The BISHOP of OXFORD,in moving the Second Reading of the Bill, stated that it was intended to supply an accidental omission in an Act which was passed last year. That Act, which was introduced into their Lordships' House by the most reverend prelate (the Archbishop of Canterbury), had for its object to enable colonial bishops, in case of illness, or the like, to assist one another in the discharge of their episcopal duties. Owing to the great difficulty of drawing the Bill up, great alterations were introduced into it in its passage through the two Houses, and it so happened that in the course of these, by a singular fatality, that very part of it which carried into effect the original intent of the measure, slipped out. When very lately the late Bishop of Nova Scotia, when old and infirm, obtained the assistance of one of his right reverend brethren to hold an ordination, it was discovered that, though that ordination was good in the eye of the Church so that it could not be repeated, the persons ordained were prevented by the Disabling Act from exercising any function in the Church of England. The object of this Bill was therefore to carry out the original object of the Act of last year, and also to give validity to the ordination of these clergymen of the diocese of Nova Scotia.
§ Bill read 2a.