The religious census of Victoria, in which every one has
been at liberty to enter his religion in any manner which best pleased his fancy, is a very curious document. Of 862,346 persons, very nearly 300,000 (i.e., 299,542) return themselves as belong- ing to the Church of England, nearly 200,000 (more exactly, 197,157) as Roman Catholics, considerably over 100,000 as Pres- byterians of . some shade or other, and nearly the same number as Methodists of some shade or other ; while of the other Pro- testant sects none much exceed 20,000,—about the number of Baptists,—the Independents falling in numbers slightly below the Baptists. Eleven thousand are returned as Pagans. But the curious thing is to number of fancy religions. There is one Borrowite, one Millerite, one Walkerite, one Colensoite, one who returns himself as a " Silent Admirer," one as a Theosophist, and five who belong to the " Church of Eli Sands." There are twenty who declare that they have "No Church at present, no creed," three who call themselves "Saved sinners," one who is a "believer in parts of the Bible," two who call themselves "neutrals," and three who state their religion as " 2 s. d." Probably, a much greater number might have declared themselves adhereuts of these last two creeds, had Victorian candour been as great as Victorian liberty.
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