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THE TRACT SOCIETIES IN CHINA. 339also secured a special grant from the R. T. S. for thesalary of a general agent, and Mr. A. C. Grimes is nowin charge of the business side of the society s work. Asteady improvement in the sales of literature is alreadyapparent since Mr. Grimes took charge, and the societyhopes in the coming year to quite double its previousoutput of literature.The South Fukien Tract Society has its headquartersin Amoy. It only came into existence in 1908, yet85,068 publications were circulated by the society lastyear. More than 10,000 of these are in Romanised.The society expended $4,674.22 in prosecuting its work.The North Fukien Tract Society operates fromFoochow. It put into circulation last year a total of119,676 issues, of which all but 1,134 were in theFoochow dialect. The expenditure for the year was$2,613.63.Hongkong being an English colony, it is notsurprising that the Tract Society there pushes the saleof English Bibles and tracts more zealously than ofChinese literature. Nevertheless fully $500 worth ofChinese books and tracts were sold in the depot during1909, and the committee is alive to the wisdom ofsecuring larger sales of Chinese books. There is nohinterland behind Hongkong for colporteurs to operatein, but there is a large field for work among the Chinesevisitors to the colony. The number of issues circulatedwas 34,430 and the expenditure on this branch of thework $1,038.The Canton Tract Society has a call to work amongthe mass of intelligent people who use the Cantondialect. Its field of operations stretches through thetwo provinces of Kwantung and Kwangsi. Canton wasthe gateway by which Europeans entered China, andthe city is to-day the most nearly westernised of allChina s sea-ports. Cantonese merchants are the wealthiest in China ;Cantonese statesmen fill a large place in

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