Untitled

THE B1BLK SOCIETIES. 371Reproduction. All the society s printing is done atHankow, where it lias its own Press a large establishment devoted entirely to the output of Christian literature. A quarter of a century ago, when this press wasstarted, there were no facilities at Hankow for printingon any large scale, and althoughit is different now thesociety still finds it advisable to maintain its own press.The same editions of the Scriptures are printed there asare in use by the other Bible Societies with, in addition,a special item, namely, the illustrated, annotated fourGospels and Acts, for which there is a great demand inall parts of the Chinese Empire.Distribution. For this purpose the society hasdivided the field into four agencies the northern, eastern, central, western, and southern. Kach is under thecharge of a foreign agent, and there is one extra tofillfurlough vacancies, etc., making six foreign agentsin all. Each agent operates chiefly through the missionaries located in his district, who are encouraged toengage and superintend native colporteurs, the societymeeting all charges. The agents themselves do notlargely engage natives, but they travel extensively, circulating the Scriptures and preaching the Gospel. Theaverage number of native colporteurs employed in connection with the society, during the three years ending1909, was 280 per annum.this amountCirculation. During those three yearsed to 2,928,593, consisting of 49,324 Bibles and Testaments and 2,879,269 Portions, chiefly annotated Gospels and Acts. The N. B. S. S., representing, as it does,a small country, and not over wealthy, could hardly beexpected to match the great Bible Societies of Englandand America. Yet in China it forms a remarkably goodthird, as may be seen from the following figures, whichgive the total issues of the Word of God made by thethree Bible Societies throughout the whole of China,from the beginning up to, and including, 1908: