We have received The Official Year-Book of the Church of
England. (S.P.C.K.)—Some of the statistics are peculiarly interesting. The number of deacons ordained in 1882 was 729, an increase of 26 on the year before, and of 147 on 1872. The confirmations for 1883 were 202,861, an increase of about twenty thousand on the year before, and of eighty-five thousand on 1872. This is a satisfac-
tory record, indicating a very largely-increased activity. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1862 made grants to the amount
of 227,370, meeting an equal amount in benefactions. The corresponding amounts in Queen Anne's Bounty Fund were slightly larger. More than a million pounds were spent in Church building and restoration. The statesmen who now propose to dis- establish the Church will have a pretty large sum to work oat, except they take a leaf out of Mr. George's book, and temporarily suspend the Eighth Commandment. We may note that the London contribu- tions to Hospital Sunday rose from 225,817 in 1872 to 231,686 in 1883, the proportion of Church of England contributions being 76-6 in the later and 69.1 in the earlier year. In the provincial collections for the years 1879-1883, which are summarised together, the average yearly amount has been about 240,000, and the Church of England proportion 643.—We have also to acknowledge The Catholic Direc- tory, Ecclesiastical Register, and Almanac. 1884. (Burns and Oates.) The number of clergy is, we observe, 2,176.
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