Scotia in March of 1851, that Province was experiencing a difficult financial time. A Church Act of 1851 repealed the 1758 Act, which had established the Church of England in the colony of Nova Scotia . There were additional problems: the See was not endowed, S.P.G . grants were being gradually eliminated, and King's College was in financial difficulty due to the withdrawal in 1851 of the annual grant of 400 pounds from the Crown. Bishop Binney's immediate concern was to establish a dependable and accessible source of income with which to meet some of the pressing expenses involved in running a diocese. With this in mind he set up a Bishopric Endowment Fund, made operative the following year. In 1852 the Diocesan Church Society of Prince Edward Island established its own Bishopric Endowment Fund to provide for the need of more efficient Episcopal supervision for the Island. The rector and parish of St. Paul's Church in Charlottetown was instrumental in leading the campaign to establish this fund and it was not long before the parishes of Milton, Rustico , St. Eleanor's, New London , Crapaud , and Georgetown had made small contributions towards this fund to make it something of an Island wide effort. Bishop Binney reacted favourably toward the initiative displayed by the Island D.C.S . writing to his Ecclesiastical Commissary, the Reverend Charles Lloyd , in 1853 suggesting what he felt was the best course of action to be followed: You mention the bishopric endowment fund, I think that the most satisfactory method would be to hand over what is collected to your D.C.S . for a trust to be invested and the interest accruing from time to time to be regularly paid to the bishop exercising jurisdiction in the Island so that in case of separation of the Island at any future time it would retain its own portion of the fund.2 The inhabitants of the Island for the most part were not wealthy and the amount collected by the end of 1854 amounted only to a little over 150 pounds. The S.P.G . did make an offer of 10,000 sterling towards the endowment of the bishopric of Nova Scotia on condition that 5,000 pounds was raised by Nova Scotia . Bishop Binney transmitted the offer to the Island D.C.S . along with the suggestion that its obligation would be to raise 1,000 pounds. The D.C.S. Committee was forced to reply that it would be impossible to raise anything over 200 pounds. The colonial Bishops of British met together with their American counterparts at an important conference held in Quebec in 1851. The focus of the meeting was the discussion of a proposal to organize a Synod in each , along the lines of the Diocesan conventions already at work 20 Ibid, p.273. 18