Young to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

Adverting to your letter of the 26th August last, communicating to
me that the Crown Agents had been authorized to pay my half Salary
while in England on leave of absence from the Colony of Vancouver's
Island, but that as the Secretary of State lacked certain information
from the Colony, he was not then in a position to sanction such
payment at a higher rate than for a Salary of £500 per Annum; I, in
the hope that the Secretary of State has by this time received the
required advices from the Colony, now take the liberty of
representing that as I am on the point of quitting this Country to
return to my Colony, it would be a matter of great convenience if the
difference between the rate authorized as aforesaid viz £500, per
annum, and the rate assigned by the Secretary of State in 1863, viz
£600 per annum, could be paid by the Crown Agents before my departure.

2. I am emboldened to make this application, as I feel every
confidence that the Crown Revenue in the Colony is ample to bear the
charge assigned to it as Salary for the Governor and for the Colonial
Secretary, and in support of this assertion I would state that I have
good reason to believe that the Governor's Salary has been regularly
paid in the Colony at the increased rate, and also that the Half
Salary issued to the gentleman acting in my position during my
absence has likewise been paid at the higher rate. If I have been
misinformed, and am in error upon these points, I can only say that,
if the Secretary of State should now grant my request, I will hold
myself prepared, should he hereafter see cause to require it, to
refund the difference between the two rates of Salary for which I now
apply.