18 Roman Catholic schools at work with 723 scholars under instruction, and in the following year (November 15, 1875) the Christian Brothers re-organized the former St. Saviour's School as a College dedicated to St. Joseph which, by the end of the year 1876, numbered 165 boys. The establishment of a Morrison Scholarship in connection with the Government Central School (January, 1874), the selection and clearing of a costly site for new and extensive buildings for the use of the Central School (May 30, 1876), and the collection of funds in the Colony in aid of the new Chinese Professorship at Oxford (September 15, 1876), indicate the interest taken during this time in matters educational.
The religious history of the period under review is characterized by the opening of St. Joseph's Church (November 30, 1872), by the installation of two Bishops, Bishop Burdon (December 31, 1874) and Bishop Raimondi (January 19, 1875), and by the passing of two Ordinances, a Marriage Ordinance and a St. Paul's College Ordinance. The former Ordinance (4 of 1875) was passed (April 8, 1875) to secure more accurate registration of Christian marriages (Chinese non-Christian marriages being left out of consideration) and to give equality in privileges to the various religious denominations. In deference to objections raised by Bishop Raimondi, this Ordinance was subsequently repealed and another (14 of 1875) substituted and passed (January 7, 1876) after a most acrimonious debate in Council concerning the objectionable attitude taken by the Roman Catholic clergy. That attitude was described by the Governor in very strong terms which were afterwards deliberately recorded in the Gazette (March 4, 1876). As regards St. Paul's College the revocation, in consequence of the resignation of Bishop Alford (November 1, 1872), of the original Letters Patent (of May 11, 1849, and January 14, 1867), having abolished the See and Bishopric of Hongkong, a Missionary Bishop (J. S. Burdon) was appointed Warden of the College whilst the lease and site vested in the Archbishop of Canterbury (Ordinance 7 of 1875). The Chinese community also had some
