No. 3

A few days before my departure for British Columbia I
had a conversation in Downing Street with an Officer of Her
Majesty's Treasury, in the presence of several gentlemen of
the Colonial Office, respecting a claim advanced by the
Imperial Government against this Colony for the sum of ten
thousand, seven hundred pounds (£10,700) expended on the erection of
Barracks for the Royal Engineers at New Westminster.
Even from the statement of the official gentlemen present
at the interview it appeared to me that the claim was one
which could not without some appearance of injustice be
pressed against the Colony; and I think it was conceded
on behalf of the Treasury that no further steps would be
taken in the matter until I had reported with local knowledge
upon the question.

I have not been able in the short time which has elapsed
since my arrival in British Columbia to find the correspondence
respecting this supposed debt to the Treasury, but one glance
at the Engineer's Camp has convinced me that the buildings
are almost valueless to the Colony. I would therefore
earnestly beg that no further steps be taken to enforce
payment of the account claimed until I shall have had an
opportunity of laying my view of the question before Your Grace.