COLONIAL BISHOPS BILL. (Hansard, 4 May 1852)

The ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY

My Lords, on moving the Second Reading of the Colonial Bishops Bill, it is right that I should briefly state to your Lordships the object which it has in view, especially as it might be supposed from the title to have reference to an important subject which must, at some not very distant time, be brought under your Lordships' consideration—I mean the ecclesiastical government of our Colonies. The present Bill, however, is merely of a technical nature, and is intended to remove an inconvenience which was not contemplated when the Act was passed for creating the sees of Madras and Bombay. By that Act, 3 & 4 Wil. IV. c. 85 sec. 92, it was enacted that the Bishops of Madras and Bombay shall not "have or use any jurisdiction, or exercise any episcopal functions whatsoever, expect as limited to them respectively in the letters patent by which they were created." Then, further, by the 59 Geo. III., c. 60, and 3 &c 4 Vict., c. 33, it was enacted, "that no person ordained by a Colonial Bishop not at the time possessing episcopal jurisdiction should be capable of officiating as a minister of the Established Church." Now, it is unquestionably proper that a Bishop should not exercise Jurisdiction beyond the limits of the see to which he is appointed; but there is no reason why he should not exercise Episcopal Functions, as our Bishops at home are constantly doing, by commission from their brethren. This, however, the Colonial Bishops cannot at present do, by the letter of the statute, without subjecting themselves to the penalty of misdemeanour. The object of the present Bill is solely to remove this inconvenience, and to allow a Colonial Bishop who may have retired from his diocese, or who may be temporarily sojourning in another diocese, to assist his brethren without violating the law, or performing an act which shall be invalid. This, my Lords, is the purport of the Bill to which I have now to request your Lordships to give a second reading.