No. 17

I have the honor to forward to Your Lordship an authenticated
and two plain copies of an Act passed by the Legislative
Council entitled—

An Act to amend the Tolls Exemption Ordinance, 1865.

2. The Attorney General's Report is annexed.

3. This Act is practically a measure of relief to the owners of
a certain Flour Mill which is on the wrong side of the Toll Bar
at Clinton. All the other Flour Mills in the Upper Country are
beyond the Toll Bar, and the Wheat with which they are fed is
already exempted from tolls, while the chief Market for all the
Flour produced is also beyond, in the Mining Districts of
Cariboo, and Omineca, where gold fields have recently been
discovered. The result is that almost all Flour consumed is
already free from Toll, and the Mill below the Toll gate is
placed at a great disadvantage in competing with its rivals,
while the Public gains little or nothing by the retention of the
Toll on Flour which is not collected. Little foreign flour is
now used above the Cascade range, our own production being
sufficient; and the cost of carriage in the case of Foreign
flour constituting ample protection.

3. I regard this measure as just, harmless to the Revenue, and
I recommend it for confirmation.