No. 12, Financial

With reference to my despatch No 7 of the 26th Ultimo
I have now the honor to forward to your Grace herewith the
detailed Estimates of the Revenue and Expenditure of the Colony
of British Columbia for the year 1861, prepared in as complete and formal a manner as the present infant state of the Colony will admit.

2. My despatch above alluded to contains most of the
explanatory remarks pertinent to these Estimates, and it is
therefore unnecessary for me to encumber this despatch with a
repetition, but there is one point in particular which I will
now take the liberty of bringing to your Grace's attention.

3. In previous correspondence I have asked your Grace for
a reconsideration of the Salaries fixed by Her Majesty's
Government for the principal Officers of this Government, and
your Grace although at that time unable to sanction any increase,
has kindly held out the hope that when I was able to furnish
more definite information as to the Revenue of the Colony, the
subject would again be taken up. The information I have
conveyed in my despatch of the 26th January will exhibit to
your Grace the very satisfactory condition in which the Revenue
of the Colony at present stands, and will shew that not only
has the Colony not applied one sixpence of Imperial Funds
towards liquidating the Civil expenditure within the Colony,
but that she has, in addition to defraying from the first every
farthing of such expenditure, been enabled in 1860 to apply the sum of Thirty six thousand pounds (£36,000)
towards public works indispensable * to her progress and development; and thus to make an investment which has undoubtedly proportionately increased her Revenue, and materially promoted her advancement and stability.

4. The character of the Colony as a gold producing Country
is now so far established that there is but little fear of any
decrease in the present population; on the contrary the
population would seem to be steadily increasing just in
proportion as we can open up roads, and, reducing thereby
the cost of provisions, make the less profitable diggings
remunerative, and day by day is the work of advancement slowly
but no less surely progressing.

5. I think therefore that your Grace need be under no
apprehension of the Mother Country being called upon to defray
any part of the Civil Expenditure of the Colony, and that the
time has come when I may confidently ask that the salaries
which I have inserted in the Estimates for the superior Civil
Officers may be confirmed.

6. The entire Civil Expenditure of the Colony may perhaps
appear large to your Grace, but your Grace is well aware of
the vast extent of Territory included within the Colony, and
of the necessity, for the preservation of law and order, and
for the interests of the Revenue, to establish a Government
Agent at every spot where the miners may congregate and form
a settlement; and to prove not only the expediency but the
correctness of this policy, I would merely advert to the
remarkable tranquillity, and almost total absence of crime
within the Colony, and I would further observe that these
outstations are not only in nearly every case self supporting,
but in some cases add a considerable amount to the general
Revenue. The salaries of some of the Magistrates at the distant
outstations may appear large in comparison with the salaries
asked for the principal Officers of the Government, but in
both cases I would assure your Grace that no more has been
inserted than is sufficient to procure a bare subsistence, and
that the salaries now placed on the Estimates for the superior
Civil Officers are not at all commensurate to their position,
nor approximate to the salaries paid by the Mercantile
Community; for I am informed on good authority that the Actuary
of the Bank established here, whose labours are insignificant
as compared with those of the Treasurer, received a salary of
£2000 per annum, while his two Clerks receive the salaries
of £800 and £600 respectively, and that from £400 to £600
per annum is the usual sum paid by Heads of Firms to their
Clerks and Assistants. Compare this with the present salaries
of the Colonial Secretary, Treasurer, and Collector of Customs,
Gentlemen of position, education, and ability, who by their
very position and education are incapable of availing themselves
of those advantages which their ability would secure to them.

7. I trust your Grace will not think I am unduly pressing
this matter upon your attention, but I know many of the officers
cannot live upon their salaries, unless indeed, as some are
obliged to do, they have recourse to the expedient of taking
their meals at a Restaurant and sleeping in their Office. I
have merely related these few facts for your Grace's information,
for I feel satisfied it would be your desire as soon as the
Colony can afford it to relieve the Officers of the Government
from this embarrassing position.

8. With reference to the sum inserted in the Estimates to
be expended under the head of "Roads, Streets and Bridges", I
trust I may in this early stage of the Colony be permitted to
depart from customary rule, and be left free to expend upon the
important public work of extending the communications of the
country—all the Revenue that may become disposable.

9. The accounts of the Colony for 1860 are in an almost
complete state, only requiring certain distant district accounts
to render them perfect, and they will I hope be forwarded to
England within the prescribed period. The accounts for 1859
are also nearly complete but they have been delayed until now,
in consequence of the difficulties attendant upon their entire
reconstruction, and the references that were necessary in
connection with the Military Expenditure, and other expenditures
during the early stage of the Colony, and before a regularly
organized system was established.

10. As bearing upon the subject of this despatch I take
the opportunity of enclosing a Return of all the Appointments
made by me to Offices in British Columbia up to the 31st
December 1860.