8493.
SIE,
No. 423.
(CANADA.)
SOLICITOR GENERAL to COLONIAL OFFICE.
The Temple, August 30, 1866. In answer to the request of Lord Carnarvon to be favoured with my opinion upon the Despatch received from the Governor of Canada of the 15th instant as to whether his Lordship might properly comply with Lord Monck's request, I have the honour to state-
That if Her Majesty's Government approve of the proposed union of the Provinces of British North America, and intend to submit to Parliament a measure to carry such union into effect, I see no objection to Her Majesty giving her sanction to the No. 3196. Bill which has passed the Canadian Legislature, unless there be other reasons with which I am not acquainted affecting the exercise of Her Majesty's desire upon the subject.
R. S. Macdonald, Esq., Colonial Office.
I have, &c. (Signed)
W. BOVILL.
0 16278.-99. 95.-5/86.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PILLICO. 885
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TOPage 541
8554.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
No. 423a.
(HoNG KONG.)
QUEEN'S ADVOCATE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Doctor's Commons, August 31, 1866. MY LORD,
I AM honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Mr. Elliot's letter of the 23rd instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to me a draft of Letters Patent which has been prepared for the appointment of a Bishop to the vacant See of Victoria in the Island of Hong Kong. That these Letters Patent follow generally in the abridged form which has been more recently adopted in the case of the Bishops of Nova Scotia, Tasmania, Colombo (Ceylon), St. Helena, Gibraltar, and Nassau (Bahamas). That as Hong Kong is a Crown Colony, the draft is framed on the assumption that it is still competent to Her Majesty by Letters Patent to appoint a Bishop to the See of Victoria. That the Archbishop of Canterbury has recommended to your Lordship for the appointment a clergyman who at present holds an écolesiastical appointment at Madras, and that it has been suggested as desirable, if possible, that the consecration should take place in India.
Mr. Elliot was pleased to request that I would take this draft into consideration, and furnish your Lordship with my opinion whether it is properly adapted for the purposes for which it is intended, and if not, that I would make such alterations in it as I may consider necessary and proper. That it is assumed that, having reference to the privileges given by Imperial statutes to persons ordained by Colonial bishops having jurisdiction under Royal Letters Patent, it would be desirable that the appointment should be made in that form and not by Warrant under the Sign Manual and Signet. That in any case he was to request that I would, if possible, make such alterations in the Draft Letters Patent, or include such provisions in the Queen's Warrant, if that form should be adopted, as will authorise the consecration of the Bishop of Madras. That in considering this case, he was further to request my attention to the following documents:—
1st. The Letters Patent of the 11th May 1849 creating the Bishopric of Victoria, and conveying ecclesiastical authority to the Bishop.
2nd. The Act 6 & 7 Vict. c. 80. for the better government of Her Majesty's subjects in China.
3rd. Copy of the Order of Her Majesty in Council of the 1st May 1849, which extends the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Bishop of Victoria to clergy of the Church of England in China,
4th. Copy of the Letters Patent of the Bishop of St. Helena on which the present draft was founded.
5th. The Charter bearing date the 5th April 1843 for erecting the Island of Hong Kong into a separate Colony and for providing for the government thereof, together with the Governor's commission and instructions.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, I have taken these papers into considera- tion, and have the honour to
Report
That I think for the reasons specified in the letter of Mr. Elliot, it would be desir- As it is able that this appointment should be made in the form of Letters Patent. desired that the consecration should take place in Her Majesty's Indian possessions, and as the Bishop of Calcutta has been appointed by statute Metropolitan of India, and as there would be some awkwardness in requiring him to minister an oath of obedience to the Metropolitan of Canterbury, and as it would be much more convenient for all purposes of ecclesiastical discipline that the Bishop of Victoria should be subject and subordinate to the Metropolitan of India, I have ventured to suggest such an alteration in the Letters Patent as would have this effect in law. If, however, this alteration should not obtain the approbation of your Lordship, I would request that the papers may be sent back to me with this intimation, but in that case it would still, think, be expedient, if not absolutely necessary, that Her Majesty's Warrant for con- secration should be issued directly to the Metropolitan of India.
I may observe that when the last Bishop of Gibraltar was appointed, a portion of the former Letters Patent was repealed, and that in the case of the last Chuadian Bishop the Warrant for consecration issued to the Metropolitan of Canada, and that by the
o 16278.-AU9, 25.--5/86.