ERS' OPINIONS
ON
QUESTIONS.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
Law Officers' Opinions on Colonial Questions.
Canada.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
C.O.885
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
No. 1.
Copy of a LETTER from the ATTORNEY-GENERAL to Earl GREY.
Temple, January 12, 1848.
MY LORD,
I WAS honoured with your Lordship's command of the 10th of June, 1847, signified in Mr. Hawes' letter of that date, in which he states, that from the accompanying correspondence, we should learn that the Governor of Canada and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts place different constructions on the 5th section of the Statute 3rd & 4th Vict., cap. 78, which provides that the share of the Clergy Reserve Funds allotted to the Church of England in Canada shall be expended by that Society under such regulations as shall be from time to time established by the Governor of Canada, with the advice of his Executive Council. That the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel deny that the regulations to be made by the Governor of Canada are so to be made in reference to the expenditure of the funds in question. They ascribe a different object to them. That the Canadian Govern- ment, on the other hand, appear to entertain no doubt that they are authorized by the Act in question to make regulations respecting the expenditure of those funds.
Mr. Hawes then stated that he was directed by your Lordship to request that I and the Solicitor-General would report to you our joint opinion, what is the proper construction of the Act in question, in reference to the point thus debated between the Canadian Government on the one hand, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on the other.
In obedience to the commands of your Lordship, I have perused the several documents, and have the honour to inform your Lordship that I have delayed my report upon this subject, in consequence of a difference of opinion between myself and the Solicitor-General upon the proper construction of the Act in question. With great deference for the opinion of the Solicitor-General, I have anxiously considered the question, and am of opinion that the words "under. such regulations as shall be from time to time established by the Governor, &c.," apply to the election of the Commissioners by the Synod, and not to the distribution of the funds, which are to be expended under the authority of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and under the authority of the Commissioners to be elected by the Synod or Synods.
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts is a known body, but unless the regulations to be made by the Governor apply to the mode of electing the Commissioners, there is no direction for the constitution of that Board. With a like meaning, the same words are used in the 1st section, which authorizes the Governor to sell the Clergy Reserves, and, as no specific direc- tions respecting such sales are contained in the Act, enables him to make regulations from time to time. The conclusion of the 8th section fortifies this view of the case. The safest rule is to follow the grammatical construction of the section; but to apply the regulations in the 5th section to the distribution of
[72]
B
No. 1.
Clergy Reserves. Construction of
statute 3 & 4 Viet., c. 78.