Separate

I have the honour to enclose for the information of Her
Majesty's Government, copies of several important communications,
received this day, from the Assistant Gold Commissioners for the
Carribou District, reporting on the present condition of that Gold-field.

2. The almost impassable state of the roads beyond Williams Lake, and the high price of food and of all other necessaries of life, are, as Your Grace will learn from these reports, of great
detriment to the Country; and I add with the deepest regret, that
it is wholly out of my power for want of money to undertake to a
greater extent than is now being effected, the removal of obstacles
so fatal to the growth and prosperity of the Colony.

3. While these Reports prove the vast extent and richness of
the Mines, that thousands of people may be employed in rendering
them productive, that they cannot be fully developed without a
larger population than the Colony yet possesses, that labour and
capital are essential for that purpose, and that every individual
miner is really of value to the Country, we receive the painful
announcement that upwards of four hundred able-bodied men have
been driven from the mines by mere inability to procure subsistence
during the time required for testing, and getting their claims
into working order.

4. I am using every effort, and taxing the uttermost farthing
of the local revenue to remove these obstacles to access, which
so greatly enhance the price of all the necessaries of life in
British Columbia. I have endeavoured and find it impossible to
raise money in this Colony at any rate of interest less than 18
per cent per annum, and the Attorney General is now amending the
"Loan Proclamation" as suggested in Your Grace's Despatch of the
13th May No 123, and I trust it will be ready to forward by
the next mail. In the meantime, until the aid expected from that
measure arrives, we shall struggle with the difficulties that
beset the Colony in the best manner we can.

5. Mr Elwyn's Report is chiefly remarkable for its revelations
respecting the extraordinary richness of the mines, especially
"Cunningham's Claim", which surpasses every precedent of California
Gold Mining. In another letter, not transmitted with this Despatch,
he reports the discovery of a Quartz Reef on Lowhee Creek, a
circumstance which I mention from its being the first auriferous
quartz in situ discovered in this Colony.

6. Mr O'Reilly in his Report estimates the number of men in
the Carribou Gold field at between four and five thousand, and that
four hundred have been lately compelled to leave those Mines from
sheer destitution. He also reports the discovery of a new Gold
field on North River to the eastward of Quesnelle Lake, which
promises to be a most valuable acquisition to the Colony.

7. The same Report is corroborated by Mr Commissioner Ball,
in the accompanying letter from Lytton. He also states that the construction of the public Roads is progressing satisfactorily,
and mentions other circumstances, which may be interesting to Her
Majesty's Government.