Murdoch to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of 16th inst, with a
Despatch from the Governor of B. Columbia enclosing an Ordinance
passed by the Legislature of that Colony "for regulating the
acquisition of Crown Lands," together with reports on the
Ordinance by the Attorney General and Surveyor General of the Colony.

2. This Ordinance is passed with the object of facilitating the
acquisition of Land by preemption and extending the power of
so acquiring it to aliens as well as subjects of the British
Crown. Both the Attorney General & the Surveyor General
disapprove many of its provisions—and they are supported by the
Governor, who states that he withheld his assent to it—and that
he cannot recommend it for the favorable consideration of the
Duke of Buckingham & Chandos. The Attorney General points out
in detail the particulars in which the Ordinance appears to him
open to objection. As I presume that it would not be
contemplated to sanction this Ordinance in opposition to the
unanimous opinion of these authorities, it is unnecessary for me
to recapitulate the objections urged by them.

3. You desire us, however, to report the result of our
experience as to the system of preemption of land in the
Colonies. In reply I have to state that the system of
preemption, as established in British Columbia and the U.
States, does not exist in any other of the British Colonies. In
Colonies where land is held under lease or licence for pastoral
purposes it has been the practice to allow the Lessee or
Licensee a preemptive right, for a limited period, over that
portion of his land which he occupies as his homestead. This
privilege, however, could only be exercised by immediate payment
of the established upset price of ordinary Land in the Colony—not,
as in B. Columbia, by mere registration until the general survey
of the Colony reaches the preempted land. We are not aware of
any detailed report from any of the Colonies as to the extent to
which the rights of preemption in runs
was taken advantage of, but they were always regarded with
jealousy, as giving the Lessee the means of securing such a hold
upon his run as to make it unavailable to any other person. It
was I presume for this reason that they have been discontinued
in New South Wales, and not adopted in Queensland or in any
 Province of New Zealand except Canterbury. In Victoria the
Governor may permit the occupier of a run to purchase 320 acres
of the land on which his homestead is erected—but the occupier
cannot, apparently, claim the permission as a right.

4. The system of preemption has been in operation in B. Columbia
since 1860. When it was first proposed it appeared to me, I
admit, a system pregnant with confusion and inconvenience in
future years, and I thought it right, in a report dated 23rd
 Septr 1859, to point out the objections which occurred to
me. It would I think be interesting to know from the Governor
how it has worked—to what extent Settlers have taken advantage
of it—how far the survey of the Colony has taken in preempted
land—and whether, where this has been the case, any
difficulty has been experienced in obtaining payment for the
land or in settling its boundaries. The system was originally
adopted because it was expected that the influx of population
into B. Columbia would be so rapid that it would be impossible
to survey land fast enough to meet the requirements of the
immigrants. This expectation has not been realized, and its
disappointment will naturally have tended to reduce the risk of
confusion from the preemption of unsurveyed lands. But it will
at the same time have more than equally reduced the necessity
for the system—and I would therefore submit whether it might
not be advisable that measures should now be adopted for
discontinuing the system, & for adopting in B. Columbia the rule
which is universal in other British Colonies to make survey
precede sale or occupation.