Colonial Despatches

I have the honor to forward an authenticated and two plain Copies of an Ordinance entitled— An Ordinance granting a Supplemental Supply of Two hundred and one thousand five hundred and eighty fiveDollars Dollars and five cents out of the General Revenue of the Colony of British Columbia and its Dependencies for the Contingent Service of the Years 1868-9 respectively.

2. The usual Report from the Attorney General is annexed. Remark is scarcely necessary from me, as the expenditure which is now made legal had almost all been incurred before my entering upon theadministration administration of the Government, and the Bill is framed in accordance with what has been the usual practice. Many of the items of the Supply granted in this Bill had however been already authorized in the Ordinary appropriation Ordinances for the years mentioned; and it is not obvious to me why another enactment should be required for this expenditureif if the liability was incurred within the allotted period and did not exceed the amount assigned although the money may not have been actually paid out of the Treasury until after the close of the year. The system which has been pursued renders Supplementary Supply bills unavoidable, introduces a great deal of complexity and apparent confusion in financialstatements statements, and I am disposed to think arises from a misunderstanding of the instructions of the Lords of the Treasury upon which it is said to be based.