He then proceeded to sketch out the plan afterwards carried out by the act which will presently be quoted, and recommended that New South Wales should be created into a separate diocese, instead of being included in that of Bengal.
From the same despatch it appears that the schools which had been established under the Church and School Corporation consisted of a male orphan school, in which 133 boys were boarded and taught at an annual expense of £1,300, and a female orphan school, in which 174 girls cost £1,500 annually, exclusive of supplies from lands cultivated for the use of the schools.
At Paramatta there was a boarding-school for the wealthier classes, who paid £28 each for boarders, and £10 for day-scholars—the head master, a clergyman, receiving £100 a year and the rent of a house.
There were thirty-five primary schools in various parts of the colony in which 1,248 children were taught, at an expense of £2,756. In all these schools the Catechism of the Church of England was part of the instruction.
The Church of Scotland had received a loan of £3,500 toward the erection of the Scotch college founded by Dr. Lang; and 800 had been granted to the Roman Catholic schools.
The governor stated that the disproportionate assistance for education was a subject of very general complaint; and expressed an opinion "that schools on the Irish system, in which Christians of all creeds are received, where approved extracts from Scripture are read, but no religious instuction is given by the master or mistress, such being imparted one day in the week by ministers of different religions attending at the school to instruct their respective flocks, would be most suitable to the condition of the colony. It would be necessary that the government took the lead in their institution, erecting school-houses, appointing well-qualified teachers at liberal salaries." In like manner infant schools should be established in the towns. And he adds: "I may without fear of contradiction assert, that in no part of the world is the general education of the people a more sacred or necessary duty of the government than in New South Wales." The home Colonial Office have never taken any pains to perform this duty.
In 1836 the Legislative Council passed an act, under which, whenever 300 had been raised by private contributions toward the building of a church or chapel, the governor, with the advice of his Executive Council, might issue from the colonial treasury, in aid of the subscribers, any sum not exceeding £1,000.
And for minister of church or chapel with 100 adult attendants,
