No. 73, Separate

1. I have the honor to transmit the Blue Book of the Colony of
Vancouver Island for the year 1864 which is far from being as full as
I could wish it to be.
Taxes

2. The taxes by which the Revenue of the Colony is chiefly raised are

1. Real Estate Tax,

2. Port and Harbour Dues,

3. Land Sales,

4. Liquor Licences,

5. Trade Licences.

3. Of these the Real Estate Tax is an impost of one per cent on the
assessed value of all real property which yielded £9,787 in 1864 as
compared with £8854 in 1863.

4. The existing mode of assessing real property is faulty and
imperfect, and the tax is levied upon an assessment much below the
real or market value.

5. The Port and Harbour Dues include, in addition to customary
charges for the entrance and clearance of shipping, fees leviable for
permits for the landing of imported goods according to a scale (p.p.
3 and 4), the rates of which are very unequal and disproportionate to
each other, and also licence fees for coasting vessels.

6. The produce of the sale of Public Lands and the Land Revenue is
not applicable to the general purposes of the Government pending
their acceptance by the local Legislature.

7. Liquor Licences are issued for the sale of spirituous and
fermented liquors. The amount obtained from this source was £5898 in
1864 as compared with £4914 in 1863. A remarkable sum when
considered with reference to the population.

8. The remaining principal source of Revenue is what are termed
"Trade Licences" which are levied according to the scale at page 2,
the rates under which are most unequal and bear no proportion to each
other.

Revenue

9. The total Revenue received from all sources in 1864 amounted to
£71,268 as compared with £73,776 in 1863—nevertheless under almost
every head of Revenue there is an increase. A new source of Revenue
also appears in Gold Mining Licences, £830.

10. There has been a falling off of £1697 under the head of "Land
Sales" owing to the unsettlement of the Crown Lands question, and the
partial suspense of the Proclamation regulating the sale of Public
Lands.

Expenditure

11. The total Expenditure, £74,246, presents an increase as compared
with that of 1863, £69,589. A considerable increase occurs in the
ordinary expenditure. Under the head of "Works and Buildings" the
sum expended out of the "Road and Harbour Loan" is £18,452, as
compared with £1603 in 1863.

Legislation

12. The Acts passed during the year do not call for any special
remarks.

Political Franchise

13. The number of Electors on the Register for 1864 is 1,213. This
number however represents the number of votes, but not the number of
voters, many persons being on the Register for three, four, and some
for even as many as five and six electoral Districts. The actual
number of persons who possess those 1213 votes is 890 or less than
three fourths, and nearly all those are resident in Victoria and
possess votes in respect of lands which they have taken up in
out-districts and which they neither occupy nor improve.

14. The number of registered voters for the seven out-districts,
which return eight Members, is 367, but of those only 141 reside in
the Districts for which they have votes.

RegisteredVotersResidentNumber of
Members
Esquimalt Town.....67201
Esquimalt and

Metchosin District..83382
Sooke District.....2591
Saanich District.....50131
Lake District....65191
Saltspring and Chemainus39241
Nanaimo...........38181
3671418

Legislative Council and Assembly

15. The Legislative Council is composed of five
ex officio and three non-official Members nominated by the
Crown.

16. The Legislative Assembly consists of 15 Members elected by
constituencies before described. The
British population of the Island, women and children included,
cannot much, if at all, exceed 3000. No one connected with the
Government has a seat in the Assembly, which is in my opinion a great
misfortune, placing the Assembly and the Executive at a mutual
disadvantage and obstructing or neutralizing useful Legislation.

*

Civil Establishment

17. With more concentrated authority I think a reduction in numbers
might be effected, but the scale of salaries, having regard to the
small value of money and high cost of living in the Colony, is
injudiciously low, furnishing with few exceptions a bare subsistence
to those employed.

Population

18. The Estimate given is the best that can be furnished and is
substantially correct. The European, Negro, and Chinese together
numbering about 8000 and the Aboriginal Indians about 10,000.

Imports

19. These show a net decrease as compared with 1863. There is
however an increase of Imports from the United Kingdom of £24,367,
and a decrease of Imports from the United States and foreign
countries of upwards of £80,000.

Exports

20. The general record of Exports is too meagre to be of much value.
The amount of gold the produce of British Columbia and Vancouver
Island exported through the Banks alone is £556,945.

Shipping

21. No point worthy of notice presents itself in the Shipping
Returns.

Agriculture

22. No means exist of obtaining agricultural statistics of any
value. The agricultural resources of the Colony may be said to be
almost wholly undeveloped. The manner in which public lands have
been alienated has tended rather to speculation, than occupation and
improvement. The agricultural land though limited in extent is
amazingly fertile and sufficient in extent for ten times the present
population.

Manufactures and Mines

23. Under this head the coal mine at Nanaimo is the most remarkable
as affording employment for a fixed population which is the great
want of the Colony.

24. During the year the discovery of profitable gold diggings within
20 miles of Victoria has pointed out a new source of prosperity. The
low cost at which the miners can subsist compared with the miners of
British Columbia will probably render these mines both profitable and
attractive though the yield of gold be comparatively small.

General Remarks

25. The great want in this as in all other new countries is a fixed
population, and this can scarcely be expected till the excitement
attendant upon the first discovery of gold has subsided, and
communication with the Mother Country is facilitated and cheapened.
The want of direct Mail communication with England is a serious
discouragement and a great detriment to British interests in the
Pacific.

26. The following simple statment showing the amount of trade
transactions for 1864, the revenue received therefrom and the
percentage of Revenue will prove interesting.

Transactions of 1864Revenue of 1864Per-centage
The assessed value of the transactions
of the year amounted to..... $ 5,832,776$
The tax assessed according to the

Schedule under the Act amounted to...19,945 0.34
To these amounts should be added,

1. Value of Wines and Spirits

imported during the year

which is allowed to be

deducted from Trade Returns...... 295,785
2. Amount of Liquor Licences

collected during the year.... 29,638
3. Amount of Landing Permits

charged on merchandize....________ 6,430________
Gross amount of transactions..... 6,148,561
Gross amount of revenue.....  56,013
Percentage........   0.91

27. In connection with the foregoing a statement showing the gross
amount of Imports for the year 1864, the taxes bearing upon Imports
and the percentage thereof will afford a generally correct view of
the extent of mercantile transactions and the taxation they are
subject to.

Imports for
1864Taxes bearingon ImportsPer--Centage
Gross amount of Imports

for the year...... $ 3,602,886$
Trade Assessments...... 19,945 0.55
Liquor Licences...... 29,638
Landing Permits..... ________ 6,430_________
3,602,886 56,013 1.55

28. An inquiry into the drinking statistics in all, especially new,
British Colonies, presents very deplorable results. The following
figures will show that this Colony is not exempt from the evils which
exist elsewhere.

The imported value of wines and spirits

of every description during the year

1864 (Port of Victoria)........ $295,785*
Add profits, say 40 per cent....... 118,314414,099

Deduct value of wines and spirits of every

description imported through Vancouver

Island into the Colony of British Columbia

during the same period...... 149,184
Estimated consumption of Vancouver Island

during the year 1864........ $264,915

Which, assuming the male adult population

to be 5000, gives an annual expenditure,

per man, of $52.98.
Amount brought down as the transactions of

Wholesale dealers (Importers)........ $414,099
Add for retail transactions...... 264,915
Annual transactions in Liquor $679,014
On this amount of transactions the annual

Licences for the sale of Liquor Wholesale and

Retail ($29,638) is equal to 4.36 per cent.
*This is equal to more than 8 percent of the

total Imports of Vancouver Island.

29. There are 85 retail Licences for public houses granted in the
City of Victoria alone in addition to 23 wholesale licences, the
quarter by fees for which amount to $6880.

30. Outside the City there are 41 licensed retail public houses
making a total of 149 licences to sell drink for which the fees
payable for the year amount to $29,909. This enormus drain upon the
earnings of the small population of this Colony cannot fail to
produce disastrous social results.

31. It cannot be expected that this Colony will continue to progress
in the rapid manner it has hitherto done but I entertain no
apprehension for its future. Its fine climate, good harbours,
natural resources, and favorable geographical position for all
purposes of commerce cannot fail under judicious laws to secure for
Vancouver Island a high station among prosperous British Colonies.