No. 52

Adverting to my Despatch of this date forwarding a
communication from Mr Young tendering the resignation of
his appointment as Colonial Secretary of this Colony, with
the view of being confirmed as Colonial Secretary of Vancouver's
Island, I have the honor in the event of Mr Young's request
being complied with to place before Your Grace the name of Mr Chartres Brew, as a Successor to Mr Young.

2. Mr Brew was especially selected by Your Grace's
predecessor to fill the Office of Chief Inspector of Police
a position which in the early state of the Colony was deemed
of importance and responsibility. Upon sick leave being
granted last year to Captain Gosset, the Treasurer, I placed
Mr Brew in charge of the Treasury, a proceeding which Your
Grace approved; and in this as in the other duties which Mr
Brew has discharged in the Colony he has given me unqualified
satisfaction. He is possessed of discretion, of an even
temper, and of mild unassuming manners, joined to good
business habits, and sound common sense: Qualities which are
essential in a Colonial Secretary. I therefore feel I
may safely recommend Mr Brew as a gentleman who will faithfully
and satisfactorily fulfill the duties of Colonial Secretary
if that Office be vacated by Mr Young.

3. I am not aware of Captain Gosset's movements, but as
his leave has expired by more than two months, I presume
that the rumours current in the Colony that he does not intend
returning are correct. In such case should Your Grace appoint
Mr Brew to be Colonial Secretary the Office of Treasurer will become vacant, and for this Office I would take the liberty
of recommending to Your Grace Mr Charles Good, who has for
the last four years and a half served as Chief Clerk in the
Office of the Colonial Secretary, and has during my absence in
the interior of British Columbia occasionally accompanied me,
acting as my private Secretary. Mr Good is the son of the
Reverend Henry Good of Wimborne Minster, Dorset. He is a
graduate of Exeter College Oxford, is a gentleman of high
integrity and good address; and during the period he has
been in the Service of the Colony, has acquired an intimate
knowledge of public business, and is well versed in the
system of accounts established in the Colony. I beg therefore
to place him before Your Grace as a fit and proper person
to fill the Office of Treasurer.

4. In concluding this Despatch I deem it right to state
in justice to a very efficient and valuable Officer—Mr
Hamley the Collector of Customs—that I should have recommended
him for the Office of Colonial Secretary, had he not represented
to me that his state of health would, he feared, unfit him for
the constant application required from such an Office.