No. 29

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No 112 of the 17th March last referring to the appointment of Mr A.T.
Bushby as "Registrar General" of British Columbia, under the
"British Columbia Land Registry Act 1861" and calling for certain
further information in connection with this appointment.

2. With reference thereto, I beg to acquaint your Grace that
upon the appointment of Mr Bushby to the Office of Registrar
General he was relieved from his duties as Registrar of the Supreme
Court, and another gentleman (Mr G.C. Mathew as already reported)
was selected to perform them.
*
The continuation of the two offices
is not practicable, from the fact that the principal Office of the
Registrar General must be at the Capital, and that either he or his
deputy must be constantly present, while the Registrar of the Supreme
Court is for probably more than six months in the year and at uncertain
periods, absent from the Capital on Circuit with the Judge. To explain
this the more fully as well as to exhibit the varied duties of the
Registrar of the Supreme Court, I enclose copy of a letter—dated the
4th February 1861 addressed to me by Mr Begbie, bearing testimony
to the value of Mr Bushby's services as Registrar of the Supreme
Court and soliciting for him an increase of salary. It was owing
to this and to previous and subsequent strong recommendations from
Mr Begbie, that I was induced to select Mr Bushby for the very
responsible Office of "Registrar General."

3. With regard to the Salary, Five Hundred Pounds per annum,
I assure your Grace that in this country it is really not justly
commensurate to the responsibility of the Office. It cannot, indeed,
be considered equivalent to a salary of Three hundred Pounds per
annum in England, for although at present at New Westminster the
common articles of food are moderately cheap—that is to say Beef
is 1s/- per pound, and Bread -/4d per lb—yet House Rent,
and Servants wages, and many other necessary requirements, are so
extravagantly high, an ill built wooden tenement, not containing
the accommodation afforded in England by a brick house of from
£15 to £20 annual rental, commanding a rent of £120 per annum,
and a very ordinary servant being difficult to obtain at the wages
of £84 a year while the cost of washing is from 6s/- to 8s/-
dozen. I trust your Grace will pardon my entering into these
particulars, but I do so to shew that in fixing salaries, as well
as in all other matters of expenditure, I have endeavoured to
practice the strictest economy compatible with enabling the Officers
of the Government to live as gentlemen.

4. In reply to your Grace's enquiry as to whether a Deputy
Registrar is necessary for the execution of the provisions of the
Law, I have the honor to acquaint you that up to the present time
no such appointment has been made. As business increases and
Registration extends, such an Officer will be indispensable, but
as a present expedient, the Registrar General forming the whole
of the Establishment and the services of a second person being
requisite to compare the copies registered with the Original deeds,
I have authorized the employment of the Attorney General's Clerk,
granting him an allowance at the rate of £50 per annum for the
extra duty imposed upon him, which I believe is the most economical
arrangement it is possible to adopt.

5. From the date of opening the Office 1st Novr 1861, till the end of the last month there have been registered 163 Deeds containing 78,300 words or 783 folios of 100 words each, and the business of the office is steadily on the increase.