Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch to London
Douglas, James to Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes 16 March 1864, CO 60:18, no. 4382, 66.
Abstract
Despatch to London.
Minutes (5), Enclosures (untranscribed) (1), Other documents (1).
Douglas forwards an ordinance entitled
The British Columbia Loan Act 1864and includes the Attorney General’s report on the ordinance. Blackwood’s minute notes that Douglas has closed his government with
anotherloan. Blackwood wishes the incoming governor, Seymour, had been given a chance to state
his views on the subject.The staff minute their agreement to Blackwood’s observations.
No. 10, Financial
Government House
New Westminster
16 March 1864
New Westminster
My Lord Duke,
I have the honor to forward herewith to Your Grace
Ordinance No 7 entitled "The British Columbia Loan Act
1864," by which the Governor of the Colony is empowered
to raise a Loan upon Debentures for such sum or sums not
exceedingOne
One Hundred Thousand pounds Sterling (£100,000), as may
be required for the purposes of surveying, constructing,
and maintaining Roads, Bridges, and other public works
within the Colony.
One Hundred Thousand pounds Sterling (£100,000), as may
be required for the purposes of surveying, constructing,
and maintaining Roads, Bridges, and other public works
within the Colony.
2. The Debentures are to bear interest at the rate
of Six per cent per annum, and are redeemable at the
expiration of 30 years from the 1st April 1864.
3. This arrangement will place this Loan in as good a
position as the Loans of 1862 and 1863, inasmuch as, like
those, it will for the last twoyears
years of its term become a
first charge upon all the Revenues of the Colony.
years of its term become a
first charge upon all the Revenues of the Colony.
4. The benefits that have already resulted to the
Colony from the great public works which the preceding
Loans enabled me to undertake, are so remarkable, and
the necessity of continuing those works is so apparent,
that but one opinion exists in the Legislature as to
the great expediency of at once raising additional funds for
investment in sources so reproductive, and so well
calculated topromote
promote the great and lasting interests of the Colony.
promote the great and lasting interests of the Colony.
5. I have before so frequently and at such length
represented to Your Grace the difficulties existing
to the development of the mineral wealth of the country,
the great distance of the Gold Fields from the port of
entry, the enormous cost of transport which absorbs
the produce of mines that otherwise would be abundantly
remunerative, and therefore kills enterprise and
checks development, that I trust it is not necessary for
me now to enter further into these considerationsto
to
satisfy Your Grace of the propriety of a measure
by which the work of improvement may be continued, and
these barriers to wealth and prosperity gradually
mitigated and removed.
to
satisfy Your Grace of the propriety of a measure
by which the work of improvement may be continued, and
these barriers to wealth and prosperity gradually
mitigated and removed.
6. So far as the financial condition of the
country is concerned, I think it fully justifies the
present measure. The Revenue for the year 1863
reached the Estimate, viz. in round numbers One
Hundred and ten thousand pounds (£110,000), an increase over
the preceding year of more than 23 per cent.The
The Revenue
this year bids fair to exhibit a corresponding increase
over that of last year; as up to the present time
the receipts from customs dues at the port of entry
are £3000 in excess of the same period last
year; and as this increase of imports will materially
swell the receipts from roads tolls, nothing can be
more satisfactory than our financial prospects for
this year; and this satisfactory state of things is
attributable, indisputably, to the opening up of
the country with the means afforded by the Loans alreadyraised
raised. The work of improvement however, cannot be stayed:
it must still be energetically prosecuted err a tithe of
the vast mineral resources of the Colony can be developed.
The Revenue
this year bids fair to exhibit a corresponding increase
over that of last year; as up to the present time
the receipts from customs dues at the port of entry
are £3000 in excess of the same period last
year; and as this increase of imports will materially
swell the receipts from roads tolls, nothing can be
more satisfactory than our financial prospects for
this year; and this satisfactory state of things is
attributable, indisputably, to the opening up of
the country with the means afforded by the Loans alreadyraised
raised. The work of improvement however, cannot be stayed:
it must still be energetically prosecuted err a tithe of
the vast mineral resources of the Colony can be developed.
7. I enclose the Attorney Generals Report upon the
Act, and under the circumstances I have stated, I hope
Your Grace will see no objections, to advising Her
Majesty to leave the Act to its operation.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Elliot
Sir Jas Douglas closes his Govt with another Loan for £100,000. He points to the great benefits which have accrued to the Colony in consequence of the construction of roads & bridges & other public works which the last Loan of £100,000 enabled him to accomplish, & alleges that the progressive increase of the Revenue places the Loan on a sound footing. I conclude that the Governor's policy must be endorsed, though I think it wd have been more satisfactory if Mr Seymour had had an opportunity of stating his views on the subject. But this oppy has been denied him.
Sir Jas Douglas closes his Govt with another Loan for £100,000. He points to the great benefits which have accrued to the Colony in consequence of the construction of roads & bridges & other public works which the last Loan of £100,000 enabled him to accomplish, & alleges that the progressive increase of the Revenue places the Loan on a sound footing. I conclude that the Governor's policy must be endorsed, though I think it wd have been more satisfactory if Mr Seymour had had an opportunity of stating his views on the subject. But this oppy has been denied him.
If the Gold in the Colony lasts for 30 years I suppose the
Loan is safe enough. But all mines come to an end: and I
think that a burden of debt amounting to £200,000 is fully
as much as this infant Colony can carry. We shall hear what
the Treasury think on the subject, to whom it will be necessary
to make a reference.
ABd
12 May
Mr Fortescue
In 1862 the Governor of British Columbia was authorized to provide for raising one Loan of £50,000, and in 1863 for raising another of £50,000: total £100,000. The first loan was raised through a Bank in the Colony, the second by the Crown Agents in this Country, which last is considered the proper mode.
In 1862 the Governor of British Columbia was authorized to provide for raising one Loan of £50,000, and in 1863 for raising another of £50,000: total £100,000. The first loan was raised through a Bank in the Colony, the second by the Crown Agents in this Country, which last is considered the proper mode.
If Mr Cardwell should wish to trace the origin of
this policy, and to see the motives on which the first loan
was sanctioned, they will be found recapitulated in a letter
from hence to the Treasury (annexed) dated the 22nd of
April 1862. The reasons which led to authorizing a repetition
of the loan in the next year are contained in the Governor's
despatch of the 15th of 1862. I should think that with reference
to the former correspondence, this despatch may be sent to the
Treasury with an opinion in favor of sanctioning the measure.
The Revenue, it will be observed, is growing rapidly.
It would be satisfactory no doubt, as Mr Blackwood mentions,
to know the views of the new Governor.But
But I think we may be
pretty sure that he will be glad to get a good sum at his
command, and it will not be necessary, merely because the law
on the subject is sanctioned, to raise the whole of the money
at once. We shall probably be able to gather his opinions
from his reports after he has been a little time in the Colony.
But I think we may be
pretty sure that he will be glad to get a good sum at his
command, and it will not be necessary, merely because the law
on the subject is sanctioned, to raise the whole of the money
at once. We shall probably be able to gather his opinions
from his reports after he has been a little time in the Colony.
TFE
13 May
Mr Jadis
Defer adopting this letter to the Treasury, I should like to refer to the Governor's despatch sending home the Loan ordinance, or to any other despatch—it there be another—recommending it. I think I remember a Minute in which Mr Blackwood suggested doubts whether Sir J. Douglas ought to have passed a Loan Ordinance at such a time, and a Minute by me in which I said that we should have time to hear from Mr Seymour, & that the ordinance could be sanctioned without necessarily ordering at once the money to be raised.
Defer adopting this letter to the Treasury, I should like to refer to the Governor's despatch sending home the Loan ordinance, or to any other despatch—it there be another—recommending it. I think I remember a Minute in which Mr Blackwood suggested doubts whether Sir J. Douglas ought to have passed a Loan Ordinance at such a time, and a Minute by me in which I said that we should have time to hear from Mr Seymour, & that the ordinance could be sanctioned without necessarily ordering at once the money to be raised.
TFE
17 June
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
H.P.P. Crease, Attorney General, to Colonial Secretary,
9 March 1864, reporting on the Loan Act 1864.
Other documents included in the file
Elliot to G.A. Hamilton, Treasury, 26 May 1864, forwarding
copy of correspondence on the subject of a proposed £100,000 loan and
asking whether the ordinance should be submitted for sanction.