No. 10

I have had the honor to receive Your Grace's Despatch No 79 of the
4h December last conveying for my information copy of correspondence
with the Hudson's Bay Company arising out of the application made by
this Government to the Supreme Court of the Colony for an injunction
to restrain the Company from further independent action in the
disposal of land, their claim to which was disputed by Her Majesty's
Government, and from the sale of portions of the Park, Church
Reserves, Public Streets &ca.

2. I observe that the instructions given in May last to the
Company's Agent in Vancouver's Island were not confined to a certain
portion of the water Frontage, as I had previously supposed from the
perusal of Mr Beren's letter to Your Grace, but were intended to
apply to the whole of the 3084 Acres claimed by the Company under a
title anterior to and irrespective of the Charter of Grant.

3. While those instructions are in our respect perfectly
satisfactory, as evincing the desire of the Hudsons Bay Co
voluntarily to put a stop to the acts complained of by this
Government, they nevertheless have the practical effect of retarding
the progress and settlement of the Colony, and if accepted, of
relieving the Hudson's Bay Company from the onus thereof, inasmuch as
most of the land still in the hands of the Company is capable of
being immediately utilized, and would find ready purchasers if
offered for Sale at public Auction; some, indeed, is in the best
business portion of the Town, and just now is eagerly sought after.

4. The present is a critical period for this Colony. Every Steamer
brings intelligence confirmatory of the expectation that a large
emigration will flow from California during the Spring. Indeed
business men from that State are already flocking hither to form
Establishments, and land is consequently much in demand.

5. Some time, I presume, must yet elapse before the decision of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council can be obtained as to the
ownership of the disputed 3084 Acres. Appeal to the Supreme Court of
the Colony is precluded, that Court having already refused to
interfere, on the ground that the case of dispute is at present
before a Superior Court. In the mean time it is highly desirable and
necessary to prevent, as far as possible, injury to the progress of
the Colony. I would therefore earnestly beg Your Grace to obtain
from the Hudson's Bay Company an arrangement whereby land may be
disposed of with the concurrence in each individual case of the local
Government, the proceeds either being deposited in the Bank of
British North America, or placed in charge of a Receiver, to await
the decision as to ownership already sought from the Privy Council.