Murdoch and Rogers to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 17th
instant accompanied by a letter from the Deputy Governor of the Hudson's
Bay Company, proposing a modification in the Land Regulations in
Vancouvers Island, in favor of persons who may be desirous of increasing
their holdings or whose eligibility can be established by substituting a
system of payment by four annual instalments instead of requiring the
whole price at once. The Deputy Governor points out that as a system of
free grants exists on the adjacent American Continent, a liberal
arrangement is necessary to induce Emigrants to settle in Vancouvers
Island.

2. The usual objections against receiving the price of Crown Lands
by instalment, namely that it induces purchasers to take up more land
than they can cultivate—that it creates great difficulty in obtaining
payment for the Land—and that it converts a large body of persons into
debtors to the Crown can scarcely apply in any serious degree to
Vancouvers Island. And as it is of moment to encourage the resort of
Settlers to the Island, and for that purpose to diminish the unfavorable
contrast which Settlers might draw between its Land Regulations and
those of the American Continent, it appears to us that the Hudson's Bay
Company ask no more than is reasonable in the modification which they
now propose. We would accordingly recommend that if the Colonization of
the Island is to be continued in their hands, they should be allowed to
substitute for the present cash payments for land, a payment by annual
instalments, with such checks against abuse in the system as may in
their opinion be necessary.