Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch to London
Douglas, James to Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes 10 January 1863, CO 60:15, no. 2135, 28.
Abstract
Despatch to London.
Minutes (4), Other documents (1), Marginalia (1).
No. 6, Financial
10 January 1863
Adverting to your Despatches of the numbers and dates as
per margin,
I have the honor to report to Your Grace the
course I have followed during the year just closed, with the
earnest desireof
of conforming to the fullest extent practicable
to the arrangements made by Your Grace with the Lords of the
Treasury relative to the financial matters existing between
Her Majesty's Government and the Colony of British Columbia.
No 123, 13 May 1862
No 131, 16 June, and
No 140, 16 September.
No 131, 16 June, and
No 140, 16 September.
of conforming to the fullest extent practicable
to the arrangements made by Your Grace with the Lords of the
Treasury relative to the financial matters existing between
Her Majesty's Government and the Colony of British Columbia.
2. The sum available to the Colony towards the maintenance
of the Royal Engineers out of the Parliamentary vote of 1862
is £6000 only. Of this £4000 was drawn in April 1862, prior
to thereceipt
receipt of Your Grace's Despatch No 123 of 13 May.
Since April no further Drafts upon the Imperial Treasury have
been made.
receipt of Your Grace's Despatch No 123 of 13 May.
Since April no further Drafts upon the Imperial Treasury have
been made.
3. The sum to be repaid by the Colony during 1862,
according to the Treasury Despatch of the 16 June are as
follows
£6,900. 0.0 for Silver specie
152. 3.8 Overpayment Assay Office
34. 6.0 Passage of the Bishop
35. 7.0 " " "
£7,121.16.8.
£6,900. 0.0 for Silver specie
152. 3.8 Overpayment Assay Office
34. 6.0 Passage of the Bishop
35. 7.0 " " "
£7,121.16.8.
With respect to those items I cannot refrain from appealingagainst
against the two latter being charged against the Colony, for
they really have no connection with it. In the first place
the passages were between places in Vancouver's Island, from
Victoria to Nanaimo, and from Victoria to Barclay Sound—and
in the second place they were not obtained at the intervention
of this Government, but were sought directly by the Bishop
from the Admiral commanding in the Station. British Columbia
cannot therefore under any circumstances be justly chargeablewith
with the expense. As the amounts were paid by Her Majesty's
Government, I sought to recover them from the Bishop. He
however declined repayment on the plea that the charge was
excessive. The deduction of these two sums reduces the amount
to £7052.3.8.
against the two latter being charged against the Colony, for
they really have no connection with it. In the first place
the passages were between places in Vancouver's Island, from
Victoria to Nanaimo, and from Victoria to Barclay Sound—and
in the second place they were not obtained at the intervention
of this Government, but were sought directly by the Bishop
from the Admiral commanding in the Station. British Columbia
cannot therefore under any circumstances be justly chargeablewith
with the expense. As the amounts were paid by Her Majesty's
Government, I sought to recover them from the Bishop. He
however declined repayment on the plea that the charge was
excessive. The deduction of these two sums reduces the amount
to £7052.3.8.
4. In 1863, the Colony is required to repay £10,704,
represented in Your Grace's and the Treasury Despatch aforesaid
as an expenditure for Roads, Bridges and Surveys, and thereforeone
one improperly defrayed from Imperial Funds. I must beg Your
Grace's attention to the items composing this sum, and I venture
to submit that they are as justly chargeable to Imperial Funds,
as any other expenses in connection with the Military. The
details are as follows:
A. Erecting Military Barracks at New Westminster £8758. 6.7
B. Erecting Military Barracks at Langley 320. 0.7
C. Military trail to Burrards Inlet 92. 7.8
D. Reconaissance Fort Hope to Fort Colvile 40.19.6
E. Erecting Hospital & Officers Quarters
New Westminster 1392. 6.1
F. Temporary Buildings & Fittings for Royal
Marines at Esquimalt 100.16.1
10,704.16.7
The
one improperly defrayed from Imperial Funds. I must beg Your
Grace's attention to the items composing this sum, and I venture
to submit that they are as justly chargeable to Imperial Funds,
as any other expenses in connection with the Military. The
details are as follows:
A. Erecting Military Barracks at New Westminster £8758. 6.7
B. Erecting Military Barracks at Langley 320. 0.7
C. Military trail to Burrards Inlet 92. 7.8
D. Reconaissance Fort Hope to Fort Colvile 40.19.6
E. Erecting Hospital & Officers Quarters
New Westminster 1392. 6.1
F. Temporary Buildings & Fittings for Royal
Marines at Esquimalt 100.16.1
10,704.16.7
The works marked A. B. & E. were undertaken by Colonel Moody who
represented them to be an indispensable necessity. They are
entirely of a Military character, not required by the Colony, but
arising out of the compact entered into with the soldier. The
only control I could have exercised in the matter would have been
to forbid the expenditure. That course would have left the Troops
with their wives and families homeless.
The work marked C wasconsidered
considered requisite by Colonel Moody
to open a communication from his Camp to Burrard Inlet in the
event of Naval support being required.
considered requisite by Colonel Moody
to open a communication from his Camp to Burrard Inlet in the
event of Naval support being required.
The exploration marked D was ordered by Colonel Moody solely
on Military considerations during the period of the San Juan occupation.
The expenditure at F was caused by the sudden arrival of the
Marines from China in Her Majesty's Ship Tribune, and the urgent
necessity of immediately relieving an overcrowded Ship aftera
a
long voyage.
a
long voyage.
Your Grace considers that for a sum expended in the pay,
sustenance and movement of the Engineers, application may be made
to Parliament: I trust what I have herein stated may induce Your
Grace also to consider that this sum of £10,704.16.7 is not
more justly chargeable to the Colony than the other, and that,
therefore, for that likewise application may be made to Parliament.
5. Bowing to Your Grace's decision that British Columbiamust
must
bear a moiety of the expenses of the Royal Engineers, I would
yet submit that at this period of her existence she should be
relieved from contributing a moiety of the Regimental Pay. For
instance in 1862-63 the whole estimated expense of the Corps is
£22,000 including Regimental Pay. The Colony is required to
contribute £11,000, while the vote by Parliament specially
for the Colony is only £7200, the remaining sum of £3800 being
borne on the Army Estimates, and so borne whether the Troops be
at home or abroad. I am merelydealing
dealing with the financial
question, I do not desire to touch the abstract one of how far
a Colony should assist the Mother Country to support Troops
detained in the Colony for Imperial purposes. To old and
settled Colonies such a question may have an intimate relation,
but to a young Colony struggling for development against
extra-ordinary difficulties it can have but little application. In
proportion as its revenues are applied so will it progress: the
more rapid its progression, the sooner will it be in a position
to require the leastamount
amount of Imperial assistance.
must
bear a moiety of the expenses of the Royal Engineers, I would
yet submit that at this period of her existence she should be
relieved from contributing a moiety of the Regimental Pay. For
instance in 1862-63 the whole estimated expense of the Corps is
£22,000 including Regimental Pay. The Colony is required to
contribute £11,000, while the vote by Parliament specially
for the Colony is only £7200, the remaining sum of £3800 being
borne on the Army Estimates, and so borne whether the Troops be
at home or abroad. I am merelydealing
dealing with the financial
question, I do not desire to touch the abstract one of how far
a Colony should assist the Mother Country to support Troops
detained in the Colony for Imperial purposes. To old and
settled Colonies such a question may have an intimate relation,
but to a young Colony struggling for development against
extra-ordinary difficulties it can have but little application. In
proportion as its revenues are applied so will it progress: the
more rapid its progression, the sooner will it be in a position
to require the leastamount
amount of Imperial assistance.
6. I trust the weighty reasons I have laid before Your
Grace in my Despatch No 58 of the 15 Decr last, will induce
Yr Grace to obtain the sanction of the Lords of the Treasury
to another loan of £50,000. With that sum I believe I can so
arrange my financial scheme for the current year as to carry
on without check the reproductive works that have been set
afoot, and at the same time to place the Colony at the close
of the year in the most satisfactoryrelation
relation towards Her
Majesty's Government in all matters of account.
relation towards Her
Majesty's Government in all matters of account.
7. I have carefully abstained during the past year since
the receipt of Your Grace's Despatches herein referred to,
from drawing upon the Imperial Treasury, but to meet our
liabilities both on Military and Civil account I now find
myself much pressed for funds; I have therefore drawn upon
the Paymaster General for the sum of £5000, on Colonial Pay
account, as speciallyreported
reported in my Despatch of this date
No 4, and I trust Your Grace will not object to this measure,
viewing the amount as on account of the Parliamentary vote in
aid of the Colony for 1863-64.
reported in my Despatch of this date
No 4, and I trust Your Grace will not object to this measure,
viewing the amount as on account of the Parliamentary vote in
aid of the Colony for 1863-64.
Minutes by CO staff
See separate minute.
TFE
27 March
I am sorry to say that I do not think this can be deemed
at all a satisfactory despatch from Governor Douglas. The manner
of it impressed me even more unfavorably than the substance,
for it appears to me shuffling: it dwells at great length on
trifling details, and then passes over evasively such a substantial
topic as our claim for £6,900. Governor Douglas asked that
this amount out of a former Parliamentary Grant should be sent
to him in specie, we did so, upon which he appropriated the cash,
but equally drew bills for the same amount in England. One is
at a loss for words in which to state such matters clearly in
official language. Were the transaction a private one, it could
be explained simply enough, for it would merely be like any other
of the frauds that are daily reported in the newspapers. Governor Douglas was peremptorily ordered to repay that money this year.
In answer he amuses us with a long argumentation whether the Colony
ought to pay two sums of about £35 for the Bishop's passage, and
merely inserts in one part ofhis
his despatch a vague and grandiloquent
statement that if suffered to borrow an additional £50,000, he
doubts not that at the end of the year he would be able to establish
a satisfactory relation toward H.M.'s Govt in all matters of
account. This is the style of writing which I venture to characterize
as shuffling.
his despatch a vague and grandiloquent
statement that if suffered to borrow an additional £50,000, he
doubts not that at the end of the year he would be able to establish
a satisfactory relation toward H.M.'s Govt in all matters of
account. This is the style of writing which I venture to characterize
as shuffling.
About the sum of £10,704 (which he was only called upon to
repay in the course of the year 1863) I confess that Governor Douglas
seems to me to have a better case. He had drawn bills to that amount
under the head of "Roads, Bridges and Surveys," we naturally said
that these objects were Colonial and not Military and that he had no
right to draw for them in his Bills on account of the Engineers. But
he now furnishes explanations which certainly show, if they may be
relied upon, that most if not all of the expenditure was military
and that it was his own fault not to make this clearer before. If
the outlay be really military, I have alwaysthought
thought that this young
Colony had a fair excuse for resisting the burthen: the Troops were
forced upon it from home without ever being asked for from the
spot, and from the first moment the Governor steadily reported that
he saw his way towards making the Colony self-supporting, provided
only that it were not to be charged with Soldiers for which it did
not ask, and which it did not believe itself to require. This
however is merely my own impression, and I suppose that the Treasury
will be very unwilling to accept the burthen of this £10,704 after
it had flattered itself with the idea of being relieved of it. The
Governor's Bills, even if admitted to have been for military purposes,
were beyond the amount authorized, and have not yet been covered
by any Parliamentary vote, so that the Treasury will feel that
it can only yield to his present representations by applying to
Parliament for a retrospective vote. Nevertheless this is the course
which in my humble opinion would be the first one in respectof
of all
such items as may be admitted to be purely military: the so called
"Military Trail" from one point to another looks suspicious, and
as if it might be in fact a road for general convenience, but on
this detail we could get evidence from Coll Gossett if wished.
thought that this young
Colony had a fair excuse for resisting the burthen: the Troops were
forced upon it from home without ever being asked for from the
spot, and from the first moment the Governor steadily reported that
he saw his way towards making the Colony self-supporting, provided
only that it were not to be charged with Soldiers for which it did
not ask, and which it did not believe itself to require. This
however is merely my own impression, and I suppose that the Treasury
will be very unwilling to accept the burthen of this £10,704 after
it had flattered itself with the idea of being relieved of it. The
Governor's Bills, even if admitted to have been for military purposes,
were beyond the amount authorized, and have not yet been covered
by any Parliamentary vote, so that the Treasury will feel that
it can only yield to his present representations by applying to
Parliament for a retrospective vote. Nevertheless this is the course
which in my humble opinion would be the first one in respectof
of all
such items as may be admitted to be purely military: the so called
"Military Trail" from one point to another looks suspicious, and
as if it might be in fact a road for general convenience, but on
this detail we could get evidence from Coll Gossett if wished.
The practical course which occurs to me would be somewhat
as follows: with reference to former correspondence, send this
despatch to the Treasury for their consideration. With respect to
the minor details consisting of the two charges for the passages
of the Bishop, say that the Secretary of State regrets the difficulty
experienced in procuring a settlement of the claim, but that he
would leave it to their Lordships to consider whether it might be
discharged out of Civil Contingencies, as appears to be frequently
done in the case of the passages of other Colonial Bishops. (I
think that the whole subject of Bishops' passages well deserves
revision for it is a fertile source of difficulty and annoyance.)With
With regard to the value of the specie, state that the Duke of Newcastle is much displeased with the Governor for not having already
made the payment, and that His Grace is disposed to send out more
peremptory instructions than before that no part of the contemplated
loan for British Columbia must be raised in the Colony, and to
announce that as soon as raised in this Country, the claim for the
specie will be discharged out of the proceeds. With reference to
the sum of £10,704, say that the Duke of Newcastle proposed, in
the correspondence passed last year, to charge this amount against
the Colony, because the Bills were described as having been drawn
for "Roads, Bridges and Surveys," and were supposed to be for objects
unequivocally Colonial, but that the Governor by his despatch
supplies explanations which appear to show that the works for
which these Bills were drawn were really of a militarycharacter
character.
As this is the case, say that the Duke of Newcastle feels much
more doubtful whether the expenditure ought to be charged out to
the Colony, for it must be remembered that the Troops were sent
out at the time of the formation of the Colony by the Queen's
Government at home as a measure which they considered advisable,
without it's
ever having been applied for by any of the authorities
already on the spot, and that from the earliest moment Governor Douglas has always consistently declared that he saw the means
to make the settlement self-supporting provided that it's
government were not to be charged with soldiers for which it did
not ask, and which it did not believe itself to require. I should
tell the Treasury that the Duke of Newcastle is now taking measures
for putting an end to the Military Garrison at theclose
close of the
present year so that this question will not be prolonged into the
future, but that with regard to the past, he is disposed to think
that in the infancy of the Colonial Government, there is much
force in the reasons for charging it with only a very light
proportion of the expenses of a force which it never asked to
receive and was always willing to part with.
With regard to the value of the specie, state that the Duke of Newcastle is much displeased with the Governor for not having already
made the payment, and that His Grace is disposed to send out more
peremptory instructions than before that no part of the contemplated
loan for British Columbia must be raised in the Colony, and to
announce that as soon as raised in this Country, the claim for the
specie will be discharged out of the proceeds. With reference to
the sum of £10,704, say that the Duke of Newcastle proposed, in
the correspondence passed last year, to charge this amount against
the Colony, because the Bills were described as having been drawn
for "Roads, Bridges and Surveys," and were supposed to be for objects
unequivocally Colonial, but that the Governor by his despatch
supplies explanations which appear to show that the works for
which these Bills were drawn were really of a militarycharacter
character.
As this is the case, say that the Duke of Newcastle feels much
more doubtful whether the expenditure ought to be charged out to
the Colony, for it must be remembered that the Troops were sent
out at the time of the formation of the Colony by the Queen's
Government at home as a measure which they considered advisable,
without it's
ever having been applied for by any of the authorities
already on the spot, and that from the earliest moment Governor Douglas has always consistently declared that he saw the means
to make the settlement self-supporting provided that it's
government were not to be charged with soldiers for which it did
not ask, and which it did not believe itself to require. I should
tell the Treasury that the Duke of Newcastle is now taking measures
for putting an end to the Military Garrison at theclose
close of the
present year so that this question will not be prolonged into the
future, but that with regard to the past, he is disposed to think
that in the infancy of the Colonial Government, there is much
force in the reasons for charging it with only a very light
proportion of the expenses of a force which it never asked to
receive and was always willing to part with.
Minutes by CO staff
I agree with Mr Elliot's views on all the points raised in
this very unsatisfactory despatch, and will write to the Treasury
accordingly.
If the £10,704 have really been spent by Colonel Moody merely
on "barracks" it would be hard to charge that sum to the
Colony—more especially as they will be vacated in a few
months, but why
were "barracks" last year called "Roads and Bridges"? By the
Governor's own showing there must have been great laxity in giving
orders for these works—if indeed they are Barracks. Coll
Moody could have had no power to order them without authority
from the War Office, and the Govr could have no power to
order them if they were to be charged to vote of Parlt.
months, but why
were "barracks" last year called "Roads and Bridges"? By the
Governor's own showing there must have been great laxity in giving
orders for these works—if indeed they are Barracks. Coll
Moody could have had no power to order them without authority
from the War Office, and the Govr could have no power to
order them if they were to be charged to vote of Parlt.
N
29
Other documents included in the file
Elliot to Frederick Peel, Treasury, 2 April 1863, forwarding copy of the despatch and discussing various financial matters concerning
the colony.