It is an injustice to our missionary brethren themselves to place them in such positions of weight and influence without giving them the opportunity of acquiring a complete fitness for the important duties which those positions involve.  It is an injustice to the Society that the training of its missionaries should be incomplete.  And it is an injustice to the Missions generally, should they be placed in the hands of men who are unable, from defective education, rightly to comprehend their claims, and to fulfil the important duties which the charge of them now involves.  In addition to considerations such as these, the Directors observed that for some years past their missionary students had been trained in a variety of ways; a few being educated in the ordinary colleges, and the remainder in private Institutions, adopted by the Board, at Bedford and Weston-super-Mare.  Aided by a valuable memorandum from the Rev. J.S.  Wardlaw, which went fully into the entire question, the Directors, after careful consideration, arranged it on the basis of the following resolutions; which have given the students, the missionaries abroad, and the friends of the Society great satisfaction:—­

“1.  That, considering the high position of usefulness now attained by the Society’s Missions, and the great importance of the work carried on in the present day, it has become increasingly desirable that the Society’s missionary students should all enjoy, as far as practicable, the advantages of a sound and complete College education.

“2.  That, as any plan for the formation of a separate Missionary Institution, and of affiliating it with any existing College, is found to be impracticable; and as existing colleges have shown themselves so ready and anxious on favourable terms to welcome the Society’s students among theirs, it is desirable that our students should be placed in those Institutions in various parts of the country.

“3.  That, in the judgment of the Directors, a preparatory class may be maintained for the few students who need it.

“4.  That; for several important reasons, the Directors deem it most desirable to maintain the system by which the Society’s students receive a final year of missionary training under the Rev. J.S.  Wardlaw, M.A.”

The Directors regard it as a matter for great thankfulness, and as a token of continued approval of their work, that they have recently received, as they did in 1867, a large number of offers from young men to enter upon the Society’s service.  The applicants have presented a great diversity of natural gifts, attainments, and position:  some of them are already studying for the ministry in our Theological Colleges.  The Directors have during the year accepted no less than eighteen.  Amongst them are two of the missionaries’ sons.  The total number of missionary students in the Society is now forty-two.  On the first of May, 1869, they stood thus:—­