Ecclesiastical.

Most known religious sects seem to be represented in Canterbury. The Episcopalians, naturally, stand at the head of the list, for the settlement was originally a Church of England colony. But it should hardly be necessary to contradict the absurd statement that the founders of the colony tried to exclude from the settlement all those who were not members of their own church. Speaking in the Canterbury Hall at the Old Colonists' gathering on Jubilee Day, the Hon. C. C. Bowen vigorously disproved this mistaken conception of the purpose of the Canterbury Association. At the same time, the original intention of the founders was to provide special facilities for church worship, and to establish a branch of the Church of England in form exactly corresponding page 23 to that existing in the Old Land: and the ecclesiastical stamp has remained impressed upon the province even to the present day. The Episeopalians at the census of 1901 numbered 65,697, and the Presbyterians 26,935. The Methodists (Wesleyans and others) combined numbered 20,219, and the Roman Catholics 17,422. Of the minor bodies the chief are: Baptists 3231, Congregationalists 991. The Salvation Army is a vigorous militant force, numbering 1682 rank and file. Of the others it may be sufficient to state that there were 194 Hebrews, thirty-seven members of the Society of Friends, eleven Swedenborgians, and two Mormons. There were twentyfour Students of Truth (the body which was founded in Christchurch by A. B. Worthington). It may be interesting to note that 544 described themselves as Freethinkers, 173 stated that they were of “no religion,” and 2751 came under the head “object to state,” Maoris are not included in these figures.