The Hon. S. B. Harrison (afterwards Judge of the County of York) was nominated by Rev. Dr. Ryerson, as Chairman of the reconstructed Board of Education in 1850 (then named the Council of Public Instruction), as successor to the lamented Bishop Power, who died in 1847.[48] Mr. Harrison held that position until his death, in 1862. [48] In his address at the beginning of the Normal School for Upper Canada, in November, 1847, Dr. Ryerson thus referred to the then recent decease of Bishop Power. He said, referring to the harmony which had characterized the meetings of the Provincial Board of Education:-- "One event indeed has occurred, over which the members of the Board have reason to mourn--the decease of the Right Reverend Prelate, who, by his colleagues had been unanimously chosen Chairman of the Board, and whose conduct as Chairman and Member of the Board was marked by a punctuality, a courtesy, a fairness, a zeal and intelligence which entitle his memory to the affectionate remembrance of his colleagues and the grateful esteem of every member of the community.... I cannot reflect upon the full and frequent conversations which I have had with him on subjects of public instruction, and with the scrupulous regard which ever manifested for the views, and rights and wishes of Protestants, without feelings of the deepest respect for his character and memory." Dr. Ryerson did not enter practically upon the duties of his office until about the middle of 1846. In the meantime, the correspondence and routine duties of the Education Office were (on Dr. Ryerson's suggestion) placed in the hands of his friend, the Rev. Alexander MacNab, D.D., now Rector of Darlington (Bowmanville). RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS, 1846. Among the first duties of the new Provincial Board of Education was the establishment of a Normal School, the authorization of a series of text-books, and the preparation of regulations for the government of the Common Schools. The most important of these regulations was the one relating to religious instruction in the schools. Before submitting it to the Board for adoption Dr. Ryerson consulted various representative persons on the subject. In a private letter to Hon. Attorney-General Draper, dated December 17th, 1846, Dr. Ryerson thus explained his proceedings in regard to the preparation of the clause in the new regulations relating to religious instruction in the schools. He said:--