Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch from London
Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, James 16 August 1862, NAC RG7:G8C/10, 215.
Abstract
Despatch from London.
Newcastle acknowledges Douglas's despatch [Douglas to Newcastle,
29 May 1862, CO 60:13, no. 7709, 236] informing Newcastle that Douglas was taking out short term
loans at high rates of interest to meet British Columbia's financial obligations. Newcastle
points out that
the authority for borrowing £50,000 on the security of the local Revenue conveyed to you in my despatch No. 131 of the 10th of June [Newcastle to Douglas, June 1862, NAC RG7:G8C/10, 167] will enable you to withdraw from circulation the promissory notes which have already been issued,adding that
you will never again have occasion to resort to so questionable an expedient.
No. 137
16 August 1862
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch
"Separate" of the 29th of May last relative to the increasing population
of British Columbia and to the necessity which you conceive to exist in
consequence for losing no time in improving the means of communication
between different parts of the Colony by the construction of Roads.
I regret that in pursuing this object you should have brought
yourself into a position in which it was necessary to resort
to the
issue of promissory notes which I infer you would not have been able to
meet had they been presented for payment; but I trust that the authority
for borrowing £50,000 on the security of the local Revenue conveyed to
you in my despatch No. 131 of the 10th of June will enable you to
withdraw from circulation the promissory notes which have already been
issued and that you will never again
have occasion to resort to so
questionable an expedient.
to the
issue of promissory notes which I infer you would not have been able to
meet had they been presented for payment; but I trust that the authority
for borrowing £50,000 on the security of the local Revenue conveyed to
you in my despatch No. 131 of the 10th of June will enable you to
withdraw from circulation the promissory notes which have already been
issued and that you will never again
have occasion to resort to so
questionable an expedient.