Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you, for the information
of the Duke of Newcastle, that They give Their sanction
to the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of British
Columbia for the year 1863 which are submitted in your
letter of 17th June last;

With reference to the question whether the Governor
is correct in crediting the Colony with £2000 as a
portion of the Parliamentary Vote for 1862/3 remaining
undrawn, My Lords would observe that the Assumption by
the Governor of a credit to that extent is not supported
by any account or statement on his part shewing the amount
of Bills drawn against the grant of each year, but, from
the papers in this Department, the state of the account
with the Colony appears to differ from that in which it
is supposed by the Governor to be;

In the correspondence which took place last year on
the subject of the financial arrangements of British Columbia
it was stated that, according to the Returns forwarded in
the Governor's despatch No 56 of 16th September 1861,
Bills had been drawn for 1859 and 1860 as follows, Vizt

for 1859 Bills Nos 1 to 78 - £39,320

for 1860 Bills Nos 1 to 31 - £20,706

The arrangement for adjusting the account with the Colony
was based on the sums included in these Returns, and the
settlement of the account was confined to the issues made
in those two years;

As regards the state of the account for the year 1861-2,
Bills amounting to £11,000 have been drawn against a corresponding
amount provided for the Colonial Pay of the Royal Engineers
in the Parliamentary Grant of that year. It appears, on
reference to the Governor's Despatch (No 78) of 23rd
November 1861, that it was his intention at that time not
to draw for more than £9000 but in his despatch (No 9)
dated 7th February 1862, he reported that he had directed
Bills to be drawn for the sum of £2000 "as being still
available from the Parliamentary Grant for the year ending
31st March 1862" and Bills were drawn accordingly Nos 59 & 60 for £1000 each, thus exhausting the grant for the year 1861/2.

Since the end of that year Bills on account of the Colonial
Pay of the Royal Engineers have been drawn as follows, Vizt
In April 1862, 2 Bills Nos 61 & 62 for £1000 each and 1 Bill
No 63 for £2000. In January 1863, 5 Bills, No 63 to No
68 for £1000 each; On 7th March 1863 one Bill No 69 for £2000.

And as deducting the pay of Col. Moody, vizt £1200,
the sum of £6000, was the amount voted by Parliament for
the year 1862/3, during which the Governor drew Bills for
£11,000. Altogether, there was a Deficiency of £5000, which
My Lords very reluctantly advanced out of the funds for
Civil Contingencies until it could be charged to the Vote
for the current year, but as that Vote is for the same amount
as in the preceeding year, vizt £6000, it follows that, even
supposing the Governor should not draw another Bill before
April 1864, the balance available is only one half the sum
required to complete the payments to be made by the Colony on
account of the Specie sent from this Country. My Lords have,
therefore, to request that the necessary orders upon the subject
may at once be sent to the Governor, and that at the same time,
he may be reminded that he ought not to have drawn against
the Vote for the current year until it commenced in April last, and that the Bills which he drew in January and March
last were properly chargeable against the Vote for 1862/3
in the same way that the Bills drawn by him in February 1862
were placed to the account of the Vote for the year 1861/2
as indeed the Governor in his despatch of the 7th February 1862, requested that they might be.

My Lords will make the other claims upon the Colonial
Government, adverted to in your letter of the 2nd April
last, the subject of a separate letter.