Page:Distinguished Churchmen.djvu/80

54 full well that much in common obtains throughout the Empire. Of civil and business affairs we are, fortunately, kept well informed through the columns of the daily press, and the achievement of Colonial Federation has been one of the most important events of recent times. But matters religious are less generally known to the world at large, and it is only by such side winds as the return of Bishops and clergy that we become possessed of any definite information in relation to the welfare of the Church and other religious bodies in our colonies. With regard to Australia, it will be admitted that Bishop Barry is eminently fitted to speak, by reason of his five years tenure of the three-fold office of Bishop of Sydney, Metropolitan of New South Wales, and Primate of Australia and Tasmania.

Bishop Barry has had an eventful career, and has served his Church well in numerous capacities. Like his Episcopal brethren, Dr Talbot, of Rochester; Dr Cowie, of Auckland; Dr Jones, of Cape Town; Dr Bickersteth, late of Exeter; Dr Chalmers, of Goulbourn; Dr Blunt, of Hull; Dr Wallis, of Wellington, and several others, he is a native of London, having been born at Ely Place in 1826, the second son of Sir Charles Barry, of architectural fame. His boyhood was for the most part spent in London—after leaving Ely Place, at Langham Place, and, later on, at Westminster, whence he went