Paget to Fortescue (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

Having received and laid before my Lords Comissioners of the
Admiralty, your letter of the 2nd Instant, transmitting the copy of a
Letter from the War Office forwarding a copy of a letter from
Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins in which he suggests that the Land
Buildings &c, purchased in Van Couvers Island for the use of the
surveying party under his command, should, when the duties of the
Commission are closed, be transferred to the Colonial Government at a
valuation instead of being disposed of to private parties, I am
commanded by my Lords to request, that you will move His Grace The
Duke of Newcastle, to cause the Governor of Vancouvers Island to
place himself in communication with the Senior Officer of HM Ships and
Vessels, in the Pacific with the view of ascertaining whether it is
considered desirable that the Land in question should be secured for
Naval purposes.