under the control of the Bishop. In originally meeting with the Rector of the Parish Church and in his subsequent discussions with the Vestry of that Church, Bishop Binney had sought to avoid alienation of any element of the Church members. However, his primary purpose had been to show his support for those seeking an opportunity to worship in an atmosphere they felt conducive to participation in genuine worship of Almighty God. In 1872 Bishop Binney wrote to the Reverend G.W. Hodgson expressing this idea, "I consider it very important that the entire control of one Church in each should be in the hands of the Bishop."77 The act of constituting St. Peter 's Church as the Cathedral for the Island presented him with the opportunity to lay the necessary groundwork towards the expected inevitable separation of this area of jurisdiction and the establishment of Diocesan status for Prince Edward Island at some unspecified future date. Many of the original subscribers who had built the church out of their own resources, including E.J. Hodgson and Edward Bayfield , intended that no future Bishop would interfere with the catholic practices in the form of worship already instituted at the new church. To achieve this end they wrote to Bishop Binney asking him to constitute the deed so that St. Peter 's could be placed under the supervision of a board of trustees. On November 19th, 1872 Bishop Binney wrote to the Reverend G.W. Hodgson informing him that he had "reluctantly signed the Deed constituting the Trustees of St. Peter 's"78 and that by doing so, the Rector and representatives of St. Peter 's were effectively shut out of "Our Diocesan Synod until the Island is admitted as you now sit simply as any Christian having no definite Cure."79 A Board consisting of five Trustees, which included E.J. Hodgson , J.S. Carvell and Thomas Heath Haviland , was subsequently set up and operated as an independent body until the 1940's. Early Episcopal Visits by Bishop Binney. The first services were held at St. Peter 's on June 13th, 1869. Not long afterward the Bishop made his first visit to the church and attended Sunday Services on August 8th, 1869, at which time he witnessed the first surpliced choir of the Church of England on Prince Edward Island . The fact that he stayed on for an extended period of time on the Island seems a fitting testimony to the keen interest he had in the well being of the church on the 77. Letter from Bishop H. Binney to the Reverend G.W. Hodgson , November 19th, 1872. 78. Ibid. 79. Ibid. 55