The Report of the Board of Direction shows that there has, during the last financial year been received toward the increase of the Permanent Seminary Fund, the sum of $7,500; towards the endowment of the "Thomas De Witt Professorship," the sum of $5,715 ; towards the increase of the Widows' Fund $1,479 27; and towards the Hope College Endowment Fund $50; and it states that “ as directed by the last Synod," there has been paid out of the Permanent Fund the sum of one thousand and twenty-seven dollars and three cents for repairs to the professorial residences. A further appropriation from said Fund is also stated to have been made to the amount of ten thousand dollars, which will be more particularly referred to in a subsequent part of this Report. The Report states that there has been received from Gardner A. Sage during the past year towards the erection of "The Gardner A. Sage Library," the sum of twenty thousand dollars, which, with the sum of thirty thousand dollars previously given by him and reported last year, makes his contribution and gift for that purpose amount to fifty thousand dollars. It also appears from the Report that annuities have been paid from the Widows' Fund during the six months ending May 1st and November 1st, 1874, to the aggregate amount of $2,325 77, and that an annual subscriber has withdrawn from the Fund the proportion of the amount of his former subscriptions to which he was entitled by the rules of the Fund. The different Funds, as shown by the Report and the other documents presented therewith, are as follows: The Endowed Scholarships, or Education Fund..... $88,937 16 The Van Benschoten Fund The Knox Fund..... .......... The Parochial School Fund (including 20 shares of 20,313 57 2,000 12,000 19,319 83 ... The Hope College Professorship of Didactic and a donation of Henry Rutgers, held in the actual fund..... 5,000 There are also subscriptions to this Fund on which in $2,093 97 Mrs. Ann Hertzog Fund, for repairs of Hertzog Permanent Contingent Fund Vedder Lecture Fund, composed of ten bonds of the Toledo and Wabash Railway Company, par value $1,000, but stated to be unavailable as an interest or income-producing fund .... The securities in the hands of the Treasurer of the Board, composed of the different items set forth in the list of securities belonging to the Board, and also referred to in the "Annual Digest," presented to the Committee, exclusive of twenty shares of the stock of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, of the par value of $2,000, amount to the aggregate sum of ........ .... 231,458 50 • 5,750 38,631 02 11,000 10,000 2,294 64 10,000 431,857 05 The twenty shares of Bergen Turnpike Company stock are stated in the said Digest to belong to Rutgers College, and the stock of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company is reported therein as a part of the Parochial School Fund. The account of the Treasurer of the Board shows receipts by him (including a balance of $20,141 38 brought from the last annual account rendered) during the year ending 1st May, 1875, to the amount of $125,531 40, and payments (including those made for investments) during the same time to the amount of $120,287 22, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the first day of May, 1875, af $5,244 18. The Board in their Report call the attention of Synod to the fact that only six months' interest on the "Vedder Lecture Fund,” amounting to $350, has been paid within the last year, and say that "there is no prospect of any further interest thereon at present," and consequently that there will not be the sum on hand. to pay Professor Lewis for his series of lectures under the fund which he had been led to expect when rendering the services required by his appointment, and the Board suggest that the "Synod make arrangements by which the deficiency may be promptly se cured and paid over." The Educational Income Account shows that there was a balance of interest in the hands of the Treasurer on the first day of May, 1975, of $3,530 99. The Hope College Income Account shows a balance of interest at the same date in the Treasurer's hands of $658 84. The list of real estate belonging to Synod, transmitted by the Treasurer and referred to us, shows that Synod owns the Seminary grounds and buildings thereon at New Brunswick, N.J., the Hope College grounds with the buildings thereon, and the Parsonage property at Alexandria Bay, N. Y. The Expense Account of General Synod shows that on the first day of May, 1874, there had been advances for salaries, contingent expenses, and repairs on the Peter Hertzog Theological Hall, to the amount of $30,608 02; that payments for different expenses, particularly specified, had been made since that date to the first day of May, 1875, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $10,837 39; that the sums received on that account during the same time amounted to $11,920 88, leaving a balance in hand at the last-mentioned date (1st May, 1875), of $1,083 49 (out of which the balance of the Professors' salaries to 1st of March last amounting to $1,050, is to be paid), showing a balance of advances, etc., on the first day of May, 1875, of $29,524 53. The estimate of the amount to be raised to meet the deficiencies in the revenues of Syrod for the current year shows that there will be a deficiency of means to meet the expenses relating to the Theological Seminary to the amount of $1,800, and that there will be required to meet the other expenses of Synod (usually assessed on the Classes), the sum of $1,391. The Board, after setting forth what moneys have been received towards the endowment of the "Permanent Seminary Fund," as above mentioned, make the following statement: "There has been appropriated from said Fund for the use of the Hertzog Hall Committee, by the vote of a majority of the Board of Direction, the sum of ten thousand dollars, being the legacy of the late Jacob H. Ten Eyck for the Theological Seminary, which on its receipt had been added to said Fund, and so reported to the Synod. The sum of five thousand dollars of said appropriation has been paid to the Treasurer of the Committee;" and a reference to the account of the Treasurer shows that there is an entry therein, dated July 28th, 1874, among the payments made by him, in these terms: "To cash paid Gardner A. Sage, Treasurer of the Standing Committee on the Peter Hertzog Theological Hall, five thousand dollars, being a portion of the legacy of ten thousand dollars bequeathed by the will of Jacob H. Ten Eyck, deceased, to the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J.; the amount of said bequest having formerly been carried to the Permanent Seminary Fund, and now set aside by the Board of Direction as a fund to be drawn upon by said Committee for extensive repairs, &c., to said Theological Hall." On referring to a printed copy of the Sixth Annual Report of the Standing Committee on the Peter Hertzog Theological Hall to Board of Superintendents of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America, dated May 14th, 1875, (which has been laid before the members of Synod,) there is an entry, under the date of the said 28th of July, among the receipts, as follows: "By receipt of J. I. Brower, Treas. Gen. Synod, draft of Com. for steam heating apparatus, etc., in H. Hall, $5,000." The amount of that legacy appears to have been received after the close of the financial year in 1873, and is mentioned in a statement of the Board of Direction made to Synod, and contained in its printed proceedings of that year, as having been so received and added to the Permanent Seminary Fund. (See pages 650 and 661.) Its receipt is also stated in the Treasurer's account of 1874, set forth in the printed proceedings of that year, at page 23, under date of May 16th, 1873, as "cash received from J. H. Ten Eyck, Jr., executor of Jacob H. Ten Eyck, deceased, ten thousand dollars, amount bequeathed to the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, N. J.$10,000," which is understood to have been the form and nature of the bequest. As the appropriation of that amount of the legacy from the Permanent Seminary Fund for the use of the Hertzog Hall Committee was by a vote of a majority of the Board of Direction, it has been deemed proper to set forth the above statements, for the information of the Synod, and also to mention, in this connection, that Mr. War ner, the President of the Board, in the communication to Synod which has been referred to us, states that a transaction had occurred in the Board of Direction, within the past year, contrary to his views of duty, which we presume has reference to the said appropria tion. We also deem it proper to state, that it is, at least, questionable, whether the Board were, as they state, "directed by the last Synod " to pay out of the said Permanent Fund the sum of one thousand and twenty-seven dollars and three cents, for repairs to the Professorial residences. It will be seen, by a reference to the printed proceedings of last year, that the resolution in relation thereto was in the following terms: "Resolved, that so much of the item of $1,200 for repairs, in the estimate of the Treasurer, as represents a balance of debt contracted by the Hertzog Hall Committee, be classed with the debts of General Synod, to be provided for by the financial agent, and not reckoned in the annual expenses." The appropriation of the legacy of Mr. Ten Eyck by the direction of the majority of the Board from the Permanent Fund, for the use of the Hertzog Hall Committee, above referred to, has received the careful consideration of your Committee. It does not appear from the report of the Board that this legacy was any further limited in its use than to be for the Theological Seminary. It is evident, however, that, when received, it was con. sidered as an endowment, and was applied to and made a part of the Permanent Fund, with the approbation of the Synod. It may well be doubted whether such legacies should be treated as intended for |