Young to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have had the honor of receiving your letter of the 14th
Instant, acquainting me that in consequence of the appointment
of Assistant Colonial Secretary in Jamaica having been
conferred upon me, Earl Granville cannot entertain, for the
present at least, my application for compensation for loss of
Office in British Columbia.

I would beg permission very respectfully to observe that I fear
my application has been misunderstood. It was far from my
intention to apply for compensation for loss of Office in
British Columbia. The peculiar circumstances connected with the
deprivation of Office which I suffered in that Colony were
before the Secretary of State, and I was content without further
application on my part to await at Lord Granvilles hands that
recompense which I was sure he would accord me. The issue has
proved the justness of my expectation. His Lordship has
conferred upon me, I believe, the first appointment at his
disposal since my arrival in England, and for this ready
acknowledgment of my case, I feel, as I have already expressed
myself, deeply grateful.

My removal from British Columbia, and my further employment in
Jamaica, can, however, according to the precedent, have no
bearing upon my claim to a retiring pension or allowance
for previous loss of Office for political reasons in the late
Colony of Vancouver Island, nor to the payment of such pension
while no other Office is enjoyed.

The Colony of Vancouver Island was abolished by Act of the
Imperial Parliament, the 29th and 30th Victoria Chapter 67.
According to Circular addressed by the Governor on the 13th
November 1866, to the Officers of Vancouver Island, the Offices
held in Vancouver Island were, as a necessary consequence of
such Imperial Act, also abolished.

The instances are so numerous and the principle so well
established in respect of dealing with the emoluments of Offices
which are abolished by Law that I am sure I need not extend this
communication by any lengthened references. It may, however,
not be inconvenient if I mention, as bearing directly upon
Colonial precedent, the 18 and 19 Victoria, cap 54, the Act
under which Responsible Government was extended to New South
Wales. As a necessary consequence of that Act certain superior
Officers were released or retired from Office, and provision is
made in the 51st Section that such Officers shall be entitled
by way of Pension or retiring allowance to the full amount of
the Salaries respectively received by them at the time of the
passing of the Act, subject to the condition that if further
Office under the Crown be held the pension or retiring
allowance shall merge, or be reduced pro tanto during the tenure
of such further office.

The 18th and 19th Victoria Cap. 55, the Victoria Government
Act, contains similar provisions.

The Crown Officers of Tasmania were similarly dealt with under
similar circumstances, but with this additional provision that
if they desired to
retain their Offices subject to the liability to loss contingent
upon responsible Government, then in such case they could, instead of
a pension for life, receive at once a bonus equivalent to 5
years Salary.

I could cite other instances, and instances in which subsequent
employment has been enjoyed, but I apprehend it is unnecessary,
for I understand your letter to signify that my claim to a
retiring Pension for loss of Office is not disputed, but only
that it must remain in abeyance for the present, in consequence
of an appointment having been subsequently conferred upon me.

I did not, however, ask, nor did I for one moment even
contemplate to establish any claim, to receive pension or
retiring allowance during such period as I might hold further
office. For more than two years after the loss of my Office
in Vancouver Island I held further Office in British Columbia.
I never raised the question of pension, for I considered I was
not then in a position to do so, nor should I now be in a
position to claim a pension for loss of Office in Vancouver
Island, had I not ceased to enjoy such further Office in British
Columbia, and been absolutely without its emoluments since the
7th April last.

Up to the 7th April 1869 the pension or retiring allowance for
loss of office in Vancouver Island merged in the emoluments of
the further Office I held in British Columbia, and such pension
would, of course, again merge in the emoluments of the present
Office which Lord Granville has been good enough to bestow upon me.

But irrespective of any claim I may have upon ordinary and well
established grounds, I would further mention that several
Officers who lost Office upon the extinction of Vancouver Island
as a separate Colony, and who, perhaps, according to a rigid
application of rule were really not entitled to pensions for
such loss, yet, nevertheless, received a bonus of from three to
Six months Salary, without any prejudice to subsequent
appointments bestowed upon them, and appointments too very
considerably exceeding in value the emoluments of the Office
lost. These instances were, I doubt not, duly reported to the
Secretary of State, and, therefore, I need not more particularly
refer to them. I merely mention them to shew that in making my
present application I am not asking to be placed in any
exceptional category, but merely to be treated as others have
been treated before me, and who, moreover, were in other
respects more fortunate than I have been, inasmuch as they were
not exposed to the severe losses I have suffered.

With the Crown Officers of the formerly separate Colony of
British Columbia, not one of whom lost office upon Union, the
principle of compensation has been admitted even to the extent of
construction losses, inasmuch as recompense has been sanctioned
to those gentlemen for being obliged to abandon, after Victoria
was selected as the Capital of the United Colony, the Residences
they had provided for themselves in New Westminster.

I likewise have had to abandon the Homestead I had formed for
myself in the Colony, but in my case I lost my Office as well.

I merely now ask that the Pension to which I may be entitled
under the circumstances hereinbefore
narrated may be paid to me during the period in which
I held no Office;
viz: from the 8th April to such date as I may commence to enjoy
the emoluments of the Office in Jamaica, and I sincerely trust
that with this additional information before him, and with this
explanation of the intention of my fresh application, Earl
Granville may deem that I am not asking for anything that I am
not fairly entitled to, as others have been before me, and that
his Lordship will now authorize payment to be made.