SURVEY OF THE EARLY SEVENTIES 155 



Ministry in the Upper House as Commissioner of Customs. But 

 the surprise of the day was the acceptance by the defeated Chief- 

 Secretary McPherson of the office of Minister of Lands in the camp 

 of his late opponents. The extreme radical party were indignant at 

 the control of this important department being given to a squatter, 

 and Mr. McCulloch's growing conservatism was gloomily com- 

 mented on. 



The advantage of having a responsible Minister in the Legislative 

 Council was made manifest in one of the earliest measures of the 

 new Ministry a Bill for the abolition of State aid to religion. Since 

 1855 the Government had divided 50,000 a year amongst the sects 

 in proportion to the numbers disclosed in the census returns. Two 

 or three of the smaller denominations had refused to accept their 

 share, which reverted to the consolidated revenue. These were 

 enthusiasts for the voluntary principle in Church matters, and they 

 raised a good deal of clamour against contributing, through the 

 taxes, to the possible endowment of error. Most of the churches 

 were distinctly unwilling to surrender the aid, but the objectors 

 found strong support in the many thousands who looked with an 

 unfriendly eye on all churches. What passed for public opinion 

 was brought to bear with so much force on McCulloch that in 1869 

 he brought in a Bill to reduce the grant by 10,000 a year until it 

 was extinguished. The proposal commanded a large majority in 

 the Assembly, for the churches were then decidedly unpopular by 

 reason of their outspoken opposition to the demand for a compulsory 

 and strictly secular Education Act. In the Council, however, the 

 Bill was rejected on the motion of Mr. A'Beckett, a prominent 

 member of the Church of England, and legal adviser of the diocese, 

 and shortly afterwards McCulloch went out of office. Now he was 

 again in power, and having made this question and that of educa- 

 tion prominent subjects in his recent election addresses, he brought 

 in the rejected Bill once more. Having Mr. T. T. A'Beckett in the 

 Cabinet, he probably found it easy to convince him that the public 

 demanded the abolition of the subsidy and that opposition was 

 vain, for this time it passed both Houses by a substantial majority, 

 and the churches after 1874 were left to depend upon their own 

 resources. 



