Richards to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 19th
instant enclosing copies of dispatches from the Governor of Vancouver
Island on the subject of the ownership of Fisgard Island, and
requesting that I will communicate to you for Mr Cardwell's use any
information I may be able to supply relative to the ownership of this
Rock in the first instance by a Private Individual.

Previous to the transfer of the Colony of Vancouver Island from the
Hudson's Bay Company to Her Majesty's Government, the whole or nearly
the whole of the Shores of Esquimalt Harbour together with the
numerous small Islands in it were owned either by the Puget Sound
Company or by private individuals.

The property of Belmont at the Entrance of the harbour was I believe
owned by Mrs Young before her marriage, or by her father, and
Fisgard Island, a bare Islet between 100 and 200 yards in extent and
20 feet high, lying about 100 yards from Belmont, was I believe an
adjunct of that property.

When the Colony was established under Government auspices and became
the head quarters of the Navy with a prospect of Government
Establishments Light Houses &c, the price of land in Esquimalt
Harbour rose very considerably.

Although Fisgard Island is very small and of no intrinsic value, yet
I think it must be considered in the same category as various other
apparently equally valueless spots of ground in Esquimalt, and when
it was chosen as the site of a Light House. I do not think it was
unfair that the Proprietor of it should have expected some
remuneration, nor do I conceive, looking to parallel cases, that the
remuneration paid to Mrs Young was unreasonable.

As regards the money having been paid before a deed of Transfer was
made; there was not the greatest regularity observed in such matters
owing to the want of Legal Officers &c, but I apprehend that the
omission lay with the Surveyor General, and not with Mrs Young.

I beg to enclose a Chart of Esquimalt Harbour by which Mr Cardwell
will better understand the bearings of the case, and I shall be very
happy to give any further information personally if required.