WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT.
[To TRH EDITOR or THU "Srmortros."] SIR,—Map I be allowed to point out that Mr. John Morgan, of Aberystwyth, in his letter in your columns last week replying to the Bishop of St. Asaph, made two statements, both wrong P
(1) It hi wrong to say that the 307,750 " hearers " in the Calvinist Methodist denomination in Wales in 1907 do not include their 166,852 "communicants." Mr. John Owens, of Chester, the Calvinistic Methodist statistical witness before the Welsh Church Commission, definitely stated in his evidence that he used the word "adherents" for his denomination as synonymous with "hearers," and in his letter to you published on the 8th inst. Mr. Owens stated that the 31.8,292 Calvinistic Methodist "adherents" in Wales in 1305 did include "com- municants."
(2) Mr. Morgan shows equal ignorance of the meaning of the statistical terms in the records of the Church. In the Offigial Year-Book of the Church of England the figures for pommnnieants for the years previous to 1305 41)Pettred under the heading "Communicants (Estimated)," and it was explained in a note that these figures were made up partly from returns of Easter oornmuninants and partly from returns of the total number of communicants. It vf48 further explained before the Welsh Church Commission that the figures thus given on a dual basis for the years previous to 1905 in the Official Year-Book confirmed the figures for communicants in the four Welsh dioceses in the year 1905 which, with names and addressee, were presented to the Welsh Church Commission. Mr, Morgan's remarks about Church communicants are based on his unfortunate misapprehension of the meaning of a heading of a column in the Official Year. Book of the Church of England.--I am, Sir, &c.,