Hamilton to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In compliance with the request contained in Mr Elliot's
Letter of the 14th Instant, I am directed by the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you,
herewith, for the information of the Duke of Newcastle,
Copies of two Statements which have been received from the
Paymaster General, dated respectively the 31st October
last and the 10th Instant, being in continuation of
the Statement forwarded

in Their Lordship's Letter of the
1st February 1859, of all advances and payments on
account of British Columbia, together with an abstract thereof.

In the absence of any Accounts from British Columbia,
Their Lordships are unable to determine how far the
total amount of the advances and Payments are chargeable
upon the Parliamentary Grant.

They consider that the payments, amounting to £4,000,
on account of the occupation of the Island of San Juan,
as well as the Regimental Pay of the Royal Engineers sent out
to the Colony, are recoverable from the War Department.

They are also of opinion that the payment

of £1,800
to the Master of the Mint, on account of the preliminary
expenses of the Assay Office, should be considered as an
advance to be hereafter repaid out of the local Revenue of the Colony.