CHRISTIANS.

Christians are returned as numbering 1253 and as found generally in the town and cantonment of Kolhapur. Of these fifty-two are Europeans and 1201 Native converts. [Details of the customs of native converts are given in the Ahmadnagar Statistical Account.] Kolhapur has three mission societies, one belonging to the English church, another to the Roman Catholic, and a third to the American Presbyterian church. The Church of England Mission, supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, was established in 1870 when the Revd. J. Taylor was sent to Kolhapur. He at first took up his residence at Bavda three miles north-east of Kolhapur, and in 1873 removed to a well built bungalow on the Brahmapuri hill on the Panch Ganga near the centre of Kolhapur town, which the State granted to him on rayat tenure. Walls of the old native houses in the neighbourhood were utilised for a small Christian hamlet with a chapel and a school. About 1877-78 the Mission obtained twenty-one famine orphans. In December 1881 two ladies arrived from England, one of whom works among the native women of the town, and the other has charge of the Christian girls' school. On the 25th of December 1882 a new church was opened at a cost of about £3000 (Rs. 30,000), of which Government contributed about £650 (Rs. 6500). In 1882 the Reverend J. Taylor was transferred to Ahmadnagar and at present (1883) his assistants are in charge of the Kolhapur station. This mission has preached over a large area, and especially near Pandharpur they have been fairly successful. But the number of Christians belonging to this mission is not large. A Roman Catholic missionary was appointed at Kolhapur in 1846. The Roman Catholic community then numbered 130 including women and children. Divine service was first held in a temporary shed erected by private subscriptions, but in 1848 Government sanctioned a sum of £15 (Rs. 150) to erect a small building in the cantonment. During the 1857-58 mutiny when European troops were temporarily located at Kolhapur the chaplain's salary was increased in consideration of the additional work devolving upon him and the cost of the establishment was charged to the Kolhapur State. But with the withdrawal of the troops from Kolhapur the Roman Catholic chaplain was also transferred and the station has been periodically visited by a chaplain either from Belgaum or Satara. The present chapel, which lies within cantonment limits, was built in 1864-65 by private subscriptions, the Kolhapur State having contributed £70 (Rs. 700) for the purpose. The American Mission was established at Kolhapur about 1845 and was transferred to the American Presbyterian Society in 1870. The work is generally carried on in the vernacular and special attention is given to the education of the lower classes. This mission has three principal stations in the State, Kolhapur town, Panhala, and Vadi-Ratnagiri. At the Kolhapur station they have ten schools, nine for non-Christians and one for Christians, with an average attendance of 350 boys and seventy-five girls. The number of Native Christians attending the American Mission schools at Kolhapur is eighty-two, at Panhala fifty, and at Vadi-Ratndgiri thirty.