Watson to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to report for the information of His Grace the
Secretary of State that, in pursuance of my last letter to You on the
subject of my salary as Colonial Treasurer of Vancouver Island, I
presented to the Crown Agents my draft for £100, that sum being the
difference, undrawn, betwixt my full pay, or the salary appertaing
to my office, and the rate of £400 per annum for the six months ended
the 31st October last and that the draft was returned unpaid, answer,
"no advice to accept at present." Annexed to my draft was
Governor Seymour's despatch dated the 30th March 1867, that being the
 document upon which my claim is based and not the "Certificate of
Leave" which was handed to me in London and which I cannot regard as
an authentic document for the following reason. At the suggestion of
Mr A.N. Birch, in order to save him trouble, I drew up in accordance
with the Colonial Regulations and submitted for the Governor's
Signature the usual form of "Certificate" required to be furnished to
Officers leaving a Colony which document purported to authorize me
to draw full pay for six months as Colonial Treasurer of Vancouver
Island
in terms of the Governor's despatch already referred to. The
Colonial Secretary and the Private Secretary both assured me that the
said document would be signed and duly forwarded to me before my
departure and upon the faith of these assurances I actually embarked,
with my family, for England. The Certificate, however, was not
forthcoming until my arrival at the Colonial Office in London when it
appeared that the words "Four Hundred Pounds" had been inserted after
the words "full pay" without my concurrence. I have no evidence that
His Excellency was aware of the alteration having been made and his
original offer to me thereby impaired to the extent of £200 per
annum. But Mr Birch was certainly aware that such an alteration in
the Governor's words "full pay" was contrary to my expectations and
not what I understood at the time when His Excellency made me the
offer.

Having left the question of compensation for loss of office
entirely in the hands of Her Majesty's Government I was willing to
submit to the temporary inconvenience arising out of the loss of
"full pay" for six months but as nearly a year has already elapsed
since the abolition of my office without my having received any
satisfactory communication from the Government on the subject, I have
only to add—and I trust that you will submit the circumstances to
His Grace at your early convenience—that the balance of pay due to
me by the Colonial Government is now necessary to enable me to avail
myself of other employment which I have accepted and that the
withholding of said balance of salary can only have the effect, in my
humble judgment, of increasing the embarrassment of the Colonial
Authorities in dealing with my claim for compensation for the loss of
a Crown Appointment from no fault of mine.