I have had the honour of receiving Mr Under Secretary Hawes's letter of the 21st Instant transmitting a Copy of a Despatch from the Governor of Vancouvers Island reporting on the progress and present state of that Settlement.
That the efforts of the Hudsons Bay Company towards the
colonization of the Island have not been attended with the success which
some at first expected is to the Company a subject of much regret;
allowance however ought to be made for the adverse circumstances with
which they have had to contend.  I allude more particularly to the ﹏﹏﹏
irresistible attraction which Calefornia at present possesses for
emigrants. That the vast crowds however, who are flocking to that
quarter will eventually be highly beneficial to Vancouvers Island in
creating a demand for its productions and consequently making it a
desirable field for Emigration, I cannot for a moment doubt.
The Governor, I perceive, has fallen into a mistake with regard to
the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. That Company, though its shares
are held by persons more or less connected with the Hudsons Bay Company,
is a distinct and seperate Association, having a Capital of its own, and
its possessory rights are recognized by the Treaty of 1846 between Great Britain and the United States.
With respect to the Coal, ﹏﹏﹏Everything has been done that could be
done. Experienced Miners have been sent out and are now employed in the
operations necessary for reaching a workable seam of Coal, the surface
coal having been exhausted; and by the latest accounts they were
sanguine as to the result of their labours. The Company are now sending
out a Steam Engine for the Mine.