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METHODIST GROUP 117preachers and 144 local preachers; two hospitals which withassociated out-station dispensaries record some 8,500 inpatientsand attendances a year; two intermediate schoolswith eighty-six students, twelve students under theologicaltraining, two girls schools and twenty-six boys schools.The work and aims are chiefly evangelistic. 3,503members and 867 candidates have their spiritual homes in206 chapels and preaching places, about a hundred ofwhich in country districts are simple rooms provided by thepeople themselves; without considerable voluntary labouravailable the work would be impossible.There have been no increases in foreign or Chinesestaff owing to financial stringency at home; indeed someretrenchment and most careful economy have been necessary.There is a gratifying progress towards self-support; thirtysevenper cent of the stipends of Chinese staff and workingexpenses of departments have been met locally.In this district the mission has establishedD*st?t forty-five churches with 3,000 members andadherents. They are grouped in seven circuitsand supervised by two English missionaries. There arefourteen Chinese pastors, a large part of the ministry beingundertaken by lay preachers. In recent years there hasbeen considerable progress towards self-support, about $1,000per year being now contributed by Chinese Christians.Medical and educational work have also been importantdepartments of the mission.A hospital with wards for men and women (sixty beds)and recording 12,000 attendances and in-patients a year isdirected by a foreign doctor who with Chinese assistants andstudents also conducts a large dispensary for out-patients.The educational work centres in a college combining middleand high school grades. Its staff consists of three foreignand ten Chinese teachers. Last year there were 184 students.Elementary day schools for boys and girls are connectedwith several of the churches.There has been no recent increase in the foreign orChinese staff of the mission owing to financial limitationsbut each department shows steady normal progress.