No. 24

With reference to your despatch No. 128 of the 20th of December
last, and to my answer No. 12 of the 12th of March, relative to the
Claim of Messrs Clarke and Skinner for compensation on account of the
premature termination of their contract for the supply of the Troops in
British Columbia, I have the honor to transmit to you, for your
information, a copy of a letter which has now been received on the
subject from the War Office, together with the copy of a letter from
Governor Seymour to whom I communicated the papers.

I request that you will take steps for ascertaining the particulars
suggested in the letter from General Moody which forms an enclosure of
the letter from the War Office, and for assessing the amount of the
claim of the Messrs Clarke and Skinner upon that basis. I suspend until
receiving your report, the decision on the claim, as well as the
question of the source from which any indemnity that may be considered
fairly payable to the Messrs Clarke and Skinner ought to be derived.