No. 65

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 47
of the 10th of May relating to the negotiation of the British Columbia
Loan under the local Ordinance No. 7 of the 10th March 1864.

Having called upon the Crown Agents for a report of your Despatch I
received one of which a copy is enclosed.

It is quite obvious that better terms must be procurable in the
money market of England than in a new Country where capital is scarce
and interest very high; and I do not think that it would be justifiable
to expose the Colony to the heavier charges which it must bear if its
public loans are raised on the spot.

You must however be aware that even in this country interest has of
late been high and that the raising of Colonial Loans has become more
difficult, and I do not think it proper that you should draw any further
Bills upon the Crown Agents until after they shall have been able to
raise and put to the credit of the Colony the funds by which those bills
are to be met.