Nias to Kimberley

I am in receipt of a communication from the Colonial Office
dated the 17th January/71, in which I am informed that "the
Government of British Columbia dispute my Title to the land in
question" and that "my case will be dealt with by the local
Government when Dr Trimble's case is decided upon," and you
further state that "the matter appears to be one to be settled
by a Court of Law."

I must beg to remind your Lordship that it requires a large sum
of money to go to law with Government, that Government pay no
costs if defeated, and the costs would probably exceed the value
of the Land.

The Pre-emption Law was passed to benefit
bona fide
Settlers, and yet I (with hundreds of others) have been ruined
by the policy pursued by the British Columbian Government
officials. In 1862 there were 10,000 white people in the Town
of Victoria, and 40,000 in the two Colonies of BC and VI. Now
there are about 4000 at the utmost. We were driven away by
folly and injustice.

I beg to submit that the BC Government have never given me
notice that they dispute my Title. But at the end of the Four
years which the Law required I should live upon it, refused to
give me a Title.

That I gave them notice of my intention to occupy the Land, by
recording my claims at the Land Office (as the Law requires) Mr
Pemberton (Surveyor General) himself receiving and recording the entry.

That I had to build a house upon the Land and live in it within
one month from the time of recording my claim. This I did do.

That I improved my claim by expending £600 upon it, and myself
and family resided upon it (as the law required)
and they are now residing upon it.

That at the end of four years when I was entitled to claim a
Title—on application I was told that
I had no business to pre-empt that land and that I never
should have a title.

I submit That having allowed me to record my claim—having
allowed me to build my house—Fence in the land—Dig Wells at a
very heavy expense—reside for years on the Land—and comply in
every respect with the very stringent law, without giving me
notice that I was doing wrong. The Government of BC are bound
in honor—in justice—by equity—by every obligation which can
bind Governments and their Subjects, to complete the contract
they entered into with me by the Pre-emption Law and give me a Title.

The Land is Government Land, marked so on the Large Map sent
home by the Hudson Bay Company in
1863 (I believe). No one else claims it openly.
Why then am I refused my Title? My character is unstained &
untainted, but I am poor. My newspaper died, when the
population went (driven) away. The Government Officials are
trying to wear me out by delay, and a cruel trial it has been to
me & my family. It has caused our separation for four years and
what further distress the delay may bring upon them and me I
cannot tell.

I fear the length of this communication will offend you my Lord,
but if you do not interfere in my behalf, I must despair—my
family will be homeless.
You cannot comprehend what this means as your dogs have never wanted
a home. But bear with me, while I point out the result of such
tyranny & injustice.

The land all about me (on one of the principal drives round the
Town) lies a desert, most of it fenced in, but uncultivated, for
upwards of 1 1/2 miles in one direction and 1/2 mile at right
angles in another there is not a house or a garden plot,
although close to the now deserted House of Representatives.

I claim at your hands my Lord, as the representative of her
Majesty, that justice that I am powerless to enforce through a
Court of Law—this

That If I have complied in all and every respect with the
stringent Pre-emption Law, that you will require the BC
officials to carry out that Law, and give me a Title.

Dr Trimble's claim may not be precisely similar to mine. He
may not have complied with the residential or other clauses.
There is no reason for coupling my claims with his except that
ours are the only two legal Pre-emption claims in Victoria
District (equivalent to County).

I beg you again My Lord to consider the loss I have already
sustained. If the Government of 1862 made a mistake they have
no business to punish me for it. If the whole district had been
taken up by
bona fide settlers there would have been a thriving Town and
Colony, where a wilderness now exists.

This surely is a case for a Supreme authority to interfere in.