Hart to Secretary of State

The Committee of this Society feel very grateful for the kind offer
of a free passage in the "Thames City" for the Clergyman they propose to
appoint to British Columbia.

In consequence of the previous appropriation of the funds at their
disposal the Committee were unable to proceed to the immediate
appointment of a clergyman though the appeals made to them were very
urgent. Had they been in a position to do so they would have been able
to accept the offer of a passage by the "Thames City" and would have gladly done so, but inasmuch as they have not yet actually appointed a
clergyman, and he could not possibly be ready to leave England so soon as
Thursday next, they very much regret that they are quite unable to avail
themselves of the present opportunity.

The Committee have made strenuous efforts to provide a salary of
£300 a year for the gentleman whom they are on the eve of appointing and
they trust that in consequence of the difficulties which they have had to
encounter Her Majesty's Government will be pleased to aid them by a
grant, and thus enable them to send their clergyman and his wife to the
new Colony viâ New York and Panama in October.

The Committee fully understand that in the event of the Clergyman to
be appointed being attached to the Royal Engineers, the fact of his being
so attached will not be held to confer any claim or title on a future
occasion either to employment or pension or compensation.