§ MR. H. H. FOWLERasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether a Memorial has been received 459 by the Governor of Ceylon with respect to an official letter stated to be "on Her Majesty's Service," and carried, as such, free from postage, written by the Bishop of Colombo, threatening a master in a Government-aided school in Ceylon with dismissal, for the offence of marrying a Wesleyan Methodist, in a Wesleyan chapel; whether any and what reply has been sent to such Memorial; and, whether he will take steps to prevent communications reflecting on the religious opinions of Native Christians being franked through the Colonial post offices as official documents "on Her Majesty's Service?"
§ MR. EVELYN ASHLEYSir, the Colonial Office has received no communication from the Governor of Ceylon with reference to this matter; but he has been requested to report about it. The conduct imputed to Bishop Coplestone is so extraordinary that I can hardly bring myself to credit it until I receive official corroboration. The Government, indeed, have no control over the Bishop, except, perhaps, in this matter of franking; but all I can say as to this at present is that certainly this privilege was not granted for purposes such as those for which it is alleged it has been used.