Laurie to Under-Secretary of State

I have the honour on behalf of the above Committee to submit the
following reply to your letter of the 31st May with enclosure
from the Governor of British Columbia.

1. As it appears from the Attorney General's Report to the
Governor that the existing Law of the Colony is
now sufficient for the purposes of the Promoters of the "Ordinance
to incorporate the Members" of St. Andrew's Church, and as there
is a prima facie inexpediency in granting to various religious
bodies separate legislative incorporation, the Committee are not
prepared at present to support the application for the enactment
of the ordinance. They must wait for further information as to
the special grounds for urging it.

2. At the same time while waiting for fuller information, the
Committee must respectfully protest against the doctrine on
which the argument of the Attorney General for the Colony of
British Columbia seems to be in large measure founded. If for
general or special reasons of local importance it be considered
expedient that the ordinance in question should be passed, no
objection can be taken to it on Constitutional grounds. The
Church of Scotland is a part of the Constitution of the United
Kingdom and is necessarily recognized as such by the Crown at
home and abroad. (See 5 Anne cap. 8 Art. 25 of the Treaty of
Union and relative Act of the Scottish Parliament 1690 cap. 5.)

On this point the Attorney General seems to be under some
misapprehension.