the Colonial Chaplain only in the Bishop's absence
2-2-0
longer
There
C
Led
being Bishop of Victoria, the right, in the absence of such Bishop, becomes vested in the Colonial Chaplain or "other clergyman duly authorised by or for him." Such an arrangement might be made by which, pending legislation, the right to officiate in the Cathedral may be at once secured to the Bishop Burdon. There is only one salaried Chaplain in Hong Kong.
Mr 22/4
1
My Lord,
Addington Park
Croydon
4th April 1875
I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th March, enclosing Despatch from the Governor of Hong Kong on the subject of the position of Bishop Burdon and other papers relating to the same question.
In the first place, I would remark with reference to the whole of the questions at issue respecting this and other Colonial Bishoprics similarly situated, that your Lordship has perfectly satisfied yourself as to the legal power of the Crown, by means of Letters Patent, and without the consent of the Imperial Parliament or the local legislature, to revoke the Letters Patent constituting the Bishopric of Victoria.
Supposing this point to be settled, there is obviously no longer any person in the exact position of the Bishop of Victoria contemplated in the original Letters Patent; and therefore there can be no one under these Letters Patent to claim authority or property adverse to Bishop Burdon.
The Governor of Hong Kong, in his letter dated 13th November 1873, seems to have assumed that Bishop Burdon would, without action of the local legislature, succeed to the rights of property vested in the late Bishop Alford. But the Attorney General ...