Colonial Despatches

I am directed by the Postmaster General to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th Instant, transmitting copy of a Despatch from the Governor of British Columbia, relative to the Rules which are proposed for the transaction of Money Order Business between the United Kingdom and that Colony, and which, it is seen, are generally assented to by the Colonial Government.

The only Rule on which they make a remark is the 18th—relating to remittances of money to pay the Money Orders drawn in British Columbia on the United Kingdom. In the case of this Colony, such remittances, as stated by the Governor, will probably not be necessary, because this Office has, periodically, to make payment to the Colony, through the Crown Agents in London of between £500 and £600 annually, on account of the subsidy for conveyance of the Colonial Mails to and fromSan San Francisco; and the sum thus payable may be retained as a set off against the Money Orders drawn upon this Country by the Colonial Post Office: on the understanding that, should the amount due from the Colony for Money Orders at any time exceed the sum due from this Country for the Packet Service, the question of remittance must be again considered.

I am to request that the Earl of Kimberley will inform the Governor accordingly, and, in desiring him to take measures for carrying the Money Order system into operation, will propose to him, as a convenient arrangement, that the 1st May next shall be fixed as the date for commencing the Business on both sides.