In compliance with the request contained in
Mr Elliot's
Letter of the
14th Instant, I am directed by the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you,
herewith, for the information of the
Duke of Newcastle,
Copies of two Statements which have been received from the
Paymaster General, dated respectively the
31st October
last and the
10th Instant, being in continuation of
the Statement forwarded
in
in Their Lordship's Letter of the
1st February 1859, of all advances and payments on
account of
British Columbia, together with an abstract thereof.
In the absence of any Accounts from
British Columbia,
Their Lordships are unable to determine how far the
total amount of the advances and Payments are chargeable
upon the Parliamentary Grant.
They consider that the payments, amounting to £4,000,
on account of the occupation of the
Island of San Juan,
as well as the Regimental Pay of the Royal Engineers sent out
to the Colony, are recoverable from the War Department.
They are also of opinion that the payment
of
of £1,800
to the Master of the Mint, on account of the preliminary
expenses of the Assay Office, should be considered as an
advance to be hereafter repaid out of the local Revenue of the Colony.