Colonial Despatches

I have received your letter of the 14th inst, 1 on the subject of a difference, which has arisen between the War Office and yourself, with respect to the regimental pay of the Officers and Men, of the British Columbian Expedition.

It was understood that the regimental pay of the detachment of Royal Engineers, sent to British Columbia, should be paid by the War Office, and that the working, or extra, pay, although advanced from imperial funds, should be repaid by the Colony. This arrangement is in accordance with previous practice, and appears to me to be reasonable and just, for military protection ought, at any rate, in the first instance, to be givenby by the Mother Country.

An increase in the Corps of Royal Engineers, equal to the detachment ordered to the new Colony, having been sanctioned by the Treasury, in anticipation of a Parliamentary Vote, I am unable to understand the grounds, upon which the War Office has appealed to you, to charge your Department with an expenditure, for which provision has already been made. The War Office cannot be entitled to the double payment by the Treasury and the Colonial Office, which it demands, and I have, therefore, no hesitation in expressing my concurrence in the view, which you have taken of this claim.