Under these circumstances how can we express the position of the native Church with any approximation to truth? We can only suggest that these arbitrary standards should be accepted, and ask that they should be defined in every case. We should ask the missionaries, or the societies, to estimate the amount required to supply that minimum upon which they insist. If we did that, remembering always that the estimate made must be doubtful and arbitrary, and that the native contribution, whilst comparatively large funds are regularly supplied from a foreign source, will never represent the power of the Christian community to supply its own needs, we should at least have some standard by which we might estimate the position of the Christian Church in the country, and its progress. We suggest then that three items should be included in the table: (1) the total expense of carrying on all the work in the station district, whether the funds were provided from foreign or native sources; (2) the amount estimated to cover the necessary expenses of the native Christian Church; and (3) the amount subscribed by the native Christian community. We think these three items taken together would help us to understand the situation. ---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Total Expense of Church and Mission in the Area | | per Head of Christian Constituency. | | ---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Amount Estimated to Cover all Necessary Expenses of the | | Native Christian Constituency per Head. | | ---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Amount Subscribed for all Purposes by the Native | | Christian Constituency per Head. | | ---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Remarks and Conclusions. | | ---------------------------------------------------------|-----| We have now, we hope, some light on the question how far we are really succeeding in attaining a purpose which we hear constantly proclaimed, as if it were indeed a governing object of our work, the creation of an independent native Church. CHAPTER IX. SURVEY OF DISTRICTS WHERE TWO OR MORE SOCIETIES ARE AT WORK AND SURVEY OF MISSIONS WITH NO DEFINED DISTRICTS. I. Districts in which Two or more Societies are at Work. Hitherto we have taken for granted that only one missionary society is at work in the district and that the survey is therefore simple; but in many mission station districts some other society is also at work. Occasionally the district of one station overlaps part of the district of a station of another society. In many districts Roman Catholics are at work, and certain forms of their work cannot be ignored, and no form of their work ought to be ignored in surveying the district.