minister. In 1824 the same society held a consultation with Dr. Morrison with regard to the prospects of a mission to China. In 1836 the Rev. E. B. Squires was sent out by the Church Missionary Society, but he worked only in Singapore and Macao, and left the East in 1840. About the same time the Prostestant Episcopal Church of America began its efforts on behalf of China, and in 1835 the Rev. H. Lockwood and the Rev. R. Hanson were sent to Canton, but, finding they were unable to remain there, proceeded to Batavia. In 1837 the Rev. W. J. Boone, M.D., was sent out, and subsequently became the first bishop of the American Church in China. The result of the war of 1840, and of the subsequent Treaty of Nanking in 1842, was the cession of Hongkong to Britain, and the opening of five Treaty ports to the commerce of the world. This led to a forward movement on the part of all missionary societies, and the Anglican Church, both in America and England, laid larger plans, which, in their later developments, have resulted in the eight episcopal jurisdictions now existing in China.
Diocese of Victoria.
The Bishopric of Victoria, the mother see of the English Church in the Far East, was founded in 1849. Endowment had been provided by an anonymous donor, a friend of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and one of the pioneer missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, the Rev. George Smith, was appointed first bishop. His jurisdiction extended to the whole of the East, including China and Japan, and he and his immediate successors, Bishop Alford and Bishop Burdon, travelled, in prosecution of their duties, in both China and Japan. It was in the time of Bishop Burdon that Japan was made a separate diocese, to be afterwards separated into the six dioceses of the present day.
The Church in the diocese of Victoria owes much to the far-seeing faith of the first Consular Chaplain in Hongkong, the Rev. Vincent Stanton, who founded St. Paul's College for the training of clergy and catechists for the work of the Church. Though it has had many vicissitudes, it is now fulfilling the object of its founder in providing teachers for the Chinese churches of the diocese. It is at present under the direction of the Rev. G. A. Bunbury, as sub-warden, and the Rev. A. D. Stewart, as tutor, and its limited accommodation is fully occupied. The work of the Church in the diocese of Victoria is almost entirely missionary, and is carried on by the Church Missionary Society, in the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Hunan, and in the Colony of Hongkong.
The bishop resides at St. Paul's College, Hongkong, and the work within the Colony is now entirely diocesan, both sections of the Christian community—European and Chinese—being represented in the Colonial Church Council. The cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is the centre of the Church's work amongst the British population, and was founded in 1842. It is a large Gothic building, contains a fine organ, and the musical and other services are reverently rendered without excess of ritual. A chaplain, appointed by the Church body and the bishop, is responsible for the services. The present chaplain is the Rev. F. T. Johnson.
St. Andrew's Church, Kowloon, was erected in 1906, at the sole cost of Sir Paul Chater, a distinguished resident of Hongkong. It was dedicated and opened for service on October 6, 1906, by the Archdeacon of Hongkong, the Ven. William Banister, acting as commissary for His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. The late revered Bishop of Victoria, the Right Rev. J. C. Hoare, D.D., was taken to God in the fierce typhoon which caused such terrible loss to the Colony on September 18, 1906. He had made all arrangements for the consecration of the church, and his wish that it should be opened on October 6th was carried out. The Rev. A. J. Stevens was appointed to the charge of St. Andrew's, and the spiritual care of the churchpeople resident on the Kowloon Peninsula.
Hongkong is now one of the largest ports in the world, and the spiritual interests of the sea-going population are cared for by the Mission to Seamen's Society, and there are now two chaplain's at work, the Rev. J. H. France and the Rev. T. C. Thompson. The seamen's church is dedicated to St. Peter. A new organ has recently been erected, and dedicated to the service of praise and prayer by "those who go down to the sea in ships."
At the invitation of the bishop of the diocese, the Church Missionary Society began work in 1862, when the Rev. J. Stringer was sent out. Since that time the work has expanded and extended, until it has now passed out of the control of the Church Missionary Society, and is merged into the diocesan organisation, under the bishop and a Chinese Church body. There are three churches for the Chinese, St. Stephen's, at West Point; Holy Trinity, at Kowloon Old City; and All Saints', at Yaumati. The Chinese Church is self-supporting, with the exception of a small grant made towards the stipend of the catechist at Yaumati, from funds of the local Church Missionary Association.
The missions on the mainland are carried on by the Church Missionary Society—with European missionaries at Canton, Pakhoi, Shiu Hing, Kweiling (the capital of Kwangsi), and Yung Chow (a city in south Hunan).
At Canton the spiritual interests of the Anglican community are cared for by the Rev. P. Jenkins, of the Church Missionary Society, and services are held in the well-kept Christ Church, which is supported by the members of the local community.
The philanthropic activities of the Church consist of a large and most successful hospital at Pakhoi, founded by the late Bishop Burdon, and carried on for many years by Dr. E. J. Horder. In connection with the Pakhoi hospital there is also a large leper asylum, where lepers, both men and women, are cared for and tended in every possible way. The influence of this work at Pakhoi has enabled the Church Missionary Society to extend its operations to the city of Liem Chow.
There are several educational institutions. First among these is St. Paul's College, which is now really fulfilling the pious intentions of the founder. St. Stephen's College, a public school for sons of Chinese gentlemen, under the direction of the Rev. E. J. Barnett, with a staff of English and Chinese
