CO129-225 - Acting Governor Marsh - 1886 [1-3] — Page 362

3

by

: The Honourable Thomas Jackson, and seconded by the Honourable

L

William Keswick, and were passed

imously without

una nin

discussion :-

any

2

358

The question raised in

these resolutions has been

already submitted for the

the Secretary of

consideration

of

-State for the Colonies. I would

1.

—

That the Secretary of State for the Colonies

be invited to reconsider the decision which has been arrived at as to the withdrawal of ecclesiastical grants in this Colony, with a view to the continuance of such grants, as in Singapore and in Mauritius.

2.That the only expenditure which could be retrenched under the instructions received is a small salary, nominally of £800, but really of £640, paid to the Colonial Chaplain, and representing little more than remuneration for the necessary services of burying the dead, attendance at the gaol, at hospitals, &c.

3. That if this salary be withdrawn, the Colony will have to pay nearly if not quite as much in allowances for these services, thus substituting a precarious and unsatisfactory arrangement for one which works to the satisfaction of all concerned.

4. That the instructions to disestablish the Church on the first opportunity were not called for by any public demand, and that no public feeling exists in the Colony on the subject except such as is adverse to the course proposed.

5.That the policy of disestablishment, still far from being generally accepted at home, has been, as far as the information of this Council goes, distasteful to every Colony on which it has been imposed; that it has been reversed in two Colonies, and in at least one more continues to be an offence and a public grievance to the Community.

6.That a doubtful policy of this kind should not be, in ignorance of many of the essential cir- cumstances of the case, needlessly forced upon an unwilling community which, administering its own revenue, is more interested in guarding against the misappropriation of that revenue than any external authority can be.

2.

7713

172038

9450

beg therefore to refer Your Lordship

to the despatches from Hongkong. Nos 7/2 and 204 of 26th March

and 27th August, 1883. Also to 16936 Nos 138 and and 297 of 26th April and 25th August, 1884,

which

refer

to applications to

the Governor for a grant of money

- made by the Roman Catholic

Bishop