Colonial Despatches

In one of the Dispatches—No 6—which I addressed to you last month 1 it was mentioned that the Detachment of Royal Engineers which Her Majesty's Government considered advisable to send to British Columbia would be maintained at the imperial Cost for only a limited period, and that if it continued afterwards the Colony would have to defray the expence thereof.

I can scarcely doubt that you will have noticed that when I wrote that Dispatch, I had not received those Reports from you,nor nor was the public in possession of that general information, which ascribe to the Colony the prospect of raising a large and early Revenue. This more recent intelligence has necessarily caused an alteration in my views with respect to the first charge for the Engineer party. I desire therefore to state that as the Dispatch to which I have above alluded was written before I was aware of the great prospects of the Colony, Her Majesty's Government having since become apprized of that fact, I feel that it would be impossible to impose on this Country the charge for the Engineers which, under other circumstances it might have been proper it should have assumed. It is therefore imperatively necessary for me to repeat, what indeed has been very frequently mentioned, thatthat Her Majesty's Government expect that British Columbia shall be self supporting, and that the first charge upon the Land Sales must be that of defraying all the expences which this Engineer party shall occasion. Any expenditure which the British Treasury shall have incurred on this account will have to be reimbursed by the Colony, as soon as its circumstances permit, and for which I have now to instruct you to make suitable provision.