AT a General Meeting of the Society, holden at the Freemasons' Tavern, on Wednesday, June 2d, 1824, His Grace the Archbishop of CANTERBURY in the Chair; the following Report was made.

SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. The Committee, in the performance of their duty, lay before the Subscribers, at the Sixth Annual General Meeting, a short account of their Proceedings during the last year.

£. S. d. ..15,712 10 0 .11,694 13 4

940 15 0 6 6 0

204 15

0

1,151 16 0

37,959 4 2

31,589 0 0

It appears, then, that the whole number of applications received since the establishment of the Society, is 556; that 316 Grants have beeu made; that in 39 cases, in consequence of offers of increased accommodation, the sums originally voted have been increased; and that the total of Grants amounts to 76,880l. But it must be observed, that 21 Grants, amounting to 49551. have, from different causes, been relinquished; and that in five instances the works have been completed without claiming the sums which had been voted, amounting to 530l. The total amount, therefore, of Grants, as well those which have been already paid, as those which remain to be paid upon the production of proper certificates, is 71,395/.

That they might guard against any such fluctuation in the price of stocks (however

little to be apprehended at present) as would put it out of their power to fulfil the engagements into which they had entered, the Committee, not long since, came to a resolution to sell a sum sufficient to cover the amount of those Grants to which the Society stood pledged ; and that sum has been invested in exchequer bills.

The Committee cannot but direct the attention of the Subscribers to a circumstance which, though it does not involve an important sum, serves, in their opinion, to show the utility of the institution. They allude to the completion of the works at Wateringbury, Beddington, Kingsbury, Cirencester, and Southend in the parish of Lewisham, without a claim being made by those places for the Grants which had been voted to them. The knowledge of the existence of this society,

and of its readiness to afford assistance, operated as a stimulus to provide an increase of accommodation. Applications were made to it, and aid was voted; but these places having found their own resources adequate to the works which they had undertaken, handsomely forebore to claim the Grants, leaving the money to be appropriated to cases of greater urgency. The same number of free and unappropriated seats has, however, been obtained, as if the Grants had been actually paid. The conditions imposed have been fulfilled, though the promised aid has not been called for; and thus from the impulse given by the Society, a greater quantity of that kind of accommodation which is most wanted, has resulted, than would probably have been afforded if these works had not been begun under its auspices.

The Committee have also the satisfaction to observe, that the Society operates beneficially upon parishes of every description, whether situated in the country or in towns, whether of larger or of smaller population. It has lent its aid towards procuring additional accommodation for 50, or 40, or 35 persons, where only that number was required, and it has contributed to provide church room for much greater numbers at Bath, Wrexham, Walsall, Coventry, and many other populous places. The number, both of applications and of Grants during the last year, exceeds that of each of the three preceding years. This may be considered as a proof that the Society is in full activity, and that a part only, (probably a small part) of those undertakings which it was designed to encourage and assist, is as yet completed. It must be gratifying to the Subscribers to learn, that by the grants which have been made, the Society will be instrumental in providing additional accommodation for 91,955 persons, and that of this number the free and unappropriated sittings amount to 69,295.

But who that looks at the increased and increasing population of the country, can suppose that there are not thousands and tens of thousands for whom Church accommodation remains yet to be provided?

Whether this Society shall continue to promote the good work by its encouragement and assistance must depend upon the public. Without the addition made to its resources by the rise of the Stocks, and the relinquishment of some Grants, the Committee would have been compelled to refuse aid to many applications that have lately been received. The time is,

however, now arrived, when they have to announce that the funds of the Society are upon the point of being exhausted. The sums entrusted to the management of the Committee have been expended according to the wishes of the Contributors in promoting a most desirable object; but that object is far, very far, from being fully accomplished.

The whole amount of donations received is 61,209. 19s. 10d. (which sum having been invested in the public funds has been increased by their rise), and that of Annual Subscriptions is about 3000l. The amount of money actually paid, and of Grants, to the payment of which the Society has pledged itself, is 71,395l.; and the disposable balance at this time is reduced to a sum less than the expenditure of the last year by one half.

In the expenditure of the money, the Committee have endeavoured to proportion the assistance given to the magnitude of the work, and to the necessity of the case; and their main object has been in every instance to secure as great an increase as possible of free and unappropriated sittings, that the poor may have the Gospel preached to them. The number of such sittings obtained, will be 69,295.

If from this statement the friends of the Established Church shall be of opinion, that the Society has laboured usefully and successfully, that it has been instrumental in producing much and extensive good with means comparatively slender, and that with renovated strength it would continue to labour with the same success and usefulness; in that case, the Committee feel confident that they will replenish its treasury, and thus enable the Society to prosecute with effect, the object for which it has been instituted.