No. 81

I have received your Despatch No. 68 of the 27th May, enclosing
copies of an Ordinance passed at the recent Session of the Colonial
Legislature, entitled No. 21, "An Ordinance respecting Marriage in
British Columbia."

Before submitting this enactment for Her Majesty's confirmation, I
should be glad to learn what is its intended effect upon the Indian
Population, some of whom appear to be under Christian teaching. I would
suggest that the Ordinance should be made clear in this respect.

It is also a question which deserved the consideration of your
Legislature, whether, as the Ordinance now stands, it will not be
difficult to secure any efficient notice of Marriages beforehand or the
preservation afterwards of any proper record if Marriages are allowed to
be celebrated and the Banns to be published in any place bearing the
name of a place of Worship, and whether therefore it would not be wise
to require that these ceremonies should take place in some place of
worship licensed by proper authority for the celebration of Marriages.