Colonial Despatches

I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 14th Instant, acquainting me that in consequence of the appointment of Assistant Colonial Secretary in Jamaica having been conferred upon me, Earl Granville cannot entertain, for the present at least, my application for compensation for loss of Office in British Columbia.

I would beg permission very respectfully to observe that I fear my application has been misunderstood. It was far from my intention to apply for compensation for loss of Office in British Columbia. The peculiar circumstances connected with the deprivation of Office which I suffered in that Colony were before the Secretary of State, and I was content without further application on my part to await at Lord Granvilles hands that recompense which I was sure he would accord me. The issue has proved the justness of my expectation. His Lordship has conferred uponme me, I believe, the first appointment at his disposal since my arrival in England, and for this ready acknowledgment of my case, I feel, as I have already expressed myself, deeply grateful.

My removal from British Columbia, and my further employment in Jamaica, can, however, according to the precedent, have no bearing upon my claim to a retiring pension or allowance for previous loss of Office for political reasons in the late Colony of Vancouver Island, nor to the payment of such pension while no other Office is enjoyed.

The Colony of Vancouver Island was abolished by Act of the Imperial Parliament, the 29th and 30th Victoria Chapter 67. According to Circular addressed by the Governor on the 13th November 1866, to the Officers of Vancouver Island, the Offices held in Vancouver Island were, as a necessary consequence of such Imperial Act, also abolished.

The instances are so numerous and the principle so well established in respect of dealing with the emoluments of Offices which are abolished by Law that I am sure I need not extend this communication by any lengthened references. Itmay may, however, not be inconvenient if I mention, as bearing directly upon Colonial precedent, the 18 and 19 Victoria, cap 54, the Act under which Responsible Government was extended to New South Wales. As a necessary consequence of that Act certain superior Officers were released or retired from Office, and provision is made in the 51st Section that such Officers shall be entitled by way of Pension or retiring allowance to the full amount of the Salaries respectively received by them at the time of the passing of the Act, subject to the condition that if further Office under the Crown be held thepension pension or retiring allowance shall merge, or be reduced pro tanto during the tenure of such further office.

The 18th and 19th Victoria Cap. 55, the Victoria Government Act, contains similar provisions.

The Crown Officers of Tasmania were similarly dealt with under similar circumstances, but with this additional provision that if they desired to retain their Offices subject to the liability to loss contingent upon responsible Government, then in such case they could, instead of a pension for life, receive at once a bonus equivalent to 5 years Salary.

I could cite other instances,and and instances in which subsequent employment has been enjoyed, but I apprehend it is unnecessary, for I understand your letter to signify that my claim to a retiring Pension for loss of Office is not disputed, but only that it must remain in abeyance for the present, in consequence of an appointment having been subsequently conferred upon me.

I did not, however, ask, nor did I for one moment even contemplate to establish any claim, to receive pension or retiring allowance during such period as I might hold further office. For more than two years afterthe the loss of my Office in Vancouver Island I held further Office in British Columbia. I never raised the question of pension, for I considered I was not then in a position to do so, nor should I now be in a position to claim a pension for loss of Office in Vancouver Island, had I not ceased to enjoy such further Office in British Columbia, and been absolutely without its emoluments since the 7th April last.

Up to the 7th April 1869 the pension or retiring allowance for loss of office in Vancouver Island merged in the emoluments of the further Office I held in BritishColumbia Columbia, and such pension would, of course, again merge in the emoluments of the present Office which Lord Granville has been good enough to bestow upon me.

But irrespective of any claim I may have upon ordinary and well established grounds, I would further mention that several Officers who lost Office upon the extinction of Vancouver Island as a separate Colony, and who, perhaps, according to a rigid application of rule were really not entitled to pensions for such loss, yet, nevertheless, received a bonusof of from three to Six months Salary, without any prejudice to subsequent appointments bestowed upon them, and appointments too very considerably exceeding in value the emoluments of the Office lost. These instances were, I doubt not, duly reported to the Secretary of State, and, therefore, I need not more particularly refer to them. I merely mention them to shew that in making my present application I am not asking to be placed in any exceptional category, but merely to be treated as others have been treated before me, and who, moreover, were in other respects more fortunate than I have been,inasmuch inasmuch as they were not exposed to the severe losses I have suffered.

With the Crown Officers of the formerly separate Colony of British Columbia, not one of whom lost office upon Union, the principle of compensation has been admitted even to the extent of construction losses, inasmuch as recompense has been sanctioned to those gentlemen for being obliged to abandon, after Victoria was selected as the Capital of the United Colony, the Residences they had provided for themselves in New Westminster.

I likewise have had to abandon the Homestead I hadformed formed for myself in the Colony, but in my case I lost my Office as well.

I merely now ask that the Pension to which I may be entitled under the circumstances hereinbefore narrated may be paid to me during the period in which I held no Office; viz: from the 8th April to such date as I may commence to enjoy the emoluments of the Office in Jamaica, and I sincerely trust that with this additional information before him, and with this explanation of the intention of my fresh application, Earl Granville may deem that I am not asking for anythingthat that I am not fairly entitled to, as others have been before me, and that his Lordship will now authorize payment to be made.