Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)
Crown Colonies Office
6 Adelphi Terrace W.C.
London
1 June 1863
Sir,
Adverting to your Letter of the 13 November last on the subject of the British Columbia Loan of £50,000 and to clause XIII of the Loan Act of 1862, I have the honor to request that you will move the Duke of Newcastle to determine the nature of the securities in which the Sums paid on account of the Sinking Fund are to be invested and to select the Trustees for the same.
I would suggest that the Governor of British Columbia, to meet the requirement of clause XII[I] of the Act before referred to, should be instructed to remit punctually to the Agents General the sum of £3,750 in time for the payment of the Half YearsinterestManuscript image interest and Sinking Fund due on the 1 July and 1 January in each year.
At the present date the Colony of British Columbia is in debt to the Agents General to the Amount of £1080.
I have etc.
W.C. Sargeaunt
Agent General
Minutes by CO staff
Manuscript image
Mr Elliot
I shd suggest that one of the Agents General and the Chief Clerk of this Office should be the Trustees.
As to the investment of the Sinking Fund I think we had better ask the Treasury what will be the best security for the money.
Instruct the Governor to remit funds for the payment of the 1/2 yearly interest and sinking fund—& remind him that he is at this date in debt to the Agents to the amount of £1080.
ABd 3 June
I agree withManuscript image Mr Blackwood. I should forward a copy of this letter to the Treasury, and request to be favored with their Lordship's opinion on the proper investment of the Sinking Fund of the B. Columbia Loan, and also to be informed whether they see any objection to naming one of the Agents General and the Chief Clerk of this Office to be the Trustees.
The Governor should of course be instructed to remit funds with the utmost punctuality for the payment of the half yearly interest and of the Sinking Fund. The opportunity should be taken of drawing attention to the statement of Mr Sargeaunt in the present letter that the debt of British Columbia to the Agents General now amounts to £1080; and with reference to the peremptory instructions given to him in the recent despatch No 15 of the 14th of March to keep the Agents duly provided with funds for the execution of the services required by the Colony in this Country, I should repeat the same directions to him, and should warn him that after he has had sufficient time to receive the despatches on this subject no requisition whatever from him, however urgent it may be, will be attended to unless the money required for it's execution is actually in the hands of the Agents General.
With reference also to another recent despatch No 17 of the 31st of March in which he was ordered to leave the new loan to be effectedManuscript image by the Colonial Agents in the money market of this Country, I should apprize him that immediately upon raising the money procured by that operation, the Agents General would be instructed to begin by reimbursing themselves in the whole amount due to them which may not have been discharged by any remittances received in the meantime from the Colony. The Governor will only be able to draw upon them for the balance of the proceeds of the loan; and any Bills exceeding that amount will be refused, leaving the consequences to fall upon the Colonial Treasury.
TFE 5 June
I agree.
CF 6
N 8
Other documents included in the file
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Elliot to G.A. Hamilton, Treasury, 19 June 1863, forwarding copy of the Agent's letter, and requesting investment and other financial advice.
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Draft reply, Newcastle to Douglas, No. 25, 11 June 1863.
Sargeaunt, William Charles to Elliot, Thomas Frederick 1 June 1863, CO 60:17, no. 5424, 77. 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/B635AG03.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)