§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Her Majesty's Government are aware that in the Ottoman Empire it is the practice, as required by law, for the election of Bishops by the various Christian communities to be ratified by the Sultan, and Letters of Investiture (Berat) granted to the chosen Prelates by His Imperial Majesty; whether a request for this recognition by Her Majesty the Queen has already been made on behalf of the Cypriote Bishops by His Beatitude the Archbishop of Cyprus; and whether the Secretary of State will consider the advisability of recommending Her Majesty to grant to each of the Greek Orthodox Bishops of Kition, Kyrenia, and Paphos a Warrant under the Royal Sign Manual, confirming these dignitaries in the temporalities of their respective sees, to which they have been elected since the British occupation of Cyprus in July, 1878?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSThe answer to the first two paragraphs of the hon. Member's question is in the affirmative. With regard to the third, I would refer 1174 him to the concluding portion of the Secretary of State's Despatch of March 22 last (on pages 40 and 41 of Blue Book C. 6,003), in which it was explained that in the opinion of Her Majesty' Government the subject of episcopal dues was one which ought to be dealt with by the Local Legislature.