No. 63

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 75 of the
1st July enclosing a letter addressed to me by Mr. James Cooper,
Harbour Master of British Columbia requesting that he may be
transferred to some other Colony as his present emoluments are
insufficient for his maintenance in a state of respectability.

I regret that I am unable to hold out any hopes of being able to
meet Mr. Cooper's wishes.

In commenting upon Mr. Cooper's application I observe that you
express a belief that his statement of the circumstances under which he
accepted his present appointment is correct.

I am quite at a loss to conceive any means by which you can have a
knowledge of expectations supposed to have been held out by Lord
Lytton to Mr. Cooper, 9 years ago, at a time when you were in the
Colony of Honduras, and I desire to point out to you the inexpediency of
persons holding the responsible position of Governor expressing any
opinions of the correctness of statements put forward by
individuals on their own behalf without clear and certain knowledge of
the accuracy of them.