No. 86

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 95 of the
17th August suggesting that the expense of the survey of the Coasts
of British Columbia should be borne by the Imperial Government for
this and next year.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to whom your despatch
was forwarded have expressed an opinion to the effect that as the
chief work of that Survey is now removed some hundred miles from the
actual Settlements of the Colony it is really more for the benefit of
Her Majesty's Ships than for the Commercial purposes of the Colony.
The have therefore given directions for the expenses of the survey
and the hire of the "Beaver" Vessel to be borne by the Imperial
Government.