Cooper to Under-Secretary of State

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication
[of] the 1st instant with enclosures.

For the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell, I have the honor
to state that the report of the Finance Committee is incorrect.

The Statement of account, from February 13th 1864, the
commencement of the Hospital year, together with the vouchers, and a
balance of something over 20$ was handed by me, to the President of the
Institution prior to my departure.

How the Finance Committee have arrived at the result stated in their
report, in the absence of any explanation from them I am at loss to
understand. It is evident they have ignored the existence of my reports;
their proper course, was I conceive, if there were any items they could
not have understood in my accounts to have asked for an explanation.

At this distance from British Columbia, and the documents I left
with the President, Captain Cooper, it will be somewhat difficult to
point out all the errors in the Finance Committee's Report. I may
mention however that I notice a balance of upwards of 200$, which
was due to the Treasurer at the close of the previous year, and which
appears in the printed Report of the
Institution's affairs for the year ending February 12th 1864;
it is not entered in the Finance Committee's Report. The amount of
Subscriptions or rather Donations, said by them to have been received
by the Treasurer, is in excess of the correct amount by about 400$. This
error may have arisen from the circumstance of the Donation List having
been commenced in 1863, and continued through 1864, many who put down
their names in the former year, did not pay till the latter; the
amount received prior to February 12th 1864, was accounted for in the
Report of the year ending upon that date; and the balance about 500$
received afterwards was accounted for in the Report given by me to the
President; the several amounts received in each year were pointed out
to him. I am thus able to point out errors in the Report of the Finance
Committee as under,

$

Balance due to the Treasurer on
February 12th 1864, say
210

Donations received and accounted for
prior to Feby 12th 1864, and charged
by the Finance Committee in error, say
400

Balance in hand in January 1865, handed
to the President and omitted in the
Finance Committee's Report, say
25

Total errors explained
635

Difference of Finance Committee's Report
685
.72

Balance unexplained
50
.72

This balance I have no doubt I could explain if I had the documents
before me, and shall unravel it immediately on my return to the Colony.

About the middle of January, on returning from Victoria, I found an
Auditor, Mr McMicking had been appointed; but I thought it better
to hand the accounts to the President, who thoroughly understood them, at
the same time that I handed him the balance,
and my resignation of the post
of Honorary Treasurer; which I had held by public re-election since the
establishment of the Hospital. My time upon this occasion was barely
sufficient to enable me to bid friends farewell &c, having to leave by
the following trip of the Steamer, in order to arrive in Victoria for
the San Francisco Steamer.

The accounts and vouchers for the previous years, were inadvertently
packed in one of twelve cases of Clothing Books Papers &c; had I thought
it a matter of any moment, I would have had the cases unpacked, and
handed these documents to the President; but as the trouble would
have been considerable, I left it until my return to the Colony.

I trust this explanation will be considered satisfactory, and
that the instructions recently issued to the Agents General may be
withdrawn. Should I not have been sufficiently explicit upon any point,
it will afford me pleasure to give any further explanation in my power.