Free Church of Scotland. SPECIAL REPORT OF THE SUSTENTATION FUND COMMITTEE ON THE SUBJECT OF SUPPLEMENTS TO MINISTERS. MAY 1867. At a Special Meeting of the SUSTENTATION FUND COMMITTEE, held on the 15th April 1867, the following Report of a Sub-Committee appointed to consider said matter was approved of, and directed to be transmitted to the General Assembly for its consideration : BEFORE proceeding with the more direct matter of the Report, the Sub-Committee think it necessary to remind the Committee that the present inquiry did not originate with the Sustentation Committee, neither did they make any suggestion as to investigating the matter of supplements. The Sub-Committee feel that it is a very delicate subject, and very difficult to handle without doing damage. In the year 1864, overtures were transmitted from several Presbyteries to the General Assembly anent the subject of Ministers' Supplements.' The General Assembly of that year remitted these overtures to the Sustentation Fund Committee for their consideration. In consequence of that remit the Sustentation Fund Committee gave in a Report to the General Assembly of 1865, who pronounced the following deliverance :-The Assembly instruct the Sustentation Fund Committee that in those cases in which the supplement given to the Ministers is large in proportion to the sum contributed to the Sustentation Fund, the Committee shall communicate with the parties, and shall use all proper means for having the state of matters rectified.' In consequence of that deliverance, the Committee did communicate with a number of Congregations which appeared to fall under that remit, but they are bound to say that nothing satisfactory has resulted. The Sub-Committee wish further to say, that having investigated every Congregation in the Free Church, there is not one of them where they can say that there is anything approaching to a high ministerial income; on the contrary, there is a lamentable number of cases where the income of the Minister is wholly inadequate, and where it appears to the Sub-Committee that the Congregations are abundantly able, and ought to give to their Ministers a much larger supplement than they give at present. Instead of dealing with the question of Supplements, the SubCommittee would prefer laying before the Committee some cases where the amount of the Local Fund exceeds the amount of the Sustentation Fund, and where it appears to the Sub-Committee that the Sustentation Fund is made a somewhat secondary matter. In this way the Sub-Committee think they will best discharge the duty laid upon them without raising any question as to the amount of supplement paid. Further, the Sub-Committee will confine their attention at present to Congregations which are not selfsustaining. The Sub-Committee would also direct attention to the Act of Assembly of October 1843. It is the great Act and foundation of the Sustentation Fund itself. Under the regulations for the management of the fund there occurs the following provision:—‹ IV. A discretionary power shall be possessed by the Committee intrusted with the distribution of the Fund to withhold a portion of the dividend in all cases in which it may clearly appear to them that the Congregations are improperly diverting their whole means to their own local objects, and wilfully withholding their due contributions from the General Fund of which they share the benefit.' The SubCommittee are quite aware that this discretionary power has never been acted on, and after the lapse of more than 20 years it would perhaps be difficult to act upon it now; but it is quoted here to show that from the very beginning the Church made provision for the Sustentation Fund being regarded as the primary object, and not, as in too many cases it has become, the secondary object of a Congregation's liberality. And further, the Sub-Committee think that it strengthens the position which they propose to take up in this Report, of dealing rather with the Local Fund than with the amount of supplement which may be paid from that Local Fund, in so far as it may indicate the resources of the Congregations, and may warrant the Committee in saying that they (especially such as are not self-supporting) are diverting their means to their own local objects, and are not adequately supporting the Sustentation Fund. The last General Assembly again remitted this subject to the Sustentation Fund Committee, and instructed them to proceed further as they may see cause; and in consequence of that remit the Sub-Committee was reappointed in July last. The Sub-Committee have prepared a somewhat elaborate statement of all the Congregations of the Church on the Equal Dividend, classifying them under different amounts, beginning with those contributing under £25, and ending with those contributing above £500; and they now beg to refer to the annexed classified abstract of Congregations on the Equal Dividend, showing the gross amount of the Fund in each class, for the year ending with 15th May last, the gross amount of the Local Fund for the year ending 31st March 1866, the number of Ministers receiving supplement, and the amount thereof. Confining their attention, as already stated, to the Congregations which are not self-sustaining, and where the Local Fund is equal to, or exceeds the amount of, the Sustentation Fund, but excluding all cases of Collegiate Charges, the Sub-Committee have to report. the following: In all these cases the amount of the Supplement paid to the Ministers exceeds the amount of the Sustentation Fund; but in none of them is the Minister provided with a Manse, as in rural Congregations. |