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I'mould this be done, the Accounts will be clear, and by an adherence to Lord Grey's direction; (in the Despatch now under consideration), that the expected Balance at the close of one year shall form an item in the Estimate of ways and means for the next, there should be no chance of the recurrences of the confusion of 1844-40 arises -years which I am inclined to think that the misunderstanding at the Colonial Office arises from having overlooked the fact that in the 1844 and 1845, the Governor had available means in the Chinese Indemnity Money passed through his hands, and in want of sufficient Parliamentary Grants it was necessary to have recourse to these means; hence the Balance of £16,177 in the Treasurer's Chest on April 1845, which had been drawn from the Indemnity Fund during the previous quarter but was carried to account in the quarter ended June 1845.
With regard to the defect observed in Sir John Davies' Despatch of 24th September last, in the absence of a detailed Estimate of Public Works, I beg to refer to my letter to yourself of the 6th ultims, where I have stated that the Surveyor General was never called on to prepare such Estimate for that Despatch.
On the next point, the Variance of classification of Revenue and Expenditure, I have to observe that until lately there was no fixed standard for the classification, Department, for examples placing an item under Ordinary, which another brought under Special Contingencies; and moreover, as the Warrants were furnished by the late Auditor, the Treasurer was obliged to adopt in his accounts the Auditor's classification. The Regulations, however, received at the end of last year, will prevent this variance in future.
I attach Returns which will show precisely how much was outstanding against...