No. 17, Financial
16 March 1863
I have the honour to enclose herewith, as a document which may be of interest to Your Grace, a comparative statement of the Revenue of the Colony of British Columbia for the years 1861 and 1862.
2. The exact Revenue of1862Manuscript image 1862 cannot yet be ascertained with certainty, as some of the distant out Station Accounts for December have not yet been received, but the figures given I believe to be very closely approximate, and sufficiently accurate for all comparative purposes.
3. Had I possessed a more extensive command of funds to prosecute more vigorously the opening up of the communications of the Country, I feel confident that the Revenue of 1862 would have far exceeded the Estimate. As it is, it only falls short of the EstimatebyManuscript image by £3,500, and considering the hundreds of men that were obliged to leave the country through the dearth and famine prices of Provisions at the mines, the amount realized is beyond any anticipation when I found myself unable to continue as I had proposed those great public works, upon which the present prosperity and future greatness of the Colony so entirely depend.
4. The net increase of the Revenue in 1862 is £25,749 or a little over 42 per Cent upon the Revenue of the preceeding year. I trust Your Grace will recognize in this material fact an indisputable evidence of the substantial prosperityandManuscript image and steady progression of the Colony.
I have the honor to be
My Lord Duke,
Your Graces most obedient
and humble Servant
James Douglas
Minutes by CO staff
Manuscript image
Mr Elliot
Copy to Treasury, for informn.
ABd 15 May
Transmit.
TFE 29 May
CF 30
N 31
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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Comparative statement of the revenue of the colony for 1861 and 1862, signed by W.A.G. Young, Acting Auditor General, 4 February 1862.
Other documents included in the file
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Copy, Elliot to G.A. Hamilton, Treasury, 5 June 1863, forwarding copy of despatch and revenue statements for information.
Douglas, Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 16 March 1863, CO 60:15, no. 4704, 199. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. James Hendrickson and the Colonial Despatches project. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/B63017.html.

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