No. 80, Miscellaneous

1. Having brought the present condition and future management of the
Indian population of this Colony under the consideration of the local
Legislature, I deem it my duty also to bring the subject under your
notice.

2. For the present I will merely submit the papers named in the
margin

*

as affording some indication of the degraded and drunken
habits of the Indians in the immediate neighbourhood of Victoria, and
to justify the Measures which I trust the local Legislature will
enable me hereafter to adopt.

3. The policy heretofore pursued in dealing with the Indian Tribes
in this and the neighbouring Colony, may have been at one time
expedient, but is certainly no longer necessary or possible having
regard to their own welfare or the safety of the settlers and traders
brought in contact with them.

4. I am not without experience in dealing with savages, and have
been much in contact with the Indians in our North American Possessions.

5. The measures necessary to their successful government are simple,
and not difficult of adoption, if the local Legislature afford me the
means of carrying them out.

6. They must be secured in the possession of their lands, and
prohibited from alienating them except for a fair consideration, and
through the intervention of the Government.

7. They must be treated with scrupulous truth, justice, and
unflinching firmness. Magistrates, or Protectors, to whom they may
look with confidence for punishment or redress must be appointed and
stationed where necessary. Whiskey selling by which unprincipled
traders realize a profit of five or six hundred per cent must be
suppressed. All Indian crimes and troubles may be traced to this source.

8. Murder
inter se must be taken cognizance of and dealt with according
to law.

9. I think a great mistake has been made in permitting an Indian
settlement to grow up and continue in juxta-position with a city like
Victoria, and a still greater error has been committed in leasing a
portion of their Reserve, thus mixing the two Races together to the
great degradation of the one, and the demoralization of both.

10. The present Indian Settlement at Victoria, is a disgrace to
humanity, and I cannot learn that any effective measures have been
taken to prevent the shameless prostitution of the women and
drunkenness of the men who live mainly by their prostitution.

11. The Indians must be removed from this locality, and the proceeds
of the Reserve judiciously managed will more than suffice to supply
them with all necessaries in a more suitable locality. Most of these
matters will require legislative assistance and sanction and I will
from time to time keep you informed of what has been done.

12. The Indians are fully competent to appreciate justice and
humanity, but while they are managed like wild beasts they will not
cease to be ferocious and dangerous.

13. Protestant and Roman Catholic Missionaries are making zealous
efforts to improve the condition of the Indians, and in many cases
with success, but their good intentions and teaching are neutralized
by unprincipled whiskey sellers, and the want of local Magistrates
and Police to put a stop to these breaches of the law.