No. 26

It is incumbent upon me to bring to the especial notice of your Grace
the very unsatisfactory condition of the Mail Service as now existing
between California and this place.

2. As Your Grace is no doubt aware, the arrangements between Great
Britain and the United States for the conveyance of letters to this
Colony and to that of British Columbia do not extend beyond the
American Territory, and from that point to this we have for years
past been dependent upon chance opportunities for the carriage of our
Mails.

3. Since the discovery of gold in 1858 the vessels of the Pacific
Mail Steam Ship Company have found it to their interest to call at
Vancouvers Island, en route with the United States Mails between San
Francisco and Puget Sound, and through the courtesy of the Postmaster
of San Francisco all mail matter for these Colonies has been placed
in separate bags, and the Captains of the Steamers have most kindly
taken charge of them and have invariably delivered them with the
greatest care and punctuality. They have also taken charge of our
return Bags, and the service although gratuitous has been performed
with every care and attention, and but little cause for complaint
existed.

4. Within the last two or three months however, this system has been
completely disarranged. The Ocean Mail Service of the United States
has been discontinued. The Mails from New York are conveyed across
the Rocky Mountains to California and an overland route to Puget
Sound has been substituted for the former direct sea communication
with San Francisco. The letters for these Colonies in consequence
arrive at most uncertain intervals. Sometimes a Mail from San Francisco is received by a Sailing Ship, sometimes by a chance Steam Ship, but more generally they reach here weekly in a Steamer from
Puget Sound, and by this conveyance letters are frequently delivered
in a most delapidated

condition, and in fact there is no doubt that
many are lost, as regular correspondence has now become exceedingly
intermittent.

5. So serious is the evil that the merchants of Victoria recently
met and pledged themselves to subscribe Four Hundred Pounds (£400) a
month for the next six months, if the Government
would guarantee a like amount, to subsidize a British Steam Vessel to
run twice a month between this place and San Francisco. Nothing
however has as yet resulted from this movement, there is no British
Steam Vessel available, and our slender Revenue would not bear the
heavy call thus made upon it.

6. In this unfortunate juncture I am compelled to apply to your
Grace with the hope that Her Majestys Government may extend the same
assistance to us that is granted to most other Colonies, by voting a
sum of money as a Mail subsidy.

7. There is a large trade between this place and San Francisco, and
I do not suppose there would be any difficulty in establishing a line
of British Steamers to run between these Colonies and San Francisco,
at least, if not to Panama, provided Her Majestys Government would
afford a reasonable subsidy for the service of carrying the Mails.

8. In the mean time so entirely are we at the mercy of the United
States functionaries that I am at a loss what to do to ameliorate the
evil. The only expedient open to me is to request Her Majestys
Consul at San Francisco to use his influence to obtain upon the
arrival of every Mail all the Vancouvers Island and British Columbia
Mail matter from the Post office, and to retain it in his possession
until an opportunity occurs from forwarding it direct by water to
Victoria. I fear however that even this will scarcely effect a
change for notwithstanding the arrangement which Your Grace
communicated to me in Your despatch No 13 of August 1859 that all
correspondence would be forwarded in closed bags to the Consul at San Francisco, it is very evident that scarcely any of the correspondence
for these Colonies can pass through his hands.