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Lyttelton Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1664, 17 April 1866, Page 2

The General Government, we are told on authority, have sent to the British Treasury a claim for £383,699, as a set-off against the claim of the Imperial Government on the colony for £675,828. If the counter claim he well founded we highly approve of its being boldly sent in: i The colony will gain nothing by sacrificing its very slender means with the hope of buying the good will of England; nor will it lose anything by vigorously standing up for its rights in matters of accouut, to the very last farthing. But we may remind those concerned in the negotiation that the. claim of England is mainly for work done, money paid, and goods supplied, under positive order and agreement, We agreed to pay £5 a man. for the, soldiers for several years. We ordered stores from the English arsenals. We drew upon the English Treasury for supplies of money' through the Commissariat. These are liabilities which do not admit of question. On the other hand, our claim can be for nothing more substantial than damages incurred by neglect, delay, incompetence, maladministration, and all the other: evils from which there is no doubt that the colony has suffered terribly at the hands of England's representatives here. We do not know exactly of what the claim for so large a sum as £383,699 is made up. It may contain charges for services actually performed. If so, they are open to the question whether, though done in behalf of English troops in the first instance, they were notin reality intendedforthebenefit of the colony. Even if the claim includes damages for actual destruction known to have been committed by the soldiers on the property of settlers, the same view may be taken by the British Treasury. In short, on their side, almost all .their claim must be taken as admitted; on our side it has to be proved from beginning to end, This is an essential difference, and one of great practical importance. There is another. difference, not less practical. We have already paid £500,000 toward the liquidation of the claim of £675,828 against us. It is all very well to bring in a counter-claim now; but does any one eipect that we shall have returned to us any of the debentures .which Mr. Weld bo liberally handed,over? We 'need;|not expect it; and* the counter claim now set up will have achieved its largest result if it prevents any further passing 1 of money; or valuable,' securities from the Colonial to the . Imperial treasury. Since. the claim'is made'we trust it will be pushed" firmly and discreetly)

neither forgetting the rights of the colony nor the respect due to the mother country.