The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-02 00:00:00

British empire were of two classes, 6olonies and dependencies.
The work of the society was different in those different classes

of provinces.

To the latter missionaries were sent for the

conversion of the heathen to the knowledge of the gospel,
and in the colonies their object was to establish churches for

the administration of the rites of religion, for the gathering
together of the people for public worship, and for preaching
the word of God. It belonged to him to speak to them of
the work of the society in the colonies alone. His see was
the province of Victoria, and he wished to trace the history
of the Church in the colony, to show its progress in con-
nection with the aid which it had received from the Pro-

pagation Society. The province of Victoria was first oc-
cupied in 1834 and 1835, by enterprising individuals who
crossed over from Van Dieman's Land. In 1836 it was
publicly proclaimed as an appendage to New South Wales.
In 1839 it was placed under the distinct government of a
superintendent, and was then called by the name of the
District of Port Philip. In 1851, in consequence of the
ih-
crease of population, wealth, and importance, it was
constituted a distinct province under the rule of a Lieu-

tenant-Governor. It was founded in 1835, in 1846 the
census was taken. It amounted to 32,879. In 1851 the
zensus of the population was taken again, when it had
reached to the number of 77,345. The original settlers
were owners of flocks, and the owners of small capital
wishing to establish themselves in business, and others
artizans and labourers. Very few of those were anxious
to get the ministrations of a clergyman, or listen to the Word
of God. They went there for secular purposes. And here he
wished to remark, that a great deal of the subsequent diffi-
culty which was encountered resulted from no ministers
having accompanied those persons in the first instance. The
public services were, for a long time, conducted by laymen.
In 1846 there were in the province seven towns and villages,
and only two clergymen. In 1847 he was appointed to the
bishopric, and it was to the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel that he, as well as many other bishops, owed his ap-
pointment. (Hear, hear.) He arrived in Melbourne in 1848,
and there were then three clergymen for the whole diocese.
But by means of the aid he received from the Society, the
three were raised to eleven in 1848 ; from eleven to sixteen in
1850 ; from sixteen to twenty in 1801; and from twenty to
twenty-four in 1852. In 1851 he called a conference of the
clergy and laity of his diocese, and he laid before them the
pecuniary state of the Church, and a resolution to this effect
was agreed to, acknowledging, whilst it was lawful to receive
aid from the State, it was, notwithstanding, the duty
of every Christian community to provide for the promulga-
tion of the gospel, and the maintenance of ministers, provided
they have the necessary means ; and that, by God's blessing,
the members of the Church in the colony did possess

such means. Thus, in four years after the appointment of a
bishop in Victoria, by the assistance of the Church in this
country, the people of Victoria were brought to acknowledge
their responsibility, and to admit their responsibility to main-
tain the Church in their own territory. In 1852 the whole
body of clergy in the diocese was maintained almost entirely

by voluntary- contributions ; and if the gold fields had not
been discovered, they might, with comparatively little assistance
from England, have maintained the existing body of clergy,
and extended the Church according to the growing wants and
necessities of the colony. (Hear, hear.) They might
probably like to know something about the Church
in Victoria since; and those who wished for detailed informa-
tion upon this point he would refer to No. 33 of " The Church
in the Colonies." An erroneous impression prevailed as to
the result of the discovery of the gold fields. The gold fields
were discovered in 1851. The first effect of them was to
produce an immediate rush of all the able-bodied men from
the towns. The next effect was a great influx of people from
the neighbouring colonies, and an influx from England and
other countries. There was a great increase in the cost of
the necessaries of life, of labour, of all articles of food and
clothing, of house-rent, &e. In the last ten months of 1851,
10,930 persons arrived in the colony; in 1852, 63,626; and in
1853, 49,869—upwards of 100,000 persons entered the colony
in two years. The circumstances arising out of the discovery
of the gold fields involved clergymen in great difficulties, on
account of the insufficiency of their incomes to meet the in-
creased prices. Their salaries varied from £450 to £6OO, but
in Australia this was not equivalent to half the sum in this
country. In 1854, some government aid having been with-
drawn, he was obliged to draw upon all other resources to
provide sufficient stipends for the clergy who had arrived in
that year. Then it was that the aid of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel came in most happily. They
granted him £5OO a year (hear, hear) ; and the Colonial
Church School Society made him another, and with
this assistance he was enabled to make up the stipends of his