Colonial Despatches

I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you, for the information of the Duke of Newcastle, that They give Their sanction to the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of British Columbia for the year 1863 which are submitted in your letter of 17th June last;

With reference to the question whether the Governor is correct in crediting the Colony with £2000 as a portion of the Parliamentary Vote for 1862/3 remainingundrawn, undrawn, My Lords would observe that the Assumption by the Governor of a credit to that extent is not supported by any account or statement on his part shewing the amount of Bills drawn against the grant of each year, but, from the papers in this Department, the state of the account with the Colony appears to differ from that in which it is supposed by the Governor to be;

In the correspondence which took place last year on the subject of the financial arrangements of British Columbia it was statedthat that, according to the Returns forwarded in the Governor's despatch No 56 of 16th September 1861, Bills had been drawn for 1859 and 1860 as follows, Vizt for 1859 Bills Nos 1 to 78 - £39,320
for 1860 Bills Nos 1 to 31 - £20,706

The arrangement for adjusting the account with the Colony was based on the sums included in these Returns, and the settlement of the account was confined to the issues made in those two years;

As regards the state of the account for the year 1861-2, Bills amounting to £11,000 have been drawn against a corresponding amount providedfor for the Colonial Pay of the Royal Engineers in the Parliamentary Grant of that year. It appears, on reference to the Governor's Despatch (No 78) of 23rd November 1861, that it was his intention at that time not to draw for more than £9000 but in his despatch (No 9) dated 7th February 1862, he reported that he had directed Bills to be drawn for the sum of £2000 "as being still available from the Parliamentary Grant for the year ending 31st March 1862" and Bills were drawn accordingly Nos 59 & 60 for £1000 each, thus exhausting the grant for the year 1861/2.

Since the end of that year Bills on account of the Colonial Pay of the Royal Engineers have been drawn as follows, Vizt In April 1862, 2 Bills Nos 61 & 62 for £1000 each and 1 Bill No 63 for £2000. In January 1863, 5 Bills, No 63 to No 68 for £1000 each; On 7th March 1863 one Bill No 69 for £2000.

And as deducting the pay of Col. Moody, vizt £1200, the sum of £6000, was the amount voted by Parliament for the year 1862/3, during which the Governor drew Bills for £11,000. Altogether, therewas was a Deficiency of £5000, which My Lords very reluctantly advanced out of the funds for Civil Contingencies until it could be charged to the Vote for the current year, but as that Vote is for the same amount as in the preceeding year, vizt £6000, it follows that, even supposing the Governor should not draw another Bill before April 1864, the balance available is only one half the sum required to complete the payments to be made by the Colony on account of the Specie sent from this Country. My Lords have, therefore, to request that the necessary orders upon the subject may at oncebe be sent to the Governor, and that at the same time, he may be reminded that he ought not to have drawn against the Vote for the current year until it commenced in April last, and that the Bills which he drew in January and March last were properly chargeable against the Vote for 1862/3 in the same way that the Bills drawn by him in February 1862 were placed to the account of the Vote for the year 1861/2 as indeed the Governor in his despatch of the 7th February 1862, requested that they might be.

My Lords will make the other claims upon the Colonial Government, adverted to in your letter of the 2nd April last, the subject of a separate letter.