I felt satisfied that the
Duke of Buckingham would desire to have
some authentic statement of the present position of the Accounts
in England of
British Columbia and
Vancouver Island, and therefore
called on the Agents for the one furnished in the present letter.
Three times in succession
B. Columbiahas has failed to provide
funds to pay it's public creditors. Once we obtained the means from
the Treasury, and on the two next occasions the Crown Agents paid
the money out of their general balance, in other words out of the
money of other Colonies. This, it is plain, cannot be allowed to
continue.
I submit for consideration a draft to the Governor. He has
already been told in former Despatches that he must not fail to remit
money for the interest of the debt. The present account seems to
require a more general instruction. The passage about salaries is
a suggestion of my own for consideration. It may seem strong, but
where exhortation has been unavailing, may it not be better to insist
upon some practical measure which will rouse all the Authorities in
the Colony to the necessity of exertion about their finances?
What
What makes the matter so very serious, it seems to me, is the
danger to the character and value of all Colonial Securities if this
unlucky Colony defaults.