Colonial Despatches

Before leaving British Columbia, and in the absence of any reply to my appeal against my removal from the Office of Colonial Secretary of that Colony, to which Office I had, subsequent to the Union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, been appointed under direct authority from the Secretary of State, I addressed a letter to the Governor requesting that steps might be taken for the issue of the necessary instructions to secure to me payment of the pension orretiring retiring allowance to which I became entitled on release from Office through the abolition of the Colony in which I held office.

It is not improbable, owing to subsequent events, that my said letter may not have been forwarded home, and I, therefore, now take the liberty of addressing Your Lordship directly on the subject.

The Office which I lost upon the Union, under an Act of the Imperial Parliament, of the two formerly separate Colonies of Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, was that of Colonial Secretary and Senior Member of the Executive Council of Vancouver Island, appointed thereto by Letters Patent issued by Warrant under the Royal Sign Manual. The Salary attached to the Office was Six hundred pounds per annum (£600), secured upon the Crown Revenues of the Colony. The Salary of the Governor was the first charge upon those Revenues, that of Colonial Secretary, the second; but as, prior to Union, the Governor had been recalled, the Salary ofthe the Colonial Secretary became consequently, at the time of Union, the first charge.

I have the honor, therefore, very respectfully to request that Your Lordship will be pleased to authorize the Crown Agents to make periodical payment to me of such pension or retiring allowance, subject of course to the usual condition imposed in similar cases that should I hold further employment under the Crown, the pension or retiring allowance shall merge or be reduced pro tanto during the tenure of such employment.

The Union of the Colonies took place in November 1866, but having held further office up to the 7th April 1869; my pension or retiring allowance will only be payable from the 8th April 1869, and as I have from this latter date until now beenwithout without Salary, and have been most seriously inconvenienced through the heavy losses I have sustained in consequence of my summary and still unexplained removal from such further Office, I trust Your Lordship will not think me unreasonable in earnestly begging you to give this my application your early consideration.

In making this application, however, I would beg that it may at the same time be understood that I do not desire thereby to disconnect myself from the active service of the Crown, but that I am simply asking for the means of maintenance to which I am entitled during my enforced inactivity.