LETTER, ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY TO SEPTIMUS BURT RE APPOINTMENT ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL

Cover letter dated 30th March 1886 from Matthew Skinner Smith, Acting Colonial Secretary, to Septimus Burt accompanying a Commission to be a member of the Executive Council of WA and a Warrant for the position of Acting Attorney General.
Letter handwritten on single sheet of cream paper using official printed stationary from the Western Australian Colonial Secretary's Office, Perth dating from the 1880s. The paper has a vertical bi-fold and the letter is written on the front page and on the first inside page to the left of the fold.
Burt accepted Governor Broome’s invitation to act temporarily as Attorney General after the abrupt resignation of Alfred Peach Hensman (following accusations of impropriety). Burt stayed on in the role until September 1886. George Leake then stepped in as legal advisor until the new Attorney General arrived. Charles Warton (former member of the House of Commons, London) was appointed Western Australia's Attorney General in October and arrived in Perth on 30 November 1886.