Colonial Despatches

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th Instant, transmitting for any observations which may occur to the Crown Agents for the Colonies copy of a Despatch from the Governor of British Columbia, with a letter from the Auditor General, suggesting that the Sinking Fund of British Columbia Loans should be invested in the purchase of the Debentures of that Colony which he states are selling below par.

In reply I have the honor to state, for the information of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, thatit it appears to the Crown Agents that the proposal of the Colonial Authorities might with advantage be sanctioned, and the Debentures of British Columbia added to the list of Colonial Government Securities in which the Sinking Funds of that Colony may be invested.

If His Grace should approve of this recommendation the Trustees should be authorized to purchase from time to time, subject to the provisions of Act No 6 of 1866, the Debentures either of Ceylon, Mauritius, New South Wales, Victoria, Cape of Good Hope or British Columbia, to which might be added those of New Zealand.

It is desirable to vest this discretionary power in the Trustees,because because if the investments were in future to be confined to the re-purchase of British Columbia Debentures, the steady demand thus created would result in an increase of price and deprive the Colony of any profit from the arrangement.

The Crown Agents see no grounds to fear that the public credit of the Colony would suffer, even in the least degree, by the proposed re-purchase.