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The whole of this Returns seem quite applicable to drawing up with the exception of the one relating to the Financial Sub-Committee of the Legislative Council - no such Committee having been hitherto formed in the Legislative Council of this Colony.
Certain additions which I have inserted in red ink make the meaning of the Returns somewhat clearer and an addition I have made, likewise in red ink, to the Statement of Assets and Liabilities seems also desirable.
The permission to carry on Works to the extent of £2000 without detailed Supplementary Estimates seems too high a limit for this Colony, and I would suggest that the amount be reduced to $2000 or $3000 at most.
The documents required from Ceylon in support of the Supplementary Estimates, and the Duke of Buckingham's despatch to Sir H. Ord, appear to provide for a very different way of voting surplus expenditure and alterations in the mode of appropriation from that in existence here.
In the Straits Settlements it is evidently intended that Supplementary Estimates should be avoided as much as possible, but when emergencies arise and they cannot be dispensed with, such Estimates should be introduced into the Council as soon as they can be prepared.
In Ceylon the system would seem to be,