Colonial Despatches

The Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had under Their consideration Mr Elliot's letter of the 2nd of April last enclosing copy of a despatch from the Governor of British Columbia—dated the 10th of January last—on the subject of the financial condition of that Colony;

Their Lordships desire me to observe that it will be in the recollection of the Secretary of State that the Drafts of the Colonial Government on account of the Royal Engineers for 1859 and 1860 exceeded the grants made by Parliament by no less a sum than £22,026, and that My Lords, at first, considered thatthe the Colonial Government ought to reimburse the entire sum, but that afterwards, at the request of the Duke of Newcastle, They consented to propose to Parliament to Vote £11,322—part of the excess—on the understanding that £10,704—making the other part—should be paid by the Colony in the course of the present year;

My Lords regret to find that the Governor has failed to keep his part of this arrangement, and They can hardly admit the force of the consideration which he has pleaded in excuse;

The Colony has had the benefit of the presence of the Royal Engineers, and when Parliament had granted for theirService Service £38,000 for the two years, if the Governor thought proper to order an expenditure of £60,000, it became Their Lordship's duty to hold the Local Revenue liable for the excess; From an unwillingness to press too heavily upon that source They have, at His Grace's suggestion, reduced the claim more than one half—so as to charge the Colony only with the expense of Buildings—but They do not think it inconsistent, with the desire which They feel to deal considerately and liberally with the Colony, to abide by the claim so reduced, and on the whole They consider it more just that that claim should be settled by the Colony than by a further application to Parliament;

As regards the expenses of the Bishop's passages in HMS "Forward" and "Grappler" My Lords consent, under the circumstances, to such expenses remaining a charge upon Imperial Funds, but they request that the Governor and the Bishop may be informed that expenses of this nature must in future be borne, either by the Bishop himself or, by the Local Government.