Consequent upon enquiry made I expressed myself in favour of pecuniary assistance to be rendered, by the Mother Country to the Colony.
But I fear it is useless. The Colony is blamed for extravagance, and it is not considered that the expenditure was incurred in pursuance of a policy sanctioned by the Home Government.
I find in a Treasury letter from Mr. Mills dated 22nd June 1857 that advances to be made, upon the Revenue of the Colony, such advances to be repaid out of that Revenue, when it may be sufficient to discharge that charge.
I do not know when that may be expected, but I gather from the sentence of Mr. Merivale's Letter (Para. 15, No. 96) that there is a hope that as Her Majesty's Treasury may not have come to an irrevocable decision in the matter, any large drain upon the Imperial Treasury will not be sanctioned.
It is not believable that the Imperial Treasury will ever be called upon to make good the allowances to officers of this Colony by payment of retired allowances. I have caused an accurate list of Public Servants here during a period of nearly 15 years, and commencing my own career, a short time after the Charter of the Colony.