Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Public Offices document
Sargeaunt, William Charles to Elliot, Thomas Frederick 13 January 1865, CO 60:23, no. 380, 40.
Abstract
Public Offices document.
Minutes (1), Enclosures (untranscribed) (3), Other documents (2).
Sargeaunt transmits copies of correspondence which estimate the cost of the
Buoys, Sinkers and Chainsrequested by Seymour to be
£1557.5.0 exclusive of freight.Sargeaunt suggests that, as this estimate is significantly more than estimated, and as the New Westminster Harbour Master estimated that
the buoys actually required are nine in number, the order be reduced to twelve or fifteen buoys. Blackwood’s minute recommends adopting Sargeaunt’s suggestion and providing the original number of buoys only if
the Authorities say that they can't dispense with the 30 they have asked for & that they can pay for them.
Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)
Referring to your letter of the 20th instant, I
transmit to you for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell,
the enclosed copy of a correspondence which has passed between
Messrs Brown, Lenox & Co (Admiralty Contractors for Chain
Cables & Anchors) and myself, from which it appears that the
cost of supplying the Government of British Columbia with the
Buoys, Sinkers and Chains enumerated in Mr Seymour's
despatch No 34 of 7th September last, is estimated
toamount
amount to £1557.5.0 exclusive of freight.
amount to £1557.5.0 exclusive of freight.
As this amount is greatly in excess of the estimate of
the Harbour Master at New Westminster, and as that Officer
in his letter of the 6th September states that "the buoys
actually required are nine in number" it appears to me that
in place of sending the thirty Buoys asked for that half
that number would be sufficient for the purposes mentioned,
and to furnish the necessary relay.
At any rate a dozen orfifteen
fifteen buoys, with a corresponding
number of cables and sinkers, might be sent out in the first
instance should Mr Cardwell approve of the adoption of such a course.
fifteen buoys, with a corresponding
number of cables and sinkers, might be sent out in the first
instance should Mr Cardwell approve of the adoption of such a course.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Elliot
It is very important to properly buoy the entrance to Fraser River, the navigation of which is so full of risk, and to do so promptly. I shd be in favor of ordering the 12 or 15 buoys suggested by Mr Sargeaunt at once, and sending the rest afterwards, if, after receiving this report from the Crown Agent, the Authorities say that they can't dispense with the 30 they have asked for & that they can pay for them.
It is very important to properly buoy the entrance to Fraser River, the navigation of which is so full of risk, and to do so promptly. I shd be in favor of ordering the 12 or 15 buoys suggested by Mr Sargeaunt at once, and sending the rest afterwards, if, after receiving this report from the Crown Agent, the Authorities say that they can't dispense with the 30 they have asked for & that they can pay for them.
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
Brown, Lenox & Co. to Crown Agents, 2 January 1865,
giving detailed estimate for buoys.
Sargeaunt to Brown, Lenox and
Company, 4 January 1865, advising that the
cost quoted far exceeded that formed in the colony, and asking for an
explanation of the discrepancy.
Brown, Lenox and Company
to Crown Agents, 6 January 1865,
explaining that the circumstances required heavier equipment than
was estimated in the colony.
Other documents included in the file
Colonial Office to Sargeaunt, 17 January 1865, authorizing the
purchase of fifteen buoys for shipment to the colony.
