 7th, 22d, and 36th-are meant to be sung to reciting or rapid tunes. Free Church of Scotland. REPORT ON THE AGED AND INFIRM MINISTERS' FUND BY SUSTENTATION FUND COMMITTEE. MAY 1867. THE Committee beg respectfully to refer the General Assembly to the Report presented to the General Assembly of 1866, and also to the Abstract of the Accounts of the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund for the year ending 31st March 1867, included amongst the printed accounts of the Church laid before the present Assembly. Proceeding upon the Report submitted by the Committee, the last General Assembly voted grants from the Fund to the amount of £2668, being £268 in excess of the estimated net income from Interest. This was done advisedly, because, judging from the experience of previous years, there was reason to anticipate that partly from deaths and partly from delays in obtaining colleagues and assistants, the full amount of the grants voted would not be drawn. The experience of the past year confirms the prudence of such a course, provided that the income is properly estimated. In last year's Report the net income from interest was estimated at £2400, it has turned out to be as follows: Gross income from Interest after deducting Income-tax, shown in the published Account of the Fund, year to 31st March 1867, Deduct Total Expenses as in the account, Interest on a special donation, and on a temporary overdraft to secure an investment, . £2629 7 2 £176 4 9 82 19 0 259 3 9 2191 8 4 £178 15 1 And the total grants paid during the year, in place of £2668 voted, amounted only to Remains Income from Interest unexpended, As mentioned in last year's Report (page 2) the amount of surplus income from interest, year to 31st March 1866, was £331, 6s. It will be seen from the published accounts that over and above the income from Interest, there have been received during the year to 31st March 1867, of Donations and Legacies, £1961, 19s. 9d., and this amount has gone to capital without any deduction. At 31st March 1867 the funds amounted to £64,582, 16s. 8d. (Investments £64,850, less balance of £267, 3s. 4d. due by the Fund). As the interest on most of the funds will be a quarter per cent. more during the year now current, than during the past year, the gross income from interest and rents may be estimated at £2760, and the Income-tax expenses and charges at £260, which will leave a net income for the year now current to meet the grant to be voted by the General Assembly of 1867 of £2500. The Committee deem it desirable to continue the interesting Tables furnished in their Report of last year, pages 4 to 6 : CASES IN WHICH COLLEAGUES HAVE BEEN ALLOWED BY THE Number down to May 1865, as shown in last year's Report, Add allowed in May 1866 : Of these 93 cases, only 73, dating from 1855 inclusive, have been considered with reference to the Aged and Infirm Ministers' Fund, and of those no more than 38 survive. In 1855, 6 Ministers were allowed Colleagues, of whom there survive In 1856, 8 In 1857, 6 In 1858, 4 In 1859, 3 23120 3 2 2 3 ∞ 2010 37 The former averages of 6 admissions and 3 deaths annually are hardly affected by the result of the past year. During the past year six ministers having colleagues and drawing grants from the Fund have deceased, and also one minister drawing a grant to aid in having an assistant, namely : Rev. Robert Ferguson, St. David's, Edinburgh, Robert R. Mackay, Bruan, Hugh M'Bryde Broun, Lochmaben, John Anderson, Helensburgh, : £40 0 35 0 The grants now payable from the Fund, as they will be increased by the existing regulations, are as follows: |