No. 75

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No.
59 of the 10th of September, on the subject of the claim made by the
Representatives of the late Mr. Heseltine for salary due to him at the
time of his death as Inspector Engineer to the Government of Vancouver Island.

I am unable to concur
in the reasons which have induced you to reject this Claim. That Mr. Heseltine was an undeserving person and
that he rendered no real service to the public, appears evident from
your report. But he was engaged, as the papers submitted to me show,
at a regular salary to fill an Office from which you neither suspended
nor dismissed him. Mr. Heseltine's conduct may have been such as
to warrant his dismissal, but it
cannot be made a ground on which to
withhold his pay whilst he retained the capacity of a public service.
Unless therefore there may have been in the terms of Mr. Heseltine's
engagement some special condiditon as to the payment of the Salary, of
which I am not aware, it appears to me that the claim which has been
preferred is a valid one and that
the salary due at the time of his
death should be paid to his legal Representatives. You will be so good
as to report to me again on the subject, remitting, if there be no
further objections, to the Colonial Agents the money necessary for
settling this claim.