616
informed at the same time
that his application would be laid
before the Secretary of State.
This despatch was replied to by the Secretary of State's despatch N. 23 of 1880, in which it was stated that, if the Religious Grants were doubled by giving to the Roman Catholic Church a sum equal to that then granted to the Anglican Church, the total amount of expenditure for this object would be too great; and it was declared that the preferable course would be to make no further building grants, and to discontinue Ecclesiastical stipends and allowances as the present recipients should disappear.
8.
On the 16th July 1880 Bishop Raimondi's observations on the Secretary of State's despatch were transmitted in my predecessor's despatch S. 137 of 1880. They were to the effect that it clearly appeared that the Secretary of State fully admitted the validity of the request that the Roman Catholics should