Sclater Booth to Under-Secretary of State
Treasury Chambers
30th March 1868
Sir,
The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have had
before them your letter of the
19th ulto enclosing copies of
two Despatches from the Governor of
British Columbia; the first
enclosing the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for
1867 and
the Appropriation Ordinance N
o 13
1867, and the second, the
Supplementary
Estimates Estimates for
1866 with an ordinance No 27,
1867.
I am to state, for the information of the Secretary of State,
that adverting to the date at which these Estimates have been
submitted to this Board—it appears to My Lords that there is no
alternative but to signify their approval of them.
They observe with regret that the same sum is inserted for
repayment of
Temporary Temporary Loans as that specified in the estimates
of
1866—and, although some explanation is afforded in the
Report of the Assistant Colonial Secretary (which is
enclosed)—from the financial difficulties which have resulted
from the union of the two Colonies—they trust that the
Secretary of State will call the attention of the Governor to
the extreme importance of bringing the Expenditure within the
Revenue—and
that that that officer should be urged to make further
reductions in salaries and other items of expenditure so as to
relieve the Colony from this temporary liability.
With this understanding My Lords will not refuse their assent to
the Estimates viz
t:
Revenue $675,350
Expenditure 701,710
to the Ordinance No 13
Mar 11 1867, appropriating the sum of
$566,658.30 for the year
1867, and to the Ordinance
No 27 No 27
Apr
2, 1867 appropriating a further sum of $96,918.11 for the
service of the year
1866.
Minutes by CO staff
Sir F. Rogers
The Estimates for
1867 must be sanctioned & also the
Supplementary ones for
1866—& the two Appropriation Ordinances
must be confirmed.
The Financial state of
B. Columbia is in abeyance—& it appears
from letters from
Govr Seymour to the two leading Representative
Members of the Council (the letters are in a newspaper of Jan
y)
that
Govr Seymour does not intend to call the Council together
until he receives some important financial despatches from the
D. of Buckingham which he is expecting. The result is that
whatever payments are being made out of the local T
y are being
made without Estimate, Vote of Council or Appropriation
Ordinance. Whether
Govr Seymour would proceed with his
Estimates on the receipt of His Grace's
despatch of the
14 Dec. remains to be seen. But I should think
not. The postal question is also in abeyance.
I
wd send this out and request a definite report upon the
retrenchments
wh have been made in order to meet the
difficulties of the Colony, and the periods at [which]
they were
made—whether by way of reducing salaries & offices, or by way
of stopping public works, and also the steps
wh have been taken
to increase the Revenue either by imposing fresh Taxes or by
providing for their better collection.
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