No. 135, Financial

In continuation of the remarks on the expediency of
establishing an Assay Office in this Colony, which I was unable
to continue in my Despatch No 127 of the 8th of Instant,
in consequence of the reported arrival of the Mail Steamer
from San Francisco, which remains here, at each visit, only a few hours.

2. I have further to remark that we have attempted to
induce the owners (not Americans) of private Assay Offices
in San Francisco to establish branches of their Houses at Victoria, but
without success. The objections made by them were to this effect.

That Her Majesty's Government would at no distant date, probably
establish a Mint at Victoria, and their business would therefore
then cease.

That being foreigners they could not expect the same privileges
as are granted to English Houses taking up the Assaying business.

Their chief reason however was this, that they had already
the whole assaying business of British Columbia in their hands,
as nearly all the gold produce of the Colony is now carried to
San Francisco, and they had therefore nothing to gain by extending
their business to Victoria, or to compensate for the certain
outlay of capital which the process would involve.

3. I do not know what steps can be taken by Her Majesty's
Government, to deliver the Colony from so great an evil as is
the present drain of its resources towards San Francisco, and
the loss and delay to which miners are exposed in selling gold
here, but I clearly see the advantage of a direct trade between
the Mother Country and British Columbia, and I am of opinion that
the establishment of an Assay Office in Victoria would be an
important step in advance.

4. Having an Assay Office here, the Miner would only have
to take his gold there, have it assayed, and receive value for
it, or if he preferred it, have it run into bars, at a very
trifling expense, and then he could dispose of his Bars, which
would bear the fineness and weight upon them by Mint marks,
just as readily as he could of coin, or he could convert them
into coin; in fact Bars would be currency.

5. An Assay Office must however be the property either of
the Government, to give it the stamp of character unsuspected,
or it must be owned by a private party possessed of capital, in
high credit, good mercantile reputation for probity, and well
known to the mining community. This last quality above all is
requisite.

6. As no private person on the Pacific coast, who could
fulfil the chief conditions, which I consider indispensable to
success—namely public confidence—is disposed to come here,
the only prudent and efficient plan is to establish a Government
Assay Office. It should be on a large scale for there will be
abundance of work.
*

7. The expense would be small, involving little more than
the erection of a House, a fire brick Furnace, a few crucibles
which could, no doubt, be made here, a good Assayer and a few
assistants. The processs is simple to a degree, and the whole
expense of the plant of an assay Office would not exceed £600.
Its operation, judging from the experience of the San Francisco
private Assayers, who have all become wealthy, would leave a
profit. I therefore believe that a well managed Government Assay
Office would, at least, pay its own expenses.

8. Its advantages to the Colony would be incalculable.
Keeping the gold circulating in the country—the status it
would give the place—the confidence it would inspire abroad—the
benefits to the Miners, the contentment it would diffuse
amongst them, by the certainty and fairness and celerity of its
operations, and its security, are amongst the advantages of such
an establishment.

9. A Mint would certainly be more efficient, but that is an
expensive establishment, though if Her Majesty's Government were
to set one up, I think the circumstances of the country would
justify the outlay. It would also require time to complete and
perfect its details; but the establishment of an Assay Office
involves little delay, and a very moderate expense, therefore I
beg to recommend the plan to the favourable consideration of Her
Majesty's Government.