Berens to Newcastle

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr C. Fortescue's
letter of the 12th Instant transmitting Copy of a Despatch from the
Governor of Vancouver's Island to your Grace dated the 14th May 1859
and of the documents enclosed therein on the subject of the erection
of certain Public Buildings at Victoria, together with Draft of a
Despatch which your Grace intends to address to the Governor by the
next Mail.

Your Grace is probably aware that from the time that this Company took
possession of Vancouver's Island under the Grant from the Crown they
have been looked to to provide all the funds that might be required
for its' colonization and improvement, and they have not hesitated on any
occasion, although very often at considerable inconvenience, to
advance their own monies for the purpose when they were not in funds
from receipts for the Sale of land or otherwise.

Although the Company have never yet received a distinct notice of the
intention of Her Majesty's Government to repurchase the Island at the
expiration of the License to Trade they have always assumed from Mr
Under Secretary Merivale's communication to them of the 20th January
1858 which intimated that it was the intention of the Colonial Office
to recommend the adoption of that cause, that in the result it would
be so adopted; and they have therefore since that period strongly
impressed upon the Governor, so far as the connection of the Company
with him enabled them to do so, the necessity of exercising the
greatest caution in the Government expenditure, with a view of
restricting the advances which the Company felt themselves bound to
make to what was actually necessary for the maintenance of the
Government.

Your Grace must be aware that the Officers conducting the monetary
and Commerical affairs of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Colony can
only look to the Governor representing the Home Government as the
party to determine what disbursements are required for the wants of
the Government, and if the Governor deemed it necessary that certain
Buildings should be erected for Government purposes, it would not be
the business of the Officers of this Company to express any judgment
upon the resolution he might arrive at. Nor would they, under such
circumstances, feel themselves justified in withholding the funds
that might be required for carrying out the Governor's demands. This
Company have no means of knowing what passes between the Governor and
the Colonial Office. They can only presume he acts under
instructions from the Home Government.

So far from this Company being desirous to increase their advances on
account of the Government it has been their anxious desire, ever
since they had reason to expect that it was intended to exercise the
right of repurchase, to restrict them as far as it was possible to do
so consistently with the obligations imposed upon them by the terms
of the Grant of the Island.