This policy has fulfilled not only my expectations but my hopes, and should the Council that is about to meet wish to take the ultimate step of entering into complete self-government by adopting the responsible system, the preparation afforded by the last five years will admittedly be of the greatest value.
5.

It fell to me to carry into effect the ecclesiastical policy indicated by Lord Granville in a despatch, Number 80, of July 10, 1869, held over for my arrival, in which his lordship suggested that grants (regard being had to the number in the community of each denomination) should be equal in substance and alike in form, and asked if there were any difficulties in applying to Western Australia "that principle of religious equality which had long been recognized in the Australian Colonies." Lord Kimberley, in an enclosure to his despatch, Number 78, of December 19, 1870, expressed similar views.

To this on March 1, 1871, in my despatch, Number 37, I was enabled to reply that I had already carried the policy recommended into practice, that the grants had been equalized by "levelling up," that the vote for the Church of England was "now handed over to the Bishop of Perth, the Government reserving the right to satisfy itself that it is applied to those purposes of religious ministration and instruction for which it is voted, and that all vested interests are maintained intact and claims on the Government respected." Since then I have supported such measures as were thought desirable to promote self-organization, and I have moreover made liberal grants of land for glebes, churches, schools, and institutions to the various religious bodies in proportion to their numbers.

I have reason to know that on all sides satisfaction is felt at the position in which I shall leave ecclesiastical affairs so far as the action of Government may effect them.
6.

The elementary educational question, on my arrival, was a source of much contention and ill-feeling, which came prominently into play, when in the second session of 1871 I caused a Bill, drafted by myself, and the general provisions of which I was subsequently informed were "entirely approved of" by your lordship's predecessor, to be introduced into the Legislature, and carried it--not, however, quite in its original form.
Though the alterations are unquestionably defects, and may somewhat mar its success, it has hitherto worked very well, and has proved itself not only effective but economical: it has received praise from its former opponents and from the most opposite quarters, and old bitternesses are now (I hope for ever) things of the past.
7.