Colonial Despatches

Adverting to your despatch No 34 of the 10th July last, relative to the withdrawal of the Royal Engineers from British Columbia and to my reply thereto of the 14 September No 56, relative to arrangements to be made forcarrying carrying on the civil duties heretofore conducted by Colonel Moody as Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, and certain of the Officers and men under his command, I have now the honor to report to your Grace that I have retained in the service of the Colony, certain of the discharged Sappers who were employed in Colonel Moody'soffice Office, and who are acquainted with the various matters of detail passing through it from the first. Fearing however to conflict with any arrangements your Grace might make, I have refrained from even provisionally appointing any professional Head to the Department, but have merely placed the Department and the Stores belonging to it under the temporary charge and supervisionof of Mr Brew the Acting Treasurer. To a certain extent therefore the operations of the Department are brought to a stand still, but as the winter season is now fast approaching, it is the period when the least inconvenience will be experienced therefrom. As I had recommended Captain Luard to your Grace as Colonel Moody's successor, I consideredit it would be to the interest of the public service if his departure from the Colony were deferred until I could hear from your Grace. Such a course would prevent any check taking place in the operations of the Department, and should your Grace appoint Captain Luard, would save the cost of his return journey; while on theother other hand, should your Grace not appoint him, it would cause no additional expense to the public, but would simply delay Captain Luard's departure from the Colony for a month or so, an arrangement which I venture to think would not have been antagonistic to the ordersof of the War Department, which contemplated the withdrawal of the Detachment at the end of the year. I consequently represented these particulars to Colonel Moody and requested him, so, provisionally, to leave Captain Luard behind, but I regret to say Colonel Moody has acquainted me that he does not feel himself justified to permit Captain Luard to defer his departure.