, 1881-01-12

which had been damaged or deSCrOyod In
the hurricane of 18th and 18th September
1876. In the accounts it appears as II this
amount hal not been used, but the Commit
tee has learned on enquiry, that it had been
credited to the several tax accounts in
such a manner as to write off the claims
of the Government on the lpoor persons In
question. ~
The Committee observes in the g Versur
Accounts" that the Colonial Treas ury has
been charged SI2, 954, SO for outlay oncefOr
alp, by which is meant payments madegln
Copenhagen for account of Colonial officials
againsttheir paying corresponding amounts
into the Colonial Treasury; but it does
not appear from the Accounts what ex-
pense the Colonial Treasury has had in
renting these amounts to Copenhagen,
and the Committee begs to call the atten-
ton of the Council to this point.
ST. Croix 10th November 1880.
JOHN t. GUM J. w. WILLARD,
Mr. Quin said it would be perceived that
the Committee had found little to remark
mon. The various items would speak for
themselves. He would only call attention
to the last clause Of the report, which he
quoted.
AS this was a matter probably not con.
fined to the particular accounts under
consideration. but extending through a
series of years, the committee had thought
it best to call attention to it, IN order to
obtain a general ielucidatiOn of the ques-
ton. 1t was we'll known that money could
not be RENTED abroad without some Ok.
pense, or at least there was always some
difference in exchange values, but there
was nothing in the accounts 10 shew
whether the transactions referred TO mao
been attended with a loss or a profit to the
colony.
The President would remark with regard
to the missing accounts for 1861 that
he had on the 9TH of last month made ap-
plication to the Ministry at home for
q copy.
veterinary surgeon, it had stood on the
Budget for a number of years without be-
ing used, and he might say without being
intended to be used, When it originated it
was only a small addition to the real sala-
~ of the veterinary surgeon, Mr..
Langaballe. AS was well known, he APP
peared to be a very fit person, and every
body was willing to pay him. After his
death however nobody stepped forward to
take his place. The Presidency then sent
circulars to the planters dShlHS MHoLuoL
they would not subscribe to obtain tho SER
vices of q veterinary surgeon, and If they
had acceded it would no doubt have been
easy o increase the grant with the view to
inducing a competent man to come out.
Much more no doubt would be requisite
than formerly. The position of such men
was much better than in former days,
their knowledge was much greater
and much more was required of them.
The planters however, met the proposal
with a down right refusal. This was to
him quite incomprehensible, as he believed
the expense would be more than repaid to-
the estates, the saving of one mule would
cover it. lie believed however that plant
ers now knew the danger of such a state
of things, in producing loss of stock, not
to speak of the risk of introducing
diseased animals into the island.
With regard to the last clause of the re-
port in which the committee call attention
to moneys RENTED for Colonial Officials,
he would say that iG was impossible to
trace how this practice originated. He
supposed it had originally been on . very
small scale, and as a matter of favour. Ii
began, moreover, at a time when the colo
nv had to remit money to Denmark, and
these smaller sums could be included. At
that time the trade with the Mother Coun-
try was large, there were heavy shipments
ofsugar, and it was easy to buy bills, con-
seauently the exchange was at amuch lower
rate that it had been of late years. When
the practice commenced it must be remem-