Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Public Offices document
McCulloch, John Ramsay to
Elliot, Thomas Frederick 26 October 1858, CO 60:2, no. 10972, 175.
Abstract
Public Offices document.
Minutes (4), Other documents (2), Marginalia (1).
McCulloch confesses that he has not seen Gosset concerning the order of stationery for British Columbia. He regrets that he cannot provide an estimate of costs.
The minutes decide to order stationery without Gosset’s input or an estimate.
McCulloch to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)
Stationery Office
26 October 1858
Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 22nd
Instant
1
in regard to Stationery required for British
Columbia;
2
and I beg to state with reference to this matter for the information of
Sir Bulwer Lytton.
That I have not seen Captain Gosset, to whom reference is made in
your letter, and that consequently no steps have yet been taken in the
matter.
I observe that you desire me to send an Estimate of the cost of the
articles to be sent out, for Sir Bulwer Lytton's approval. I presume
however, that this paragraph must have been inserted in your letter by a
mistake.No
No such Estimates have been supplied by this Office for many
years past. And I have already had occasion in my letter to Mr
Barnard of the 30th June
last,
3
to bring the subject under Sir Bulwer's notice, and to show the entire
worthlessness of such Estimates, and the time, trouble, and expense
needed for making them out. I, therefore, take it for granted that the
preliminary Estimate will not be required. It is enough surely, if only
necessary articles be ordered, to know that they are supplied at the
lowest prices at which they can be obtained, under a system of fair
competition. I beg to add that there is not a Clerk here who could be
spared to make out such Estimates.
No such Estimates have been supplied by this Office for many
years past. And I have already had occasion in my letter to Mr
Barnard of the 30th June
last,
3
to bring the subject under Sir Bulwer's notice, and to show the entire
worthlessness of such Estimates, and the time, trouble, and expense
needed for making them out. I, therefore, take it for granted that the
preliminary Estimate will not be required. It is enough surely, if only
necessary articles be ordered, to know that they are supplied at the
lowest prices at which they can be obtained, under a system of fair
competition. I beg to add that there is not a Clerk here who could be
spared to make out such Estimates.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Elliot
Order the Registration Stationery without an estimate. Capn Gossett has failed, it seems to call on the Comptroller as desired. Capn G. sails on Sat: & is now at Windsor. We must move without him, I fear.
Order the Registration Stationery without an estimate. Capn Gossett has failed, it seems to call on the Comptroller as desired. Capn G. sails on Sat: & is now at Windsor. We must move without him, I fear.
The alternative is to write to him to night, & desire him to specify
to us the precise stationery & quantity he wants—& then for us to order
it.
ABd
27 Oct
It seems to me that the best thing for us now to do is to inform
the Comptroller that Captn Gosset has probably been prevented from
calling on him by the urgent demands on his time on the eve of sailing,
but that Sir E.B. Lytton will therefore forward in the usual channel
through the Treasury a request that the Comptroller will have the
goodness to furnish such a supply of ordinarystationery
stationery as may
appear to him likely to be suited to the wants of the Government of
British Columbia. Then write to the Treasury to that effect. I propose
this, for otherwise the Treasury would justly call us to account
for ordering stationery from the Comptroller without their intervention.
stationery as may
appear to him likely to be suited to the wants of the Government of
British Columbia. Then write to the Treasury to that effect. I propose
this, for otherwise the Treasury would justly call us to account
for ordering stationery from the Comptroller without their intervention.
TFE
27 Octr
I agree.
C
Oct 27
Agreed.
EBL
Oct 29
Other documents included in the file
Draft, Elliot to Sir Charles Trevelyan, Treasury, 11 November 1858, requesting that Gosset's application for stationery
be complied with.
Footnotes
- = Bonds for Gosset Where to go. A draft of this letter appears in Gosset to Lytton, 12 October 1858, 10459, CO/3, p. 99.
- A draft of this letter appears in Gosset to Colonial Office, 1858, 10405, CO 60/3, p. 91. For Gosset's additional letter, see Gosset to Under-Secretary of State, 1858, 10965, CO/3, p. 120.
- = McCulloch - Barnard, stationery for BC FIND?? McCulloch-Barnard, 30 June, re stationery.