Berens to Newcastle

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a letter addressed to
me by Mr Elliot, under date the 5th instant, enclosing a Copy of a
despatch from the Governor of Vancouver's Island, and a report of the
proceedings which took place before the Supreme Court of the Colony
upon an application made on behalf of the local Government for an
injunction to restrain the Hudson's Bay Company from selling portions
of the 3084 acres of land claimed by them under a possessory title
prior to the Crown Grant of the Island to the Company.

Mr Elliot after remarking that the injunction was refused on the
ground that the subject matter of the suit in litigation was before
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, whose decision will
ultimately dispose of the question, adds that as some-time must
elapse before that decision can be obtained, and as there are evils
pointed out in the Governor's letter which demand a more prompt
remedy, Your Grace is desirous to know whether the Company will at
once send out instructions to their Officers to desist from any
further dealings with the lands in dispute until the question of
title be settled.

In reply I beg to inform Your Grace that we have already issued
directions to the Company's Officers in Vancouver's Island to suspend
the sale of those lands. On the 23rd May last to Sir Frederic Rogers,
in allusion to a water frontage which was to have been sold, but
which Governor Douglas claimed as a public landing place, addressed
me a letter of which the following is an Extract:

I am directed by the Duke of Newcastle to inform you that unless you
can assure His Grace that instructions will be sent to the Agent of
the Company, by the most rapid opportunity, to suspend the sales of
the land in question, the Governor will be instructed to issue a
notice in the Colony that Her Majesty's Government deny the right of
the Company to sell those lands.

On the following day—the 24th May—I replied:

I hasten to inform Your Grace that in compliance with the suggestion
thrown out in to Sir Frederic Rogers' letter I have directed that
specific instructions shall be sent by this day's Post to the Agent
of this Company at Victoria to suspend the sales of the land in
question as referred to in the correspondence between Governor
Douglas and Mr Dallas.

On the 25th May a Copy of the correspondence was transmitted to Mr
Mactavish now the Company's principal Agent at Victoria with distinct
instructions to suspend the sale of the Company's lands till the
questions between Her Majesty's Government and the Company were
decided. And in acknowledging the receipt of that letter, under date
the 14th July, Mr Mactavish says:

In accordance with your instructions we shall sell no portion of the
3084 acres of land on this Island until further instructed.

Your Grace will thus observe that as far as the Company is concerned
the most distinct instructions were given for the carrying out of
your Grace's wishes in the matter. And I have no reason to believe
that those instructions have in any single case been departed from by
our Officers, inasmuch as we have no knowledge of any Sales of Land
having taken place subsequent to that period. In order, however, to
satisfy Your Grace, a copy of the present correspondence will be
transmitted by the first post and attention will be again drawn to
the instructions already given.

There are several other points alluded to by Mr Elliot on which I
would request Your Grace to suspend your judgment until the arrival
of Mr Dallas who is shortly expected from Edinburgh, and was the
Company's principal representative at Victoria at the period of the
transactions in question. I allude particularly to the alleged sale
by the Company of the Park reserved for the Public at Victoria, of the
Springs which supply the Colonists with Water, and of the Ornamental
Trees in the neighbourhood of the Town—the real nature of which
transactions Mr Dallas will, I believe, be able to explain to the
satisfaction of Your Grace. Mr Dallas is expected to arrive here
about the end of next week and as soon afterwards as possible I shall
have the honour of addressing Your Grace on this subject as well as
upon the proposal as to the assent of the Governor being given, in
writing, previous to the sale of any particular portion of the land
in question.