No. 17, Financial

I have the honour to enclose herewith, as a document
which may be of interest to Your Grace, a comparative statement of
the Revenue of the Colony of British Columbia
for the years 1861 and 1862.

2. The exact Revenue of 1862 cannot yet be ascertained with
certainty, as some of the distant out Station Accounts for
December have not yet been received, but the figures given I believe
to be very closely approximate, and sufficiently accurate for all
comparative purposes.

3. Had I possessed a more extensive command of funds to
prosecute more vigorously the opening up of the communications
of the Country, I feel confident that the Revenue of 1862 would have far exceeded the Estimate. As it is, it only falls short
of the Estimate by £3,500, and considering the hundreds of men
that were obliged to leave the country through the dearth and
famine prices of Provisions at the mines, the amount realized
is beyond any anticipation when I found myself unable to
continue as I had proposed those great public works, upon which
the present prosperity and future greatness of the Colony so
entirely depend.

4. The net increase of the Revenue in 1862 is £25,749 or a
little over 42 per Cent upon the Revenue of the preceeding
year. I trust Your Grace will recognize in this material fact an
indisputable evidence of the substantial prosperity and steady
progression of the Colony.