Newcastle acknowledges receipt, from Douglas, of the Estimates of British Columbia for the year 1862, expresses frustration at the lack of detail in some areas, and instructs Douglas that he must curtail some of the different services proposed.
No. 105
27 February 1862
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No.
74 of the 13th of November, enclosing the Estimates of British Columbia
for the year 1862.
I have to point out to you that whilst the salaries comprized in
their estimates are exhibited in almost superfluous detail,those those heads
of expenditure which most demand scrutiny and deserve explanation are
exempted from all supervision in this Department by the course you have
taken of merely stating them in a single large sum such as £31,749 for
Roads and £7500 for Works.
My attention has also been attracted to the evidence which your
annual estimates exhibit of a disposition continually to augment the
CivilExpenditure Expenditure so as to equal or even exceed the growing revenue.
In another despatch I have approved you that the sum of £11000,
being one moiety of the total cost, has been appointed to the colony in
respect of its Military Expenditure for the year 1862, and I have to
instruct you that you must so far curtail some of the different services
proposed in your estimate as to admit of paying this charge out of theColonial
Colonial Revenue.
I have the honor to be
Sir
Your Obedient Servant Newcastle