No. 104, Legislative

I have the honor of forwarding herewith for your
information copy of a Proclamation issued on the 14th day
of this present Month, declaring the price and manner in
which lands in British Columbia are to be offered for sale.

2. The Proclamation sets forth the constitutional rights
of the Crown to all the lands in British Columbia, and to
the Mines and Minerals therein.

3. Lands are to be offered for sale in the following
classes, vizt Town Lands, general country lands, and
lands for special settlement. All known Mineral lands, and lands
reputed to contain Minerals will for the present be reserved.

4. It is also our intention to make large reserves for
roads, the erection of places of worship, schools, and
public purposes, and also for Towns and Villages, in such
a manner, however, as not seriously to interfere with or
retard the progressive improvement, and settlement of the Country.

5. As a general rule no land is to be offered for sale without
having been first surveyed and mapped off under government authority.

6. Town lands are to be sold by Public Auction, at an
upset price to be hereafter fixed according to the value of the site.

7. Country lands are also to be sold by Public Auction
at the upset price of ten Shillings an acre, the purchase
money to be paid, one half at the time of sale, and the
remainder at the end of two years.

8. We considered it advisable for many reasons to fix
the upset sale price of country Lands in British Columbia at
a comparatively low standard. In the first place we think
it a matter of the greatest importance to encourage emigration
from England, in order to supply the want now so much felt
of an English element in the population, a want which in fact
lies at the root of all the difficulties which now so much
embarass all our attempts at legislation for the country.
We are therefore especially desirous of placing before the
English public, the attraction of cheap land, at the same
time we feel assured that the interests of Government will
not suffer through that cause, as from the manner of sale
and the effect of competition, the land if worth more, will
fetch its value.

9. We also feared that by adopting a higher price for
land, the sturdy yeomen expected this year from Canada,
Australia, and other British Colonies, might be driven in
hundreds across the frontier to seek for homes in the United
States Territories, where it is the custom to make free grants of land.

10. Coupled with the attractions of a low upset price to
actual Settlers, we think the system will guard the land
operations of the Colony, as much as in the nature of things
is practicable, from the designs of speculators, who make purchases of
land, not for actual settlement, but merely for profitable resale.

11. The land for special Settlement is that bordering
the frontier of the United States, and on this we propose
to make a Military Reserve, on behalf of the Royal Engineers,
and, if possible, also otherwise to settle it with a population
composed exclusively of English subjects.

12. The Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works is in Article
5 empowered to sell by private contract at the upset price, any
land remaining unsold, after having been exposed at auction
to public competition.

13. The Proclamation further declares the intention of
Government to lay out and settle the site of the Capital or
Sea Port Town of British Columbia, and the conditions of sale
for Town land there, and also that all persons who have paid
for Town Lots at Langley, will be allowed, upon the surrender
of such Lots, to have their Money transferred either as a whole,
or part payment for Lots in the new Town, the object being
to meet the wishes of the people, and to concentrate the
commercial interests of the Colony in the Capital.