Adverting to your letter of the 
26 August last, communicating to
               me that the 
Crown Agents had been authorized to pay my half Salary
               while in England on leave of absence from the Colony of 
Vancouver's
                  Island, but that as the Secretary of State lacked certain information
               from the Colony, he was not then in a position to sanction such
               payment at a higher rate than for a Salary of £500 per Annum; I, in
               the hope that the Secretary of State has by this time received the
               required advices from the Colony, now take the liberty of
               representing that as
I
 I am on the point of quitting this Country to
               return to my Colony, it would be a matter of great convenience if the
               difference between the rate authorized as aforesaid viz £500, per
               annum, and the rate assigned by the Secretary of State in 
1863, viz
               £600 per annum, could be paid by the 
Crown Agents before my departure.
               
               2. I am emboldened to make this application, as I feel every
               confidence that the Crown Revenue in the Colony is ample to bear the
               charge assigned to it as Salary for the Governor and for the Colonial
               Secretary, and in support of this assertion I would state that I have
               good reason to believe that the Governor's Salary has been regularly
               paid in the Colony at the increased rate, and also that the Half
               Salary issued to the gentleman acting in my position during my
               absence has likewise been paid at the higher rate.
If
 If I have been
               misinformed, and am in error upon these points, I can only say that,
               if the Secretary of State should now grant my request, I will hold
               myself prepared, should he hereafter see cause to require it, to
               refund the difference between the two rates of Salary for which I now
               apply.
               
T.F. Elliot Esquire
               
               Under Secretary of State
               
               for the Colonial Department