
================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-01_Sargeaunt_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AG01.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In reply to your letter of the 16th Ulto I have
the honor to state, for the information of the Duke of
Newcastle, that after meeting the Bill for £5,000 (which by
your letter the Crown Agents are authorized to accept) the
balance in hand belonging to the Government of British
Columbia will be £8419.7.7 from which the sum of £6250
will have to be disbursed during the early part of the
current month for the payments on account of the Interest
and Sinking Fund of the Loans of that Colony.



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FILE: 1864-01-02_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V647045.txt
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No. 45

With reference to my despatch No. 63 of the 11th of May 1859
(British Columbia) in which I left it to you to determine the proportion
in which the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia should
respectively contribute towards the expense of the erection of the
Lighthouses in Fucas Straits and Esquimalt Harbour, I have the honor to
transmit to you the enclosed statement, which has been received from the
Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, of the sums expended
in this Country and of the sums advanced to the Government of Vancouver
Island on account of the Works of these Lighthouses amounting to
£12,493-19-9.
As these advances have been made by the Imperial Government on the condition that one half of the sums advanced should be repaid by the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver
Island, I have to request that you will cause the sum of £6246-19-10 to be repaid to her Majesty's Paymaster General in the proper proportions by the two colonies.



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FILE: 1864-01-03_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647062.txt
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No. 62

I have had before me your despatch of the 12th October marked
"Separate," accompanied by a Memorial from Mr. Cormack and Mr. Holbrook
relative to the Essay of the Revd. R.C. Brown upon British Columbia.
It appears that in conjunction with the Archdeacon of British Columbia
these two gentlemen formed the Judges who awarded to Mr. Brown the prize
offered by the local Government for the best Essay on the capabilities
and advantages of British Columbia. Their complaint is that whilst the
Essay to which they allotted the Prize contained a passage strongly
condemning the manner in which the affairs of British Columbia are
administered, the Essay as afterwards printed at the Royal Engineer
Press contained no such passage, but on the contrary spoke of the
satisfaction given by the Government to the colonists, with the
exception only of a part of them which was described in disparaging
terms. The Archdeacon does not remember seeing the alleged passage
censuring the Government, but disapproves of the introduction of one offensive to a
distinct portion of the community.

The facts of the case, as established by the documents which you
have sent home, are as follows. A prize of £50 was offered for the best
Essay on the resources of the Colony, but all the Essays were afterwards
to remain the property of the Government. When Mr. Brown had obtained
the prize, you thought that it would be fore the good of the Colony to
publish it, but that it's usefulness would be increased by its being
much condensed. Mr. Brown had himself asked to have an opportunity for
revision in case the pamphlet were published. From that time forth it
appears that he dealt with the pamphlet entirely at his own discretion,
and communicated directly with the printers, and completed it exactly in
the shape which he himself thought proper.

These facts conclusively exonerate the Colonial Government from any
charge of tampering for it's own purposes with the work which was
printed at the Royal Engineer Press. I have no doubt that you judged
very rightly in thinking it expedient that the pamphlet should be
condensed, as certainly you took the most judicious and proper course in
leaving the accomplishment of that object entirely to the Author.

On the other hand I am bound to say that I think it is to be
regretted that the Revd. Mr. Brown, whilst the bulk of his pamphlet is
laudably confined to the statistical and descriptive matter which forms
it's proper subject, should anywhere have introduced a disparaging
allusion to any of the Colonists. The Essay was not of a kind to form a
suitable vehicle for any political sentiment. On the same ground it
seems to me that if it had contained a sweeping charge of
mal-administration, this would have been especially misplaced in a Tract
for which the Government had offered a Prize as for an account of the
material resources of the Colony; indeed so much misplaced as to render
it a matter of some surprise that the Judges should have selected that
Essay for the object of their award.

The work, I observe, has been produced with the title not of "a
Prize Essay," but of "An Essay" by the Revd. Mr. Brown. It contains
however on the fly leaf the advertisement under which the original Essay
was tendered and obtained the prize. The complaints which have been
made would have been obviated if the fly leaf had contained instead a
notice that this Essay, although founded on one which had obtained the
prize offered by the Government, had been curtailed in some parts and
expanded in others, and largely altered, and that the Author alone was
responsible for it's contents. This would have met the anxiety which I
think it natural that the Judges should have felt not to seem answerable
on such an occasion for the approval of any passages which were
calculated to displease any portion of their fellow colonists.

But whilst I have entered into these details in order to satisfy
the gentlemen who have appealed to me that I have examined fully into
their complaint, I wish to state in conclusion that the Revd. Mr. Brown
appears to me to have discharged his task in a manner which does great
credit to his industry and ability, and that although a casual sentence
which escaped him may excite attention on the spot where party
differences prevail, I believe that it will be wholly passed over by
distant readers, and that the only effect of the work will be to render
service to the Colony by diffusing a knowledge of it's resources, and by
offering a favorable though discriminating, account of the advantages
which it holds out to properly qualified settlers.



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FILE: 1864-01-04_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V647045A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch
Separate of the 3d of November last reporting that the Crown Agents had
been instructed to repay the sum of Three Pounds being the amount of the
Stamp Duty due on the Warrants of Messrs Gordon and Carey as
Treasurer and Attorney General for Vancouver Island; and to acquaint
you that the agents have since repaid the sum in question.



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FILE: 1864-01-05_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647063.txt
================================================================================

No. 63

I have the honor to forward to you, for your information, a copy of
a letter from the Crown Agents for the Colonies, shewing the balance of
funds in their hands belonging to British Columbia.



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FILE: 1864-01-05_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE01.txt
================================================================================

Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to Mr Elliot's letter of 26th
August last, forwarding a claim of the War Department for
repayment of a sum of £2466.16.7 as the balance due to
that Department on account of expenses connected with the
detachment of Royal Engineers sent to British Columbia in
1858, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury to request you to state to the Duke of
Newcastle that They have been in communication with the
 War Department on the subject of this claim, and have given
directions to the Paymaster General to transfer to the
credit of Army Services the sum of £2568.18.6 from the
Vote for British Columbia, upon a revised Statement of the
claims of the War Department which has been furnished to
Their Lordships.

This sum will be paid out of the amount provided "for
arrears" in the Estimate for British Columbia for the year 1863-4.



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FILE: 1864-01-08_Sargeaunt_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AG02.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

Referring to the letter from this Office of the 24th
April 1862 transmitting in accordance with the (implied)
request contained in your letter of the 12th of that month
for certain Colonial Postage Stamps for the International
Exhibition of that year, I have the honor to state, for the
information of the Duke of Newcastle, that the only expense
incurred by the Crown Agents on account of these Stamps
amounted to £1.1.0, for printing specimen sheets of the
British Columbia and Vancouver Island 2 1/2 Stamp, which was
charged in the accounts of this Office to the Government of
British Columbia.

As the Commissioners of Audit will not regard your letter
of the 12th April 1862 as an authority, I beg to apply
for His Grace's sanction for the Expenditure from British Columbia Funds of the £1.1.0 in question.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-09_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64001.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have duly received Your Grace's despatch of the
23rd October last No 58 in reference to the "Cooks
Ferry and Clinton Road Bond Act 1863," and in pursuance
of Your Grace's instructions, I have the honor to forward
herewith copy of the Indenture of the 17th April
1863 made between the Chief Commissioner of Lands and
Works and William Hood, for the construction of a certain
portion of the Cooks
Ferry and Clinton Road.

2. With reference to your Grace's query as to why the
price of constructing this road was raised from £8,500
(as stated in my despatch No 30 of the 14th May) to
£12,783 to be increased on certain contingencies to £13,917.15.0,
I have the honor to state that I have carefully examined
all the correspondence relative to this contract, and I find
by Mr Hoods letter—a copy of which is herewith enclosed,
that his offer was to construct the road for a sum of sixty
two thousand dollars, ($62,000) the exact equivalent in
sterling money (at the currect exchange of $4.85 to 1£
sterling) of £12,783. I must therefore conclude that the
sum of £8,500 named in my despatch was inserted through
mistake, as I cannot discover that any lower offer for the
construction of the road, than that contained in Mr Hood's
letter now forwarded, was ever made by him.

 3. The contingent increase in the cost of constructing
the road from £12,783 to £13,917.15, and in reference to
which your Grace desires some explanation, was owing to an
uncertainty which existed as to whether the Royal Engineers
would be enabled to undertake a distance of 2 1/2 miles of
this road in addition to what they were engaged in, and in
the event of their being unable to do so, that distance was
to be included in Mr Hood's contract. The sum however finally
paid to Mr Hood on account of his contract was £12,783.



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FILE: 1864-01-09_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64002.txt
================================================================================

No. 2, Military

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
Grace's despatch of the 9th of October last No 57,
enclosing a list of the names of 18 men, late of the Royal
Engineers, who were employed on the North American Boundary
Commission, and who purchased their discharge on the
return of the detachment to England; and instructing me,
at the instance of Colonel Hawkins R.E., to take measures
for making free grants of land in British Columbia, to the
extent of Thirty Acres each, to such of these men as may
wish to avail themselves of the indulgence, and on the same
conditions of residence and Military Service as were required
from the soldiers of the Royal Engineers under Colonel Moody;
and I beg to acquaint your Grace that I will take steps at
an early period to carry these instructions into effect.



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FILE: 1864-01-09_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64002SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your
Grace's Despatch "Separate" of the 5th November last,
transmitting copy of a letter from the Registrar and Secretary
of the Order of the Bath, intimating that the Queen had been
pleased to dispense with my personal Investiture with the
Insignia of a Knight Commander of the Civil division of that
Order, and empowering me to wear and use the Insignia and to
enjoy all the privileges thereunto belonging in as full and
ample a manner as if I had been invested by the Sovereign.

 I have also to acknowledge the receipt of the accompanying
packet containing Her Majesty's Warrant of dispensation and
the Insignia of the division and Class of the Order to which
I have been admitted.

I have in conclusion to lay before Her Majesty my grateful
acknowledgements for this eminent mark of Her Royal appreciation
of my public Services, and if anything can add to the warmth of
that feeling it is the announcement in Your Grace's despatch
that it has been gratifying to Your Grace to have been instrumental
in advising the Queen to confer that honor on me.



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FILE: 1864-01-11_Hammond_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645FO01.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you herewith a Copy of a
Letter from the Italian Minister at this Court, requesting
information as to the fate of G. Vignola, whose family last heard
from him at Vancouver's Island in March, 1861; and I am to request
that in laying the same before The Duke of Newcastle, you will move
His Grace to cause enquiry to be made respecting the individual in
question.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-11_Lugard_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645WA01.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit
to you for the information of the Duke of Newcastle the enclosed
copy of a letter which has been received from Colonel Moody
Royal Engineer Commanding the detachment lately employed at
British Columbia.



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FILE: 1864-01-11_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647064.txt
================================================================================

No. 64

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No.
69 of the 13th of November notifying the approaching departure from the
Colony of the Officers of the detachment of Royal Engineers which has
been stationed there together with such noncommissioned Officers and men
as have not accepted their discharge.

A copy of this despatch as recording your sense of the abilities
and conduct of the Officers, noncommissioned Officers and men of the
detachment, has been forwarded to the Secretary of State for War.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-12_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64003.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

I have the honor to transmit herewith the Returns for
the year ending 31st December 1863 as required by the
Book of Colonial Regulations Appendix page 157.



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FILE: 1864-01-12_Knollys_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645MI01.txt
================================================================================

Knollys to Under-Secretary of State

I am desired by Lieut: General Knollys to return to you for
acknowledgment the accompanying Addresses of Congratulation from the
Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver's
Island which he has had the honor of laying before His Royal Highness
The Prince of Wales.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-12_Lugard_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645WA02.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit
to you for the information of the Duke of Newcastle the
accompanying copy of a letter from the Horse Guards with its
enclosure addressed to the Deputy Adjutant General Royal
Engineers by Colonel Moody, commanding the party of Royal
Engineers lately employed in British Columbia, on the subject
of the proposed appointment of Captain Luard R.E. to be
Commissioner of Lands and Surveyor General in that Colony.

It appears that the Colonial Office is already in possession
of copies of the correspondence referred to in these Papers.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-12_Seymour_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B646S01.txt
================================================================================

Seymour to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am informed that it is the intention of Her Majesty's
Government that the Governor of British Columbia should be
provided with a House at New Westminster suitably furnished.
I am further informed that a cottage built by Colonel Moodie [Moody]
has been secured as a temporary residence for the Governor but
that it is entirely unfurnished.

Under these circumstances I would beg leave to suggest that
authority be given to the Agents of the Colony in England to
supply a moderate quantity of furniture.

The "Chryswhite," a fast ship, will receive cargo for
British Columbia until the 25th of this month.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-13_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V647046.txt
================================================================================

No. 46

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from the
Italian Minister at this court relative to the fate of G. Vignola, who,
it appears, was living in Victoria Vancouver Island in the year 1861. I
have to request that you will cause enquiries to be instituted on the
subject, and report to me the result.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-13_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V647046A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With reference to my Despatch No. 61 of the 19th of December last,
I transmit to you herewith the Queen's Warrant for the appointment of
Mr. William Alexander George Young to be Colonial Secretary for
the Island of Vancouver.

The Crown Agents for the Colonies have been instructed to pay to
Mr. Gordon Gairdner the Chief Clerk of my Office, the sum of £1..10..0
being the price of the Stamp on the enclosed Warrant; and you will call
on Mr. William Alexander George Young to repay this amount into the
Colonial Treasury.



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FILE: 1864-01-14_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647046B.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With reference to your letter of the 30th Ultimo, I have the honor
to convey to you Her Majesty's permission to visit the Colony of British
Columbia as occasion may demand.

The duration of any one visit of this description is left to your
discretion, but it will be necessary that your absence from your post
without previous leave from home should not exceed four Weeks in the
Year in all, and that each absence should be regularly reported to this
Office.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-14_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647064A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

The instructions which will be issued to you as Governor of British
Columbia will contain the usual Clause prohibiting you from absenting
yourself from the Colony without leave previously obtained from Her
Majesty direct or through one of Her Principal Secretaries of State.

Since however you may find it convenient to be able to visit the
neighbouring Colony of Vancouver Island as occasion may demand, I have
the honor to convey to you Her Majesty's permission for doing so.

The duration of any one visit of this description is left to your
discretion, but it will be necessary that your absence from your post
without previous leave from home should not exceed four weeks in the
year in all, and that each absence should be regularly reported to this
office.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-15_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64000SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

Though there is nothing of much importance, in the proceedings
of the Legislature to communicate, I beg to state, for Your Grace's
information, that the Legislative Assembly has since the commencement
of the present Session been principally occupied with local matters.
The following Bills have gone through the several stages in the Lower
House and are now before the Legislative Council.

1. "Act to repeal the Stamp Act, 1862".

2. "Legal Profession Act, 1863"

3. "Writ of Capias restriction Act 1863"

4. "Victoria Pilot Act, 1863"

5. "Representation Extension Act, 1863"

6. "Bills of Sale Amendment Act, 1863"

7. "Oaths Act, 1863".

8. "Fireman's Act 1863".

And my assent was given on the 30th October last to a
Provisional Act for the election of a Mayor and Councillors for the
City of Victoria for the year 1863; the object of which I will
briefly explain. In the Act for incorporating the City of Victoria
it was provided that the first election of a Mayor and Councillors
should be made by the persons then registered as voters for the
election of Representatives for the Town of Victoria, and that all
subsequent elections for these offices should be made by persons
rated in the Municipal Assessment Roll of the City at £20 Freehold or
Leasehold Estate. In consequence of unexpected delays the Municipal
Assessment Roll was not completed in time for the elections, and
there being no Assessment Roll in existence, there could be no
qualified voters, and no election of Municipal Officers. It
was to provide for this want and to authorize the election of
Municipal Officers by persons qualified as in the first election,
that is the registered electors of the Town of Victoria, that the
provisional Act was, in haste, and at the last hour, passed and
assented to.

2. No definitive action has been taken by the Lower House in the
matter of the financial arrangements recommended in my opening
speech, as a provision for the permanent support of the Government.
A Committee was duly appointed to prepare a report on the Crown Lands
of the Colony—to enable the House to settle the questions of the
Civil list, but the Committee has as yet made no report; having been
engaged ever since their appointment, in the, somewhat irrelevant,
task of enquiring into the management of the Land Office, during the
Administration of the Hudson Bay Company; the financial question
therefore remains absolutely in the same position it was in, four
months ago.

3. I have this day sent in the Estimates for the year 1864,

*

made up on the increased scale of salaries for the Civil
Establishment. This step will soon bring the House to a decision. I
fear that will be unfavourable—as from what is known about the
opinions of the Members I infer that they are not disposed to grant a
Civil list on the proposed Scale—nor without making a large
reduction in the Governor's proposed salary—which is generally
considered as excessive, in so poor a Colony as this.

4. The composition of the Lower House is very respectable, and there
has, so far, been no marked exhibition of party feeling—all
questions having been considered very much on their own merits—the
general policy of the Government is moreover so well known and so
thoroughly endorsed by the great body of the respectable public that
neither reputation nor influence could accrue from a course of
factious opposition.

There being nothing further of much interest to communicate.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-15_Layard_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645FO02.txt
================================================================================

Layard to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by Lord Russell to transmit to you a copy of a note
from the Belgian Minister at this Court, asking for information as
to the fate of a Belgian subject named Noiset who, when last heard
of, was living at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, and I am to request
that you will move His Grace the Duke of Newcastle to cause enquiry
to be made respecting this person.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-15_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647064B.txt
================================================================================

Separate

Amongst the subjects which will call for your attention on your
arrival in British Columbia, you will find that of the lands claimable
by the Hudson's Bay Company. I need scarcely say that it is desirable,
for the sake of all parties, that these claims should be ascertained and
settled as early as possible.

I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, a copy
of a despatch addressed by me to Governor Douglas on this subject on the
15th of November 1861, and of it's enclosures, which embodied an
arrangement entered into with the Company in this Country for effecting
a final settlement of the whole question. this arrangement was so clear
that it afforded the prospect of being carried into effect on the spot
without differences, but if these should occur, a mode was provided of
meeting them by arbitration.

I have not, however, received any Report on the matter from Sir
James Douglas, and I enclose a letter lately received by me from the new
Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, Sir Edmund Head, in which he
recalls attention to the subject.

I shall be glad if you will take an early opportunity after your
arrival of dealing with it, and of endeavouring to bring it to a speedy
conclusion.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-16_Hammond_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645FO01.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you a copy
of a letter from the Italian Minister at this Court
inclosing a document forwarded from British Columbia, and
I am to request that you will be good enough to certify
the signature of the Colonial Secretary attached thereto,
and return the paper to me in order that it may be duly
legalized by this office and returned to the Marquis d'Azeglio.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-16_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647064C.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I wish to call your attention to the fact that during the
administration of your Predecessor in the Government of British
Columbia, a Commission as Lieutenant Governor was held by Lieutenant
Colonel Moody who in virtue thereof succeeded to the Government of the
Colony on the death, incapacity or absence of the Governor.

In default of such an appointment the temporary administration of
the Government would in either of these contingencies be vested in the
Senior Member of the Executive Council, who, as that Body is now
constituted in your Instructions, is the Colonial Secretary. I should
wish you to report to me your opinion, after you have been a sufficient
time in the Colony to form your judgment on the point, whether it is
expedient that this arrangement should continue in force, or, if not,
what other would be the most desirable substitute.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-20_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647102.txt
================================================================================

No. 2

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a note from the
Belgian Minister at this Court, respecting the fate of a Belgian subject
named Noiset, who, when last heard of, was living at Victoria, Vancouver
Island.

I have to request that you will cause enquiry to be made and report
to me the result.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-20_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647101.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith, The Queen's
Commission under The Great Seal, appointing you to be Governor and
Commander in Chief of the Colony of British Columbia, together with the
Instructions under The Royal Sign Manual accompanying the same.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-21_Columbia_to_Newcastle_V646C01.txt
================================================================================

Columbia to Newcastle

In the Draft Deed of Conveyance of the Land occupied by the Church
and Parsonage of Christ Church, Victoria Vancouver, herewith
returned, I have defined the site at present used for the Bishops
residence.

My reasons for this addition to the draft are.

1. I am about to designate this Church as the Cathedral and
consider it important the Bishop should reside on the spot.

2. In 1860 soon after my arrival the Minister (Rev E Cridge)
and Churchwardens of Christ Church invited me to place the Episcopal
residence on this spot, I did so at some expense and have resided
there since.

3. As the land was originally given by the Hudson Bay Company
for the benefit of the Incumbent I agreed in writing to invest, and
did invest at the time, a sum of money deemed then equivalent, in
land to be conveyed as soon as the title to the residence is secured.

4. No prejudice therefore is done to the interests of Mr
Cridge, while the land will be improved in value by the Church being
made the Cathedral with the Bishops residence adjacent.

Should however this addition to the Draft involve delay in settling
the conveyance I do not press it for I am anxious the Rev Mr
Cridge should not longer be kept from benefit in leasing portions of
the Land.

But I submit it could be reasonable to vest power in the Trustees to
locate suitably in sites for residence any Clergy, Bishop or
otherwise, who may be attached to this particular Church.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-21_Julyan_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AG03.txt
================================================================================

Julyan to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to enclose for the information of the Duke
of Newcastle a copy of a letter from the Colonial Secretary
of British Columbia stating that His Excellency the Governor
had drawn a Bill on the Crown Agents at 30 days sight for the
sum of £2,000 in favor of the Bank of British North America,
on account of the £50,000 Loan of 1863, and I have to request
that you will favor me with the instructions of His Grace as to
the acceptance of the Bill in question. The Balance now standing
to the credit of the Colony is £5,860.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-21_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647103.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

I have the honor to acquaint you that the addresses of the
Legislative Council of Vancouver Island and of the House of Assembly to
the Prince of Wales upon the occasion of his marriage (which were
forwarded by your Predecessor in his despatch No. 43 of the 20th of
October last) have been duly laid before His Royal Highness, and that
His Royal Highness derived much satisfaction from the loyal and
affectionate sentiments which they express.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-23_Howard_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645MI02.txt
================================================================================

Howard to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant
with copy of a dispatch from the Governor of Vancouver's Island
reporting the shipment of a Box containing a further supply of Seed
and Cones of the Douglas Pine and I have to request that you will
express my thanks to the Duke of Newcastle for his compliance with my
request, and as I believe His Grace takes an interest in the growth
of the Douglasii Pine in this Country I transmit herewith for his
information copy of a report from the Nurseryman in the New Forest,
who has charge of these plants.

Having regard however to the particulars therein contained I shall be
obliged if the Colonial Office will request Governor Douglas not to
collect any more seed for the Office of Woods until the result of the
present parcel shall have been ascertained.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-01-27_Lugard_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645WA03.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have laid before the Secretary of State for War your
letter of the 15 Instant with its enclosures from the Governor
of British Columbia relative to an application from Serjeant
McColl of the Royal Engineers for the remission of the whole
or part of the Sum (£105) charged for the conveyance of his
wife and children from this country to that Colony.

In reply I am to request that you will remind the Duke
of Newcastle that when the detachment of Royal Engineers
first proceeded to the Colony in 1858, accommodation was,
at the instance of the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
provided in the Transport for 35 women with their children,
being considerably in excess of the regulated number. It
may be true, as urged by Serjeant McColl, that had it not been
[for] the state of his wife's health at the time, she would have
accompanied him. But this in itself affords no sufficient
ground for a compliance with the present request; for had
Mrs McColl and her children been taken out free, it
could only have been to the exclusion of the family of some other man.

It appears however that the expenses of the passage of
Mrs McColl and her children and the two other women
who accompanied them were paid over to the Emigration
Commissioners, by whom the service was conducted, by the
Paymaster General acting, not on behalf of this department,
but on behalf of the Treasury.

The remission of the balance of the debt due by
Serjeant McColl is therefore rather a matter for the
consideration of the Duke of Newcastle in concert with
the Lords Commissoners of the Treasury.



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FILE: 1864-01-29_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE02.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you that the Paymaster General has been
authorized to pay to Mr F. Seymour, the sum of £800, for
Passage Allowance on his being appointed Governor of British
Columbia, as requested in your Letter of the 21st Inst.



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FILE: 1864-01-29_Holmes_to_Newcastle_B646H02.txt
================================================================================

Holmes to Newcastle

I beg most respectfully to offer myself as a Candidate for the
Vacant office of Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works in British
Columbia.

I have received my education at the Royal Military Academy at
Woolwich, where it is necessary to pass an examination in all the
most essential points appertaining to the office I have the honor to
Solicit.

I have been for many years Private Secretary to Mr Seymour
and have at different times held the appointment of Police
Magistrate, Colonial Secretary during a most difficult Session and
the Dormant Commission of Lt Governor of British Honduras.

For my conduct and capabilities I beg to refer your Grace to
Mr Seymour's despatch mentioned in the margin.

*

I may venture to add that the appointment for which I am now an
applicant is one which I feel I can carry out to your Grace's
satisfaction and the benefit of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-01-29_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647265.txt
================================================================================

No. 65

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch marked
"separate" of the 13th of November reporting upon the condition and
prospects of British Columbia with reference to its mineral resources.



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FILE: 1864-01-29_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647266.txt
================================================================================

No. 66

I am informed by the Lord Commissioners. of the Admiralty that the sum of
£19.13.0 is due to the Ward Room Officers of H.M.S. "Devastation" for
the entertainment of Mr. H.G. Lewis, who it appears was employed as
Pilot and Interpreter under your authority, when the "Devastation"
proceeded (as reported in your despatch No. 33 of the 21st of May) on
service among the different tribes of Indians along the coast from Vancouver
 Island to Fort Simpson between the months of March and May last.

As this is a charge which should be defrayed from Colonial funds I
have instructed the Crown Agents General to pay the amount to the credit
of Naval Services, and I have to request that you will remit to them
£19.13.0 in repayment.



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FILE: 1864-01-30_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64004.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

I duly received Your Grace's Despatch No 44 of the
9th August last, transmitting an extract from a Report of
the Commissioners of Audit, upon the subject of the disallowance
of a sum of Sixty pounds (£60) from the accounts of British Columbia
for the year 1861, and calling upon me for a report in respect
of the circumstances under which credit for that sum was claimed.

2. The sum in question formed a portion of the Revenue
collected by Constable Seymour in May 1861, under instructions
from Mr Nind, the Magistrate in charge of the Alexandria District,
and was stolen from his person while sleeping at a way side House
near the Forks of Quesnelle. The circumstances of the loss were
declared to on oath by Constable Seymour, and were verified, so
far as they could be, by Mr Nind; from inquiries which he
subsequently made. When therefore, the claim for credit on
this account was first brought forward, I saw no reason to doubt
the truth of the statements made, and having a full appreciation
of all the difficulties attending the collection of revenue in a wild
and desolate country, I approved of the claim for credit being allowed.

3. Since the receipt of Your Grace's Despatch now under
reply, I have called upon Mr Nind for a special report in
respect of this matter, and I have personally examined Mr
Seymour upon the same subject. I forward herewith Mr Nind's
report for Your Grace's information, and I can only express my
own conviction that the loss occurred solely as represented, and
was, under the circumstances, not the result of carelessness or
neglect of precaution, but simply the result of the risk the
custodian was compelled to incur.

4. I trust this explanation may prove satisfactory to Your
Grace, and that the disallowance of credit entry may now be removed.

5. In accordance with the requirements of the Commissioners
of Audit, I forward herewith a Certificate from Mr Nind that the
amount has been included in the sums brought to account as Revenue.

6. I have to apologize for not earlier replying to Your
Grace's Despatch; but I deferred making any report upon the matter
until I could personally gather the particulars from Mr
Seymour,
who is, I believe a most respectable and trustworthy man, and who
left the service of the Government about twelve months ago for
the purpose of bettering his condition.



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FILE: 1864-02-02_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64005.txt
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No. 5, Legislative

With reference to your Grace's Despatch Seperate of the 15th
June last, and to Her Majesty's Order-in-Council, of the
11th day of June 1863, authorising the Governor of British
Columbia to establish a Legislative Council composed of 15
Members; and to your Grace's instructions in the aforesaid
Despatch, directing that one third of the Members of the said
Legislative Council should consist of persons nominated by the
Residents in the Colony and recognized as representing their
feelings and interests, I have to inform your Grace that
these instructions have been now fully carried into effect,
and that the Legislative Council was convened, at this place,
and formally opened by me on the twenty first day of January Ultimo.

2 I will not occupy Your Grace's time by entering into a
detail of the steps by which the nomination of the five
elective Members was effected, but will merely mention
with reference to that subject, that the Magistrates were
instructed in a letter from the Colonial Secretary dated
16th September last, to promulgate among the inhabitants
of the respective Districts the change authorised, in the system
of Government, by Her Majesty's aforesaid Order-in-Council,
and to desire them to select and forward, through the
Magistrates, for my approval, the names of five persons
of good character and approved Loyalty, to serve and to
represent their interests in the Legislative Council, and
I further directed that the Members should be apportioned
as follows, to wit:

District of New Westminster
1 Member

Districts of Hope, Yale, & Lytton
1   "

   do     do Douglas & Lillooet
1   "

   do     do Carribou East
1   "

   do     do Carribou West
1   "

3. For obvious reasons I did
 not consider it expedient to
prescribe the mode of election, or fix the qualifications of
Members or Electors; leaving to the Residents, in every case,
free and unbiased liberty of choice. The proceedings were
conducted in a perfectly orderly manner, and the nominees
are persons of unexceptionable character; I had therefore the
satisfaction of being able in every instance to approve and confirm them.

4. The Legislative Council now consists of the following
Official and Unofficial Members vizt:

The Colonial Secretary

 "  Attorney General

 "  Collector of Customs

 "  Treasurer
)
These Offices temporarily held

 "  Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works
)
by Mr Chartres Brew

Chartres Brew

Chief Inspector of Police

Peter O'Reilly

Gold Commissioner & Magistrate

Edward Howard Sanders

Asst do           do

Henry Maynard Ball

Asst Gold Commissioner & Magistrate

Philip Henry Nind

         do      do        do

Joshua Attwood Reynolds Homer

New Westminster

Robert Thompson Smith

Hope Lytton & Yale

Henry Holbrook

Douglas & Lillooet

James Orr

Carribou East

Nomination announced by the Magistrate but not yet appointed

Black

Carribou West

5. I herewith forward a copy of my Speech on the opening
of the Legislative Council and of their address in reply.

6. I have, in conclusion, to state that these proceedings
have given great satisfaction to the people of the Colony at
large, and will, I trust, meet with your Grace's approval.



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FILE: 1864-02-03_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647104.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

With reference to your Predecessor's despatch No. 45 of the 3rd of
November last I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter
with its enclosure from the Honble Jas. R. Howard on the subject of the
Douglas Pine, from which you will learn that it is not the wish of the
Commissioners of Woods and Forests that any more seeds or cones should be
collected for that office until the result of those recently sent home
has been ascertained.



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FILE: 1864-02-05_Fortescue_to_Douglas_B647267.txt
================================================================================

No. 67

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 74
of the 4th of December last, reporting that Mr. Cox is prepared to make
an allowance to his Wife at the rate of £60 per annum, and informing me
of the sums which he had already sent to her on this account.

For the reasons which you have anticipated, the Crown Agents could
not conveniently be called upon to undertake the management of a private
business of this nature. But I appreciate Mr. Cox's anxiety to furnish
evidence that he sends his remittances punctually, and I have to point
out that this end can be attained by making them through the Bank of B.
Columbia, and furnishing to the Governor some certificate from the Bank
that this has been done.



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FILE: 1864-02-08_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64001.txt
================================================================================

No. 1, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to request that Your Grace will be pleased to
authorize the Crown Agents for the Colonies to procure and send out
to this Colony as soon as convenient, Six ruby glass shades for the
Fisgard Island Light House, of the dimensions and according to the
description herewith enclosed.

2. This requisition is rendered necessary, as the Shades
applied for in my Despatch of the 1st August 1862, No 40, and sent
out per Steam Ship "Fusi Yama", are found to be useless, as will
appear from the accompanying letter from the Lightkeeper, being of
the wrong dimensions. I would mention, moreover, that Three of these
Shades were broken on the voyage, and not, so far as could be judged,
from any unusual violence. I would, therefore, ask that in the
present instance such care may be taken in packing the Shades, as may
ensure, so far as may be, their delivery in a sound condition.



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FILE: 1864-02-08_Hammond_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645FO03.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you, to be laid before
His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, a copy of a despatch from Lord Lyons
reporting a conversation he had held with Mr Seward on the subject
of concluding a Treaty between this country and the United States for
the purpose of settling the question of the Island of San Juan,
together with a copy of the instruction addressed to His Lordship by
Earl Russell, in reply.



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FILE: 1864-02-09_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64006.txt
================================================================================

No. 6

I have the honor to report for Your Grace's information
that "William Armitage" who was found quilty of Murder and
sentenced to death at the general Assizes of the Supreme
Court of British Columbia held at Lillooet on the 15th
day of October last; was executed at that place on the
24th day of November following.



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FILE: 1864-02-09_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64007.txt
================================================================================

No. 7

I have to report for your Grace's information that the
three persons hereinafter named, that is to say, "Scapa"
"Qualeset" and "Messitt," native born Indians, who were
found guilty of the crime of Murder and sentenced to death
at the General Assizes of the Supreme Court of British
Columbia held at Williams Lake on the 2nd day of October 1863;
were executed at that place on the 4th day of December following.



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FILE: 1864-02-10_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64008.txt
================================================================================

No. 8, Legislative

I have the honor of transmitting herewith a Resolution
of the Legislative Council having reference to a subject
which has been so fully discussed in the 4th Paragraph
of my Despatch No 6 of the 10th January 1863; that I
conceive it unnecessary to take up Your Grace's time by any
further remarks in reference to it; except to state that the
sum has been placed in the Estimates of the year and those
Estimates have been confirmed.



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FILE: 1864-02-10_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64002.txt
================================================================================

No. 2, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to request that the Stores described on the other
side hereof, required for the Lighthouses at the Race Rocks and at
Fisgard Island, may be procured by the Agents General and sent to
this Colony as early as convenient; the Lamps for Fisgard Light
House, and the lighter Articles by way of Panama (through Messrs
Eives and Macey of King Williams St London) and the heavier Articles
by first Ship viâ
Cape Horn.



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FILE: 1864-02-11_Mackean_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645MI01.txt
================================================================================

Mackean to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

About a year ago a Company was formed in London called "The
 British Columbia Co. Limited" with a capital of £3500 as a
preliminary to operations on an extended scale. The Directors
of this Company sent out three or four practical men to report to
them on the prospects of mining &c. The great drawback to extending
their operations has arisen from the existing laws regarding the
holding of mining property, quite inadequate to induce the public
to invest their capital unless considerable concessions were given
by the Colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island to any
Company willing to develope their resources.

For this purpose I address you to know if you could concede
to any Company now formed or that may be formed the privilege of
holding in their corporate capacity a sufficient extent of ground
as freehold, for mining and agricultural purposes payment of a royalty
to the Colony on all ore sold exempting them from any further charge.

I merely put this forward for your consideration and to know
what concession H.M. Government will be prepared to grant.

I am the more anxious in this matter as H.E. Governor Seymour
is at present in England and you might wish to consult him on
the question, and I am desirous that no delay should occur by
referring to the Colony as it would take at least six months
before anything definite could be accomplished.



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FILE: 1864-02-11_Mackean_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645MI02.txt
================================================================================

Mackean to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I take the liberty of drawing your attention to the importance
of establishing a mint in British Columbia for the purpose of
coining the Gold that is produced in that Colony.

At present all the gold has to be sent to San Francisco to be
coined, and two months elapse before the coin can be received back
in British Columbia, causing a loss in Interest alone, at Colonial
rates, of four per cent, and two per cent more for freight and
insurance—in all a loss of six per cent.

The Banks and Merchants of British Columbia and Vancouver's
Island keep all their accounts in the Dollar Currency, and the
Bank Notes in circulation in the two Colonies are in Dollars, and
as this is also the case in Canada, I would strongly recommend
that any gold that may be coined in British Columbia should be in
dollars and cents. Most of the Commerce of the two Colonies being
with the United States, in which the dollar currency prevails, is
also another argument in favor of the adoption of that currency.

The Canadian Government, as you are no doubt aware, have, for
the last few years abandoned the Halifax Currency, and now keep
their accounts in Dollars and Cents.



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FILE: 1864-02-12_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64003.txt
================================================================================

No. 3, Legislative

The Legislative Assembly has, for some days past, been employed on
the Estimates; and as suggested in my report of the 15th January
last, "Separate" has taken exception to the amount required to meet
the Civil list proposed in Your Graces Despatch "Separate" of the
15th day of June 1863, on the ground that it is disproportionate to
the means of the Colony.

That decision was communicated to me in a Resolution received from the
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly with a request that I would
transmit, as I have now the honor of doing, a copy of the same to
Your Grace.

2. The Assembly set forth, in this Resolution, as the reasons which
have induced them to decline the proposed Civil List, the inadequacy
of the present Revenue to meet the ordinary expenses of the colony,
and the cost of the various public undertakings essential to its
progress; the smallness of the white population and their inability
to bear a larger measure of taxation for the increase of Revenue; the
very moderate sum say £4500 realized in 1863 from the Sale of Crown
Lands, and the probability that in future years the revenue from that
source may be less.

The Assembly moreover declares, as its deliberate opinion, that the
"absolute separation" of the Colonies will be injurious to both; at
the same time, however, it "deems the amalgamation of the Colonies at
the present time "unadvisable" "if not impossible", and is of opinion
that "an intimate connexion" may be maintained by having one civil
establishment for the two Colonies.

The House, for these reasons, urges that there should be "but one
Civil establishment, as far as practicable, for both Colonies" and
adds that it is prepared in that case, to vote a sum "equal to one
third of the Salary now voted by British Columbia", as a Salary, from
Vancouver Island, for Officers serving both Colonies.

3. Having thus briefly stated the views entertained by the
Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island, with respect to the future
Government of the two Colonies as set forth in the Resolution now
forwarded, I will take the liberty of remarking that I fully coincide
with the opinions expressed in this Resolution, both as against the
fusion of the two Governments into one, and the absolute separation
of the two Colonies by the appointment of a Governor for each
Colony.

I also concur in the opinion of the Assembly on another point—that
there should be "but one Civil Establishment as far as practicable",
but I am not disposed to extend that limit beyond the Governor and
Colonial Secretary; with these exceptions I believe all the other and
subordinate Officers now employed in both Colonies are indispensably
necessary for the proper and efficient discharge of the duties of
Government. These points however virtually embrace the whole
question—for these being conceded, there would be no difficulty in
providing Salaries for all the other Officers designated in Your
Graces despatch. This would in substance amount to the continuance
of the present system of Government, which has grown up naturally out
of the existing circumstances and conditions of the Colonies, and may
for that reason, be presumed to be better adapted to their wants than
any untried system that could be devised.

4. I would therefore strongly recommend to Her Majesty's Government,
that but one Governor should still continue to represent the Crown in
both Colonies, and that there should be but one Colonial
Secretary—both these Officers to be maintained at the joint cost of
the two Colonies, while all the other public Officers should be at the
exclusive cost of the Colony employing them.
That the Colonies should each have its own separate Legislature, make
its own Laws; raise and apply its own Revenue, as at present, for its
individual benefit. That the principal Seat of Government should
continue to be at Victoria—as the most convenient and accessible
place for communication with other Countries, and that the services
of the Colonial Secretary who would reside there, should thus be made
available in administering the Government of Vancouver Island, during
the frequent absence of the Governor in British Columbia.

This plan would involve no violent changes of system, which are
always to be deprecated; would secure an ample Salary, adequate to
the position, for the Governor of the Colonies; would unite the
utmost practicable economy with efficiency of administration; would
prevent discord and the clashing of local interests, and would I
believe give very general satisfaction to the people in both
Colonies.



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FILE: 1864-02-12_Dowsett_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_B646D04.txt
================================================================================

Dowsett to Under-Secretary of State

As Agent in London to Captain Houghton late of H.M. Army, now a
settler in British Columbia I have the honor to request the
consideration of his Grace the Secretary of State to the following.

Captain Houghton resigned the Army bonâ fide for the purpose
of settling in British Columbia and left England in July last for
that Colony in consideration of a Colonial proclamation circulated to
Officers of the Army offering a certain Scale of remissions on the
purchase price of land sold by the Government of British Columbia to
officers leaving the army and settling there which proclamation was
the law when Captain Houghton left England but on arrival in the
Colony he found the proclamation just altered by a new one virtually
reducing the Encouragement to British Officers by
Four Fifths.

*

Captain Houghton when informed of the new proclamation on
arrival in the Colony appealed to the Governor stating the
circumstances of his case but the Governor refused redress on the
grounds that he had issued the proclamation in British Columbia
previous to the time Captain Houghton left H.M. Service entirely
ignoring the fact that Captain Houghton could not possibly have known
of the detrimental proclamation at the time he left the army even
before he left England for the Horse Guards circular promulgating the
new proclamation was not issued until the 31st day of August 1863.

As Captain Houghton bonâ fide resigned the Army on the faith
of receiving certain advantages guaranteed by her Majesty's circulars
to the army he claims to be dealt with in justice and to receive
the amount of remission in the purchase of land in British Columbia
which was promised to him or any officer of his rank at the time he
resigned the Army to settle in that colony and which promise had not
been withdrawn by any notification in England up to the time of his
departure from Great Britain for British Columbia.

Captain Houghton left England via Panama last July sending
forward his first purchase of goods to the amount of several hundred
pounds via Cape Horn for the Up-Country of British Columbia previous
to the arrival of which in the Colony Captain Houghton & party
travelled into the interior and finally settled at the junction of the
Oregon, Kamloops and Hope trails and subsequently on arrival of the
goods—provisions, tools, farming implements and materials for
building purposes—commenced establishing stores at his settlement.

I beg to apologize for trespassing on your valuable time by
these details but I mention them to show that Captain Houghton left
the army with the bonâ fide intention of settling in British
Columbia and the inducement held out to him to adopt that course was
the grant of land promised him by the proclamation referred to.

In conclusion permit me to direct the attention of his Grace the
Duke of Newcastle to the discouraging influence on Military
Settlement of the proclamation referred to. The boon held out for
all other colonies is now in British Columbia reduced to
one-fifth and I can state from personal experience in British
Columbia and other Colonies that in no British Colony can I conceive
it to be of equal importance to encourage Military settlement the
population of British Columbia being already too foreign and being
the most distant of English colonies more powerful inducements are
required to get Englishmen out there.

Begging that this matter may have the earliest convenient
consideration of his Grace the Secretary of State for the Colonies.



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FILE: 1864-02-16_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647268.txt
================================================================================

No. 68

I duly received your Despatch No. 56 of the 14th of September,
submitting to me the names of Captain Luard R.E. and of Mr. Trutch,
Civil Engineer, as gentlemen well qualified for the appointment of
Surveyor General of British Columbia. I also received your Despatch No.
70 of the 30th of November, reporting to me that Colonel Moody had
declined to leave Captain Luard behind, when the Corps of Sappers and
Miners quitted the Colony.

I have the honor to acquaint you, that having received an
explanation from Colonel Moody on this point, I am satisfied that he had
sufficient reasons for the course which he pursued, and that his
decision was correct.

Adverting to the high testimony which you bear to the professional
abilities, and to the general character of Mr. Trutch, a favorable
opinion which is entirely confirmed by the accounts given of him by
Colonel Moody, and by Captain Richards R.N., I have much pleasure in
informing you that I have selected this gentleman for the Office of
Surveyor General. His Warrant of appointment will be forwarded by an
early opportunity.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-02-18_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647301.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have laid before the Queen the Proclamations noted in the margin

*

which were transmitted to me together with your predecessor's despatch
No. 71 of the 23rd of November last and I am commanded to acquaint you
that H.M. has been pleased to confirm and allow them.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision upon these proclamations to
the inhabitants of B. Columbia in the usual and most authentic manner.

I have however to observe that Agreements such as that referred to
in the preamble of Proclamation No. 10 should be reported home as soon
as made, even though it may not be possible to delay their practical
completion in order that Her Majesty's Government may be enabled at once to
express an opinion upon them, and thus, if they should be objectionable,
to prevent the completion of any fresh transactions of the same kind.

So anomalous an expedient as that of taxing water carriage for the
support of a bridge could only be justified by exceptional
circumstances.

I have advised Her Majesty to confirm the Proclamation in which it is
embodied in reliance upon your Predecessor's judgment as to it's
necessity.



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FILE: 1864-02-22_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647302.txt
================================================================================

No. 2

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from Mr.
 Thos. W. Mackean enquiring on behalf of the British Columbia Mining
Company what concessions Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to grant to
that or to any other Mining company which may be formed.

It is no doubt very desirable that Capital should be systematically
applied in working the Mines, and therefore the formation of Companies
should not be discouraged. But in British Columbia, as in Australia, the
Mines have never been conveyed away with the lands. On the contrary
they have been reserved to the Crown to be leased on suitable terms;
and to this principle I think it desirable to adhere.

I shall be glad to consider any suggestions which may occur to you
on the terms on which companies might properly be encouraged to look for
a lease of Mines. These terms should probably be the same whether in
respect of Mines found upon lands of which the Company might have
acquired the freehold, or upon lands which still belong to the Crown.

I enclose for you information an Act passed by the Legislature of
Victoria in 1858 to facilitate the formation of Mining Associations.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-02-23_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE03.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of the 2nd Instant I am
desired by the Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury
to state, for the information of the Duke of Newcastle, that
before coming to any decision in regard to the remission of
any portion of the Passage Money to British Columbia of the
Wife & Family of Serjeant McColl—of the Royal Engineers—They
wish to be furnished with further information on the subject
of the payment of the cost of the passages of the wives &
families of the Men who went to British Columbia. It appears
that some of the married Men & their families were conveyed
free in the Troop Ship "Thames City," and My Lords assume that
the cost of their Transport was paid by the Admiralty as a
Naval Charge. It further appears that ill health prevented
Mrs McColl & her family availing herself of that opportunity
of proceeding to the Colony, & that the question of providing
them with a passage at the public expense was referred to the
Secretary of State for War, on which subject no opinion is
expressed in these papers;

By your letter of 1 October 1860 My Lords were requested
 to give directions for the payment of the cost of the passage
of the wives & families of certain non-commissioned Officers
& Men as an advance to be repaid by the Colony,

*

and in November
1861 My Lords issued the sum of £217.11.2 to the Emigration
Commissioners on account of their passages per "Marcella."
It is now stated that the cost of these and other passages
was to be defrayed in the first instance by the Imperial Treasury,
but to be recovered by stoppages from the Men's pay;

My Lords presume, from this circumstance, that the War
Department did not accede to the grant of a free passage to
Mrs McColl, but that it was to be recovered in common
with the cost of the passages of the other wives & families
sent in the "Marcella;"

My Lords request to be informed whether the sums
advanced have been fully recovered from the Men whose families
were sent in this Vessel, & to what account they have been
credited, which information might be obtained from Colonel
Moody. They also desire to be favored with the opinion of
the Secretary of State for War whether any remission of the
Passage Money of the Wife & family of Serjeant McColl would
be allowed under Military Regulations on the grounds set
forth by that person.



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FILE: 1864-02-23_Murdoch_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645LN01.txt
================================================================================

Murdoch to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of 16th instant, with
one from Mr Dowsett representing the hardship to which Capt
Houghton, late of Her Majesty's Army, has been subjected, by
an unexpected alteration of the privileges in the acquisition
of Land accorded to Naval and Military Officers in British Columbia.

2. Mr Dowsett represents, in substance, that Capt
Houghton left the Army in July last with the bonâ fide intention
of settling in British Columbia—that at that time the only
regulations respecting Land to officers known in this Country
were those of March 1861—that those regulations promised a
remission of purchase money to Captains of £400 or £300
according to length of Service—that Captain Houghton left the
Army on the faith of obtaining certain advantages including of
course that remission "guaranteed by Her Majesty's Circulars"—but
that on arrival in the Colony he found that the remission
had been reduced 4/5ths—that the Governor refused him
redress on the ground that the Proclamation reducing the
remission was issued in British Columbia before Capt Houghton
left the Army—a fact of which Capt Houghton could not
possibly be aware, as the Circular from the Horse Guards in
which it was announced was not issued till 31st Augt
last. Mr Dowsett under these circumstances urges the
claim of Capt Houghton to receive the remission "promised" to him.

3. In regard to the alleged "guarantee" by Government of
the advantages offered in the Circulars issued by the Horse
Guards, I may point out, that those Circulars expressly state
that as the management of the Crown Lands has been transferred
to the Local Legislatures "Her Majesty's Government cannot
guarantee" the continuance of the Regulations. I do not, however,
lay stress upon this, because an officer about to leave the
Army has a clear right to expect that the inducements officially
held out to him by the Government of this Country to induce him
to settle in a Colony will be recognized and fulfilled by the
Government of the Colony. If this is not done it would be better
and fairer that the Home Government should decline to give any
official information on the subject, and should leave an Officer
to discover through other Channels the advantages offered to
Settlers by the respective Colonies.

4. At the first Settlement of British Columbia the upset
price of Land was £1 an Acre. That price was reduced by a
Proclamation dated the 19th January 1861 to 4s/2d an
Acre. On the 28th March 1861, a Proclamation was issued
granting remission in purchase money to Naval and Military
Settlers at the rate of from £600 to £500 for a Field Officer
and £400 to £300 for a Captain. This Proclamation was copied
from the Regulations in force in some of the
Australian Colonies, New Zealand &c without sufficient reference
to the difference in the upset price in those Colonies. The
effect in British Columbia was to give to Naval and Military
Settlers nearly 5 times as much land as was given them in
other Colonies. The extent of these grants was found
inconvenient and the Proclamation was, therefore, repealed, by
a Proclamation (No 2 of 1863) which fixed the extent of Land
to be granted at the same number of Acres as the Proclamation of
1861 allowed pounds of remission. This proclamation was sent
home by Governor Douglas in a despatch dated 13th May 1863—was
referred to us in your letter of 11th July—and is said to
have been published by the Horse Guards in a Circular of 31st August.

5. As Capt Houghton left England in July—and had previously
sent out the Stores required for his settlement in British Columbia,
there can be no doubt that he had made his arrangements to leave
the Army for the purpose of settling there, not only before he knew
of the change of the Regulations, but before that change was known
to anyone in this Country. There was nothing to lead him to expect
such a change, and he omitted no precaution apparently, which a
prudent man could be expected to take to ascertain on the best
authority the terms offered to Settlers of his description. Under
these circumstances to subject him to loss on account of a
Proclamation which, as far as he is concerned, must be regarded as
ex post facto, would, I think, be an injustice and a hardship. As
the Proclamation in question has the force of Law no alteration can
be made except by the issue of another Proclamation of equal
authority. But it appears to me that in order to relieve Capt Houghton and preserve the good faith of the Government in this matter,
the Governor of British Columbia should be directed to issue a
fresh Proclamation, exempting from the operation of the Proclamation
No 2 of 1863, any Officer who can show that he left the Army
with the intention of settling in British Columbia previously to
the Horse Guards Circular of 31st August last—and who is
prepared to depose that he was not aware at the time of leaving
the Army of the alteration in the privileges allowed to Officers.

6. It may almost be taken for granted that no other Officer
than Capt Houghton would be in a position to take advantage of such
a Proclamation.



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FILE: 1864-02-26_Head_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645MI03.txt
================================================================================

Head to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to call your attention to a claim made upon this
Company in reference to a small lot of land in Victoria Vancouvers
Island which has been frequently alluded to in the correspondence
between Her Majesty's Government as "Lot Z."

The Town lot in question is a portion of the lands held by the
Hudsons Bay Company previous to the Grant of the Island to the
Company. It is situated in the rear of the ground on which the
Government buildings have since been erected. In March 1861 it was
sold by Mr Dallas, at that time the Hudsons Bay Company's principal
Agent at Victoria to a Mr Lowenberg, who in May of that year
attempted to take possession by fencing the land. This proceeding
was resisted by Governor Douglas by whose direction the fence erected
by Mr Lowenberg was pulled down. On the 9th May 1861 Mr Dugald
Mactavish in a letter addressed to Governor Douglas called his
Excellency's attention to the proceedings adopted against Mr
Lowenberg and informed him that the land was sold to him (Mr
Lowenberg) sometime since by the Hudsons Bay Company but Governor
Douglas declined to grant any redress and it was found necessary for
this Company to refer that and their other claims in Vancouvers
Island to the Colonial Office and ultimately on the 3rd of February
1862 an Agreement was entered into between Her Majestys Government
and this Company settling all such questions and entitled "Deed of
Arrangement for Settling the Claim of the Company to certain lands in
Vancouvers Island." The first provision of that Agreements is as
follows—

"That all sales made by the said Company previous to the first day of
January 1862 of any portion of the lands so occupied by them in the
Victoria District as aforesaid before the thirtieth day of January
1849 including water frontages and the spaces between high and low
water mark abutting on such portions of land shall be valid and
effectual as against Her said Majesty Her heirs and Successors.

And the fifth provision limits the land to be surrendered to Her
Majestys Government to "the site of the New Government buildings
so far as the old fence, in the rear dividing it from a farm
known as Bexley or 'Beckney'"
or in other words as far as the limit of Lot Z.

On the 4th instant Mr Lowenberg addressed a letter to the Secretary
of the Hudsons Bay Company (copy of which is hereunto annexed)
complaining that proceedings have been taken in the Courts of
Vancouvers Island by the Attorney General of the Colony to prevent
the recovery of the land in question. Mr Lowenbergs letter having
been referred to the Companys Solicitor he has advised to the
following effect—

"Referring to your letter of the 11th instant inclosing copy of one
received from Mr Lowenberg it appears to me that the Hudsons Bay
Company having sold the land in question to Mr Lowenberg were bound
to put him into possession of it; but on the other hand I am of
opinion that upon the footing of the arrangement as defined by the
Governors letter to the Duke of Newcastle of the 1st August last the
Crown can have no claim to it and ought not therefore to interfere to
prevent Mr Lowenberg being put into possession of it.

"I assume that the land in question was part of that which the Company
claimed as having belonged to them before the Grant from the Crown
and their rights in respect of which were arranged with the
Government in the year 1862 (February) modified by the Correspondence
in July and August.

It seems to me to have been quite clear that the Government ratified
all sales which had been made by the Company; and those; to Mr
Lowenberg were therefore included; and I should recommend that the
circumstances be now brought under the notice of the Duke of
Newcastle and that he be requested to give directions for any claim
on the part of the Crown in regard to this land being withdrawn.

Seeing that the land in question is clearly within the meaning of the
first clause of the Agreement and that the land surrendered to the
Crown is expressly limited by the 5th Clause to the old fence
between the site of the Government buildings and the lot in question
the Committee of the Hudsons Bay Company cannot doubt but that His
Grace the Secretary of State for the Colonies will give directions
that Mr Lowenberg's rights should be respected.

The paragraph in my letter of the 1st August and to which Mr
Maynard refers is as follows—

On the part of the Hudsons Bay Company we are ready to surrender any
right or title the Company may have in the Lots marked in Mr
Mactavish's plan with the letter Z as well as the Lot 1605 on which
the Post Office is built and the two lots adjoining thereto, marked
1605 and 1607. We are also ready to surrender the Lot at the foot of
Broughton Street in exchange for the Lot at the foot of Fort Street,
on which it was originally intended that the Harbour Masters house
should be built. In making these concessions however it must be
understood that the Hudsons Bay Company surrender only the rights
which they actually possess and that the arrangement is made subject
to and saving the rights of third parties (if any) to whom the lots
in question may have been already conveyed.



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FILE: 1864-02-26_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647302A.txt
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Separate

With reference to my despatch No. 68 of the 16th of February
addressed to Sir James Douglas, in which I informed him that I had
selected Mr. Trutch for the office of Surveyor General and Commissioner
of Lands, I wish to point out to you that if Mr. Trutch should accept
the office he will not be at liberty to enter into any fresh contracts
for the execution of Public Works. In case he should have any such
contracts which remain to be fulfilled, I have to request that you will
consider and report to me how far they are liable to conflict with his
public duties, and whether any plan can be suggested for enabling Mr. Trutch to divest himself, without undue sacrifice, of such of them as
would both continue for a considerable time in execution and would also
appear incompatible with his official position.



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FILE: 1864-02-29_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64009.txt
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No. 9, Legislative

I have the honor of transmitting the following Ordinances, with
the accompanying reports, for Her Majesty's approval viz—

No 1 "An Ordinance to promote the Drainage of Mines"

No 2 "An Ordinance confirming certain Proclamations"

No 3 "An Ordinance to apply the sum of One Hundred
and thirty five thousand six hundred and thirty nine pounds
Sixteen Shillings and seven pence Sterling
(£135,639.16.7) out of the General Revenue of the Colony of British
Columbia and its Dependencies to the service of the year 1864"

No 4 "An Ordinance to extend and improve the Laws
relating to Gold Mining"

No 5 "An Ordinance for the construction of a Toll
Bridge across Thompson River"

2. No 1. To promote the Drainage of Mines. The
object of the Ordinance is to promote a species
of enterprise essential to the progress of Carribou. There
is generally throughout that District a great flow of
water into the Shafts and the working expenses are in
consequence greatly enhanced by the cost of constantly
employing a number of hands at the present high rate of
wages, say 10 dollars a day to Keep the
shafts free and in a workable state.

This ordinance authorizes the introduction of a system
which will effect that object, at a much smaller cost
by means of subterranean Drains, carried on the bed rock
underlying the deepest Shafts, with such gradients, as
will lead off the water—by its own gravity—and empowers
the Gold Commissioner to grant such rights and privileges
as may induce people to embark in such undertakings. This
measure has been strongly recommended by the great body of
the Mining population and will be of incalculable advantage
to the country at large; as independently of the direct
saving in the working expenses, it will effect, by the
cheapest process, the thorough drainage of Mines now almost
valueless from the excessive flow of water, and render others
uniformly productive, which are now workable only for a
few Months in the year.

3. No 2 Confirming certain Proclamations was passed
in conformity with the instructions in Your Grace's Despatch
No 35 of the 14th July last, to remove doubts as to the
validity of proclamations issued in the interval between
the passage of the Order-in-Council of the 11th day of
June 1863 revoking the Order-in-Council of the 2nd day
of September 1858 and the opening of the Legislative Council
at New Westminster on the twenty first day of January last.

No 3 Is a Bill providing for the current expenditure of
the year.

No 4 To extend and improve the Laws relating to Mining.
Contains many useful and necessary provisions for the
working of the Gold Fields; it grants some additional
privileges to Miners, by increasing the number of claims
that can be acquired and legally held at one time by
occupation and working, and recognizes their right to
all the Gold in duly acquired Claims. It sanctions the
sale or Mortgage of Mining Claims provided the full
consideration paid, be stated in the Deed and a fee of
one per cent on the amount of that consideration be
paid to the Gold Commissioner for the use of Her Majesty.
The mutation Fee will I believe yield a large amount
of Revenue without oppression to the Miner, who will be
largely benefited by the increased security given to property
under the present act, which will greatly add to its marketable
value; this is in fact merely carrying out the plan which I
had the honour of laying before Your Grace, in the 9th
Paragraph of my Despatch Separate of the 13th November last.

No 5 "For the construction of a Toll Bridge across Thompsons
River;" a broad and rapid Stream, where a Bridge is much
required for the accommodation of the public. The act
contains only the ordinary provisions for the levying of
tolls &c usual in such cases.

I would further beg to refer Your Grace to the
accompanying Reports from the Attorney General.



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FILE: 1864-02-29_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647303.txt
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No. 3

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from Mr.
C.F. Dowsett bringing under my notice the hardship to which Captain
Houghton, late of Her Majesty's Army, has been subjected by an unexpected
alteration of the privileges in the acquisition of land accorded to
Naval and Military Officers in British Columbia.

As Captain
Houghton left England in July last, and had previously
sent out the stores required for his settlement in the Colony, there can
be no doubt that he had made his arrangements to leave the Army for the
purpose of settling there, not only before he knew of the change in the
Regulations, but before that change was known to any one in this
Country there was nothing to lead him to expect such a change, and he
omitted no precaution, apparently, which a prudent man could be expected
to take to ascertain on the best authority the terms offered to Settlers
of his description.

Under these circumstances I am of opinion that to subject Captain Houghton to loss on account of a Proclamation, which, as far as he is
concerned must be regarded as ex post facto, would be an injustice and a
hardship.

In order therefore to relieve Captain Houghton and preserve the
good faith of the Government in this matter, I have to authorize you to
submit to your Council an Ordinance exempting from the operation of the
Proclamation No. 2 of 1863 any Officers who can shew that he left the
Army with the intention of settling in British Columbia previously to the
Horse Guards Circular of the 31st of August 1863 and who is prepared to
depose that he was not aware at the time of leaving the Army of the
alteration in the privileges allowed to Officers.



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FILE: 1864-03-03_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64004.txt
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No. 4, Legislative

I have the honor to forward herewith to Your Grace copy of a
Resolution of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver's Island upon the
subject of the appointment of a common law Barrister of certain
standing to the Office of Chief Justice of this Colony, and offering,
in such case to provide a retiring pension for the present incumbent
of the office at the rate of Five Hundred pounds (£500) per Annum.

2. I have called upon Mr Cameron, the present Chief Justice, to
state his views in respect of this matter as far as it affects
himself, and I enclose herewith copy of his reply, by which Your
Grace will perceive that Mr Cameron is willing to resign his office,
and to accept the pension offered him, provided it be secured to him
by an Act of the Legislature.

3. I have therefore recommended the Legislature to pass such an Act,
so that all difficulties that might obstruct Your Grace in carrying
out the wishes of the Assembly at an early moment should be removed.
A Bill has accordingly been introduced and advanced a stage, and I
have no reason to suppose that it will not be carried.

4. In further relation to this matter it may be desirable that I
should mention that the Assembly has expressed a decided opinion
against the removal of Mr Cameron, except he be superseded by a
common law Barrister, who is not a Member of the
Judiciary or Bar of this Colony, or of British Columbia, and
it has been understood by the Assembly that Mr Cameron will not
resign until his Successor arrives from England; the object of the
Assembly evidently being to avoid the possible contingency of a Chief
Justice, who as a member of the Bar in a small Colony like this, must
in the course of his practice have acquired an intimate acquaintance
with private and personal interests in general, and whose judgment,
in consequence, may be less sound than that of a person entering upon
the important and responsible position of Chief Justice, an entire
Stranger to local jealousies and local interests.



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FILE: 1864-03-03_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64005.txt
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No. 5

I have the honor to forward herewith a Memorial addressed to Your
Grace by the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver's Island, upon the
defenceless state of the Colony in the event of hostilities with
Foreign powers.

2. As I have already addressed Your Grace upon this subject, it is
unnecessary that I should accompany the Memorial by further remark,
than to recommend it to Your Grace's earnest consideration.



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FILE: 1864-03-03_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64006.txt
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No. 6, Military

I have the honor to forward herewith an Account with Vouchers, of
Receipts and Disbursements of Imperial Funds in connection with the
Island of San Juan &ca between the 1st January and 31st December
1863.

2. It will be seen that at the close of the Account there is a
Balance due the Colony of £2115.4.8. I have therefore authorized the
Treasurer to draw upon Her Majesty's Paymaster General, in the usual
manner, for the sum of Two Thousand Five Hundred pounds (£2,500), and
I have to request that you will be pleased to cause the Bills upon
this account to be duly accepted upon presentation.



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FILE: 1864-03-08_Murdoch_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645LN01.txt
================================================================================

Murdoch to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of 2nd instant, with a letter from
the Governor of the Hudsons Bay Co, on the subject of the claim of
Mr Lowenberg to a Lot of Land forming part of the original
Government Reserve at Victoria, Vancouvers Island.

2. The Government Reserve was a portion of the 1212 Acres at Fort
Victoria claimed by the Hudsons Bay Company on the ground of
occupation previous to 1849. By an Agreement concluded in Febry 1862
all sales of this Land made by the Company up to that date were
confirmed, on condition that the unsold portion of the Land, with the
exception of 50 Acres, should be surrendered to the Crown.

3. Previously to that date Mr Dallas, the Companys Agent, had sold
to Mr Lowenberg the Lot now in question—Governor Douglas, however,
refused to admit him into possession. The Governor alleged, but the
Company denied, that the Lot still formed part of the Government
Reserve—the Company asserting that it had been cut off from the
Reserve by a ditch and proposed Street, Governor Douglas maintaining
that the ditch was only a drain, and that the Street was outside the
Boundary of this Lot. The Agreement of 1862 made no reference to
this controversy.

4. Certain modifications of that Agreement were, however, found
necessary in carrying it out—and Governor Douglas in April last
proposed a compromize by which he considered that the rights of the
Crown and the Company would be both maintained. One condition of
that compromize was the surrender to the Crown of the Lot in question
("Lot Z"). The Hudsons Bay Company assented to the compromize, so
far as they had power to do so consistently with the rights of
individuals.

5. But Mr Lowenberg now calls on the Company to put him in
possession of the Land, which he says he bought from them in March
1861—and the Company apply to the Duke of Newcastle to give
directions for that purpose. I do not see how this application can
be refused. Nothing short of proof of fraud in the sale could
invalidate Mr Lowenberg's title, supported as it is by the Agreement
of February 1862. But although Governor Douglas in his despatch of
24th October 1861 described Mr Lowenberg as being "merely the Agent
or instrument of the Company" in the sale and purchase of this
Land—such a statement without further evidence would not justify the
Government in resisting Mr Lowenberg's claim. As Governor Douglas in
the subsequent correspondence adduced no additional evidence of the
alleged collusion between the Company and Mr Lowenberg, and as the
charge was inherently improbable, it seems hardly worth while to
enquire into it further. Much, therefore, as it may be regretted
that any portion of the Government Reserve should have been sold,
I see no ground upon which the Crown could refuse to recognize the
Sale.



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FILE: 1864-03-12_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64007.txt
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No. 7, Miscellaneous

Adverting to your Despatch No 38 of the 16th October last, I have
the honor to forward herewith to Your Grace copy of the explanation
furnished to me by Mr Cary, the Attorney General of this Colony, in
respect of the claim brought against him by a Mr E. Wayman.



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FILE: 1864-03-12_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64008.txt
================================================================================

No. 8

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches of the
Numbers and Dates as described on the other side hereof.

*



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FILE: 1864-03-12_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647303A.txt
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Separate

With reference to my Despatch No. 68 of the 16th Ultimo I transmit
to you herewith the Queen's Warrant for the appointment of Mr. Joseph
William Trutch to be Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works and Surveyor
General for the Colony of British Columbia in the room of Colonel Moody, resigned.

The Crown Agents for the Colonies have been instructed to pay to
Mr. Gordon Gairdner the Chief Clerk of my Office, the sum of Thirty
Shillings (30/s) being the price of the Stamp on the enclosed Warrant;
and you will call on Mr. J.W. Trutch to repay this amount into the
Colonial Treasury.



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FILE: 1864-03-14_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64009.txt
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No 9

I have the Honor of transmitting herewith the following Acts for Her
Majesty's approval, viz:

 An Act to provide for the Election of a Mayor and Councillors for
the City of Victoria at the expiration of the period for which the
present Mayor and Councillors are elected.

An Act to provide an Indemnity for the Mayor and Councillors
of the City of Victoria.

No 1 of 1864. An Act to indemnify the Governor for applying certain
moneys to the Redemption of Municipal Debentures.

No 2 of 1864. An Act to provide for the retirement of David Cameron,
Chief Justice of the Colony of Vancouver Island and its Dependencies.

 No 3 of 1864. An Act to establish pilots for the Port of Victoria
and for other purposes relating thereto.

No 4 of 1864. An Act to grant the right to construct a Telegraph Line
connecting Victoria with the Telegraph system of the United States,
and for other purposes.

No 5 of 1864. An Act to apply the sum of Two hundred and fifty Seven
Thousand two hundred and Seventy nine Dollars and fifty Cents out of
the General Revenue of the Colony of Vancouver Island and its
Dependencies to the service of the year One thousand eight hundred and
Sixty four.

2. "An Act to provide for the Election of a Mayor and Councillors
for the City of Victoria &ca"—Having
fully shewn the object of this Act and the causes which rendered
it necessary, in my Despatch of the 15th January last (Separate),

*

and the Attorney General having also touched upon the subject in his
report which is now forwarded, I will not take up your Graces time
with further comments upon it in this Despatch.

3. "An Act to provide an Indemnity for the Mayor and Councillors of
the City of Victoria". A case having been decided in the Supreme
Court by which it was ruled that the Mayor and Councillors had in a
certain ByLaw passed by them for raising and collecting certain
Municipal Taxes, exceeded the powers conferred by the Act of
Incorporation, the immediate passage of this Act of Indemnity was
rendered necessary to protect the Council, acting, as they had done,
in good faith and with the best intentions, against vexatious suits
which litigious individuals might, otherwise, raise against them.

4. "An Act to provide for the retirement of David Cameron, Chief
Justice," &ca. This Act grants to Mr Cameron on his resignation
of the Office of Chief Justice of Vancouver's Island, a Pension of
£500, per Annum, to be paid after the arrival of his Successor from
England, the object of that condition being stated in my Despatch No
4 (Legislative) of the 3rd Instant.

**

5. "An Act to grant the right to construct a Telegraph Line &ca".
By this Act there is granted to the California State Telegraph
Company, the exclusive right of constructing a Telegraph Line and
sending Messages from any place within the Colony of Vancouver's
Island to any place within the Territories of the United States of
America West of the Rocky Mountains, for a period of Seventy years;
but terminable in Twelve years at the option of the Governor of
Vancouver's Island; upon the express condition that the work shall be
commenced within five months, and be completed, and the line of
Telegraph put in operation within a further period of Thirteen months
from the passage of the Act, otherwise the privileges granted by the
Act shall cease, and the Act become absolutely void. The Act also
provides for the continuous working of the line, and fixes a maximum
rate of charge for the transmission of Messages, and in all other
respects carefully guards the public interests. I have, therefore,
no hestitation in recommending it for approval, as there can be no
doubt that its effect will be highly advantageous to the general
interests of the Colony, and as, in reality, the privileges granted
(in no way interfering with the construction of a Line through
British Territory) are as nothing in comparison with the outlay to be
incurred by the enterprising Company which thus contracts to place
Vancouver's Island in immediate communication with the outer world.

6. The other Acts transmitted do not, I believe, require any special
comment beyond the report of the Attorney General which is herewith
transmitted.



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FILE: 1864-03-14_Douglas_to_Newcastle_V64009SP.txt
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Separate

I have the Honor to forward herewith Copy of a Letter addressed to me
by Mr Young the Colonial Secretary, applying for leave of absence
for Twelve months to enable him to proceed to England upon Private
affairs, and to obtain relaxation after continuous employment in the
Public Service in these Colonies for a period of nearly Seven years.

2. I laid this application before The Executive Council and they
concurred with me in deeming Mr Young to be entitled to this
indulgence after his long and uninterrupted service; and I therefore
granted Mr Young the required leave of absence, but, upon the
condition, that it should not take effect until convenient after the
arrival of my Successor. In respect to this point Mr Young stated
to me his reasons for making the application at the present period,
instead of deferring it until after my Successor had assumed the
Administration of affairs. They appeared to me quite satisfactory
and related exclusively to personal considerations connected with his
family.

3. In forwarding this application I think it but just—Mr Young
having been employed so much under my own eye—to bear my testimony
to the unremitting nature of his labours in transacting with only an
inexperienced and insufficient Staff the complicated business arising
out of the organization of all the Departments in two Infant
Colonies. He has hitherto had no leave of absence, and for some time
past I feared that the failure in his health, which was apparent,
would compel him to seek change and quiet.



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FILE: 1864-03-15_Moody_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_B646M01.txt
================================================================================

Moody to Under-Secretary of State

Messrs Cox & Co inform me that my Salary as CLSW in
British Columbia from the 1st Octr last year to the close of
my Service in that Colony has not been received by them. This no
doubt has arisen from absence of notification that the 14th
Novr (inclusive) last was the day on which my Services terminated.

I shall feel much obliged if you will cause the usual order
to be enclosed to them authorizing them to draw for my Salary from
the 1st Octr to 14 Novr last both days inclusive.



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FILE: 1864-03-16_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64010.txt
================================================================================

No. 10, Financial

I have the honor to forward herewith to Your Grace
Ordinance No 7 entitled "The British Columbia Loan Act
1864," by which the Governor of the Colony is empowered
to raise a Loan upon Debentures for such sum or sums not
exceeding One Hundred Thousand pounds Sterling (£100,000), as may
be required for the purposes of surveying, constructing,
and maintaining Roads, Bridges, and other public works
within the Colony.

2. The Debentures are to bear interest at the rate
of Six per cent per annum, and are redeemable at the
expiration of 30 years from the 1st April 1864.

3. This arrangement will place this Loan in as good a
position as the Loans of 1862 and 1863, inasmuch as, like
those, it will for the last two years of its term become a
first charge upon all the Revenues of the Colony.

4. The benefits that have already resulted to the
Colony from the great public works which the preceding
Loans enabled me to undertake, are so remarkable, and
the necessity of continuing those works is so apparent,
that but one opinion exists in the Legislature as to
the great expediency of at once raising additional funds for
investment in sources so reproductive, and so well
calculated to promote the great and lasting interests of the Colony.

5. I have before so frequently and at such length
represented to Your Grace the difficulties existing
to the development of the mineral wealth of the country,
the great distance of the Gold Fields from the port of
entry, the enormous cost of transport which absorbs
the produce of mines that otherwise would be abundantly
remunerative, and therefore kills enterprise and
checks development, that I trust it is not necessary for
me now to enter further into these considerations to
satisfy Your Grace of the propriety of a measure
by which the work of improvement may be continued, and
these barriers to wealth and prosperity gradually
mitigated and removed.

6. So far as the financial condition of the
country is concerned, I think it fully justifies the
present measure. The Revenue for the year 1863
reached the Estimate, viz. in round numbers One
Hundred and ten thousand pounds (£110,000), an increase over
the preceding year of more than 23 per cent. The Revenue
this year bids fair to exhibit a corresponding increase
over that of last year; as up to the present time
the receipts from customs dues at the port of entry
are £3000 in excess of the same period last
year; and as this increase of imports will materially
swell the receipts from roads tolls, nothing can be
more satisfactory than our financial prospects for
this year; and this satisfactory state of things is
attributable, indisputably, to the opening up of
the country with the means afforded by the Loans already
raised. The work of improvement however, cannot be stayed:
it must still be energetically prosecuted err a tithe of
the vast mineral resources of the Colony can be developed.

7. I enclose the Attorney Generals Report upon the
Act, and under the circumstances I have stated, I hope
Your Grace will see no objections, to advising Her
Majesty to leave the Act to its operation.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-16_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647105.txt
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No. 5

With reference to the correspondence noted in the margin

*

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from the Governor
of the Hudson's Bay Company on the subject of a claim preferred by Mr.
Lowenburg to a lot of land forming part of the original Government
Reserve at Victoria, Vancouver Island.

This Reserve was a portion of 1212 acres at Fort Victoria claimed
by the Hudson's Bay Company on the ground of occupation previous to the
year 1849. By an Agreement concluded in February 1862 all sales of this
land made by the Company up to that date were confirmed, on the
condition that the unsold portion of the land, with the exception of 50
acres, should be surrendered to the Crown. Previously to the date of
the agreement, the Company's Agent had sold to Mr. Lowenburg the lot now
in question. Certain modifications of that Agreement were however found to be
necessary, and Sir James Douglas in his despatch of the 20th of April
last proposed a compromise by which he considered that the rights of
the Crown and the Company would be maintained. One condition of that
compromise was the surrender to the Crown of the lot in question (lot Z)
and the Hudson's Bay Company assented to the proposal, so far as they had
they power to do so consistently with the rights of individuals.

Mr. Lowenburg now calls upon the Company to put him in possession
of the land which he states that he bought from them in March 1861, and
the Company apply to the Secretary of State to give directions for that
purpose.

It is true that Sir James Douglas in his despatch of 24th of
October 1861 described Mr. Lowenburg as being "merely the Agent or
instrument of the Company" in the sale and purchase of this land, but I
do not consider that such a statement without further evidence would
justify the Government in resisting his claim; and much as it is to be
regretted that any portion of the Reserve should have been sold, I find
no ground upon which the Crown could refuse to recognize the sale.

I have therefore to authorize you to take the necessary steps for
giving Mr. Lowenburg a valid title to the land in question.



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FILE: 1864-03-21_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64011.txt
================================================================================

No. 11, Financial

Adverting to my Despatch No 10 of the 16th Instant, and
to Your Grace's Despatch No 56, of the 2nd October last,
instructing me to cause the sum of £10,704.16.7. to be
repaid to the Imperial Treasury out of the Revenues of the
Colony of British Columbia, I have the honor to acquaint
Your Grace that I have by this mail forwarded to the
Crown Agents for the Colonies a copy of the "British
Columbia Loan Act 1864," and have authorized them, so
soon as the said Act receives Her Majesty's sanction, to
negotiate the sale of a moiety of the Debentures to be
issued under that Act, and with the first proceeds thereof
to pay the sum aforesaid to Her Majesty's Government in
liquidation of the charge now standing against this Colony.



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FILE: 1864-03-22_Bergue_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V646B01.txt
================================================================================

Bergue to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

Can you help me in the following matter.

The wife of a man named Hatcher, who has been for some time a
resident in Vancouver's Island, is very anxious to get some
intelligence respecting him. She received on the 25th of October
last a letter from him dated the 14th of September, from "Esquimath"
as my informant tells me, but which I presume must be the place I see
on the Map & which is
"Esquimalt" near Victoria. He was then ill, & she is
apprehensive he is dead as she has heard nothing since. I am told
that he was owner of two fishing Hoys and Canoes; was well known to
have officers frequently taking them on shooting parties; and was
occasionally employed at Victoria as [a] cook.

If you would kindly cause inquiry to be made about the man, I would
feel greatly obliged.



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FILE: 1864-03-24_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE04.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letters of 2nd Ultimo and
2nd Instant I am desired by the Lords Commissioners of
Her Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you, for the information
of the Duke of Newcastle, that in consideration of Sergeant
McColl of the Royal Engineers, serving in British Columbia,
having been disappointed in obtaining a free passage for
his wife and family in the "Thames City" in consequence of
her illness at the time of the sailing of that Vessel,
Their Lordships will not object to the remission of the sum
of £52.10 being that part of the cost of their passages
in the "Marcella" which has not been repaid by him by
deductions from his pay;

At the same time Their Lordships request that it may be
ascertained, either from Colonel Moody or from the Governor
of British Columbia, whether the balance of the sum of
£217.11.2 advanced for the passages of the wives and
families of certain men of the Royal Engineers in the
 "Marcella," has been wholly recovered.



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FILE: 1864-03-25_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64110.txt
================================================================================

No. 10a

I have the honor to report my arrival in this colony.

This being Good Friday I have deferred assuming the Government
till tomorrow when I will take the usual oath of office & Report
having done so by the next mail.



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FILE: 1864-03-28_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE05.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In reply to Mr Elliot's letter of 19th inst
I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you that the Paymaster General has
been authorized to pay to Messrs. Cox & Co as Agents
for Col. Moody, the sum of £146.14.9, for his Salary as
Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works in British Columbia,
from 1st Oct to 14 Novr last.



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FILE: 1864-03-28_Newcastle_to_Douglas_B647303B.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to ackn: the receipt of your despatch No. 5 of the
2nd of February last reporting the inauguration of the representative
systems of Govt. in B. Columbia, and the election, under the authority
of H.M. Order in Council of 11th June 1863 of five unofficial Members
of the Legislative Council.

I have to express my approval of the manner in which you have
carried this measure into effect, and I have learned with much pleasure
that the result has been satisfactory both to yourself and to the people
of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-03-28_Newcastle_to_Douglas_V647105A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch
No. 5 of the 2nd of February last, reporting the inauguration of
the representative system of Government in British Columbia, and
the election under the authority of Her Majesty's Order in Council
of the 11th of June 1863 of five unofficial Members of the
Legislative Council.

I have to express my approval of the manner in which you have
carried this measure into effect, and I have learned with much
pleasure that the result has been satisfactory both to yourself and
to the people of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-03-28_Newcastle_to_Kennedy_V647106.txt
================================================================================

No. 6

I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from Mr. J.
B. Bergue, containing enquiries as to the fate of a man named Hatcher,
stated to have been for some time a resident in Vancouver Island; and I
have to request that you will furnish me with any information which you
may be able conveniently to obtain respecting this Person.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-28_Sargeaunt_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645AG04.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to report for the information of the
Duke of Newcastle that under the authority of your letter of
the 14th January last Mr Seymour, previous to his
departure from this Country, selected furniture for the
Government House of British Columbia at a total cost of
£1239.11.2, and that the Crown Agents reimbursed him a
further sum of £204.18.10, as authorized by your letter
of the 17th Ultimo for the cost of furniture purchased
by him, for his residence.

Just before his departure Mr Seymour enumerated
the remaining articles necessary to complete the furnishing
[of] his Government House, and as his requirements appeared
reasonable (the additional articles consisting entirely
of bedroom furniture) the Crown Agents have complied with
them at a further cost of £229.1.0, making a total of £1673.11.0.



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FILE: 1864-03-29_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64111.txt
================================================================================

No. 11, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to inform you that I took the usual oath of office
and assumed the Government of this Colony on Saturday the 26th
March.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-30_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64112.txt
================================================================================

No. 12, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to enclose copies of two local Newspapers containing
an account of my reception as Her Majesty's Representative in this
Colony.

2. The demonstration of loyalty and affection to Her Majesty's
Throne and Person was most gratifying and worthy of the People of All
Nations composing the community.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-30_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64112CO.txt
================================================================================

Confidential

Referring to my Predecessor's Despatch (No 3 Legislative) dated
12th Feby 1864, I would suggest that Your Grace should defer taking
any action upon it pending a further communication from Me.

2. The Legislative Assembly is still in Session and I have reason to
hope that additional information which I will be enabled to place
before them may induce them to reverse or modify the Resolutions
transmitted in the Despatch adverted to.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-30_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647304.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

With reference to the letter addressed to you from this Department
on the 14th of January last I have the honor to transmit to you a copy
of one from the Crown Agents for the Colonies from which you will learn
that the total cost of the furniture required for the Govt. House at New
Westminster amounts to £1673.11.0.

I have to request that you will take the necessary steps for
reimbursing this advance to the Crown Agents.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-30_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647305.txt
================================================================================

No. 5

I have received your Predecessor's Despatch No. 64 of the 3rd of
November last enclosing a copy of an application from Serjeant McColl of
the Royal Engineers to be relieved from the payment of the whole or part
of the sum of £105 for which he is liable on account of the passages of
his Wife and family from this Country to British Columbia in the year 1860,
together with a copy of a letter from Colonel Moody, Commanding the
Detachment, recommending that one half of that sum should be remitted.

Under all the circumstances of this case, I have to authorize you
to remit the sum of £52.10/—being that portion of the cost of the
passages of his Wife and family which, at the date of your Predecessor s
 Despatch, had not been recovered from Serjeant McColl by deductions from
his pay.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-03-31_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64012.txt
================================================================================

No. 12

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
Grace's Circular Despatch of the 15th January last, announcing
the pleasing intelligence, that Her Royal Highness the
Princess of Wales, had been safely delivered of a Prince,
and that up to the date of your Grace's Despatch Her
Royal Highness and the Infant Prince continued to do well.

I need hardly assure your Grace that the announcement
of this auspicious event was received by all classes of
Her Majesty's subjects in this Colony, with the most
gratifying demonstrations of joy and loyalty, and I beg leave,
on their behalf, to offer our sincere and heartfelt
congratulations to Her Majesty the Queen, and to their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and
to renew on this happy occasion the expression of our firm
and devoted attachment to Her Majestys Throne, Person and Family.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-02_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64013.txt
================================================================================

No. 13

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches of
the Numbers and Dates as described on the other side hereof.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-04_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64014.txt
================================================================================

No. 14, Legislative

I have the honor of transmitting the following
Ordinances for Her Majesty's approval, with the accompanying
Reports from the Attorney General.

No 6. An Ordinance for the amendment of the Licences
Act 1859.

No 8. An Ordinance to authorize the introduction of
Steam Traction Engines into British Columbia.

No 9. An Ordinance to encourage the construction of a
Telegraph Line connecting British Columbia with the telegraph
lines of the United States, and for other purposes.

*

2. No 6. An Ordinance for the amendment of the Licences
Act 1859.

The object of this Ordinance is to authorize the
enforcement of penalties for infractions of the Licences Act,
a power not given in the Original Act. This Ordinance also
imposes a Licence Fee, not hitherto levied, on all persons
selling goods by auction, and it confines the tax to the
House or Firm, instead of levying it on each person concerned
in the profits, a practice which was found to be oppressive,
especially in the case of petty Firms doing a small business
under the management of several partners.

3. No 8. An Ordinance to authorize the introduction
of Steam Traction Engines into British Columbia.

This is a scheme for employing Steam, instead of
animal, power in carrying on the land transport of the Colony.

The projectors are well acquainted with the State of
the Roads, and with the Trade and resources of the Colony.
With the full knowledge of these conditions they are prepared
to risk their capital on the issue, without exacting any
exclusive privilege, or advantage, over other carriers, except
that of using Steam Traction Engines in the conveyance of
goods, for the term of twelve months from the date of the
arrival of their Machinery in this Colony; that exclusive
privilege to commence and date, from the 1st day of May 1865.

This scheme offers so many prospective advantages to
the public, and will so manifestly promote the great interests
of the Country, that I had no hesitation in acceding to
these very reasonable proposals.

4. No 9. An Ordinance to encourage the construction
of a Telegraph Line connecting British Columbia with the
telegraph lines of the United States, and, for other purposes.

This Ordinance relates to one of those bold and daring
schemes which will bring the Colony into easy and direct
intercourse with the world of Europe and America, and will
be of the greatest advantage commercially and politically
to the public at large. Mr Carpentier, who negotiated this
agreement is the President of the California State Telegraph
Company, which has constructed Lines of Telegraph in that
and the adjoining States and Territories, connecting by a
line of Telegraph across the Continent with the Telegraphic
Systems of the Atlantic States, and of the British Provinces
of North America.

This Company owns all the Telegraph Lines in the United
States, West of the Rocky Mountains, and is prepared,
immediately, to carry out the present project of connecting
New Westminster, by a line of Telegraph with San Francisco.
The work is to be commenced in five months from the passage
of this Act, and to be completed in a further period of
13 months or the Act shall be void.

This Ordinance grants to the California Telegraph
Company the exclusive rights, for twenty years, of communicating
by Telegraph between any place in British Columbia and the
Territories of the United States lying West of the Rocky
Mountains, and, at the same time, fixes a maximum rate of
charge for messages transmitted. This exclusive right does
not extend to, or interfere with any Telegraph Lines within
the Colony, or running across the Continent through British
North America, or elsewhere not within the Territory of the
United States. No other special privilege, whatever, is
granted, either in the way of guarantee, or subsidy; the whole
work is to be executed at the sole risk and expense of the
Telegraph Company.

There is no doubt as to the advantages which the Colony
will derive from the existence of this work, though it is
difficult to see how it can be remunerative to the projectors for some
years to come. I trust it will meet with your Grace's approval.

5. The Attorney General enters so fully into the character
of these Ordinances as to render further remarks from me unnecessary.



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FILE: 1864-04-04_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE06.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letters of the 23rd of October
& 28th March last I am desired by the Lord's Commissioners
of Her Majesty's Treasury to state, for the information of
the Duke of Newcastle, that They have no objection to offer
to the "Cook's Ferry and Clinton Road Bond Act 1863" which
has been issued as a Proclamation by the Governor of British Columbia.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-04_Harris_to_Palmerston,_Viscount_Secretary_of_State,_Treasury_V645MI06.txt
================================================================================

Harris to Viscount Palmerston (Secretary of State, Treasury)

I have the honor to forward to your Lordship, for transmission to Her
Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, a Congratulatory address from
the Corporation of the City of Victoria on the Auspicious event of
the birth of a Son to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales, and at the Same time to assure your Lordship that this
gratifying intelligence has been received with unmixed joy by all
classes of Her Majesty's loyal and devoted Subjects in this remote
Quarter of the British Empire.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-04_Newcastle_to_Seymour_B647306.txt
================================================================================

No. 6

I have received your Predecessor's despatch No. 8 of the 10th of
February enclosing a Resolution of the Legislative Council in which they
impress upon the Imperial Government the hardship of compelling the Colony to
pay the sum of £10,704.16.7 for the erection of Buildings lately
occupied by the Royal Engineers.

Upon this subject I have to acquaint you that Her Majesty's Government do not
feel themselves at liberty to deviate from the conclusion at which they
have arrived, and which was communicated to Sir James Douglas in my
 despatches No. 131 of 16th June 1861 and Nos. 13 and 56 of 18th February
and 2nd Octr 1863.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-05_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64014SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I beg to inform your Grace, that it is my intention
when relieved from the Government of this Colony by the
arrival of my successor, to proceed as soon after as convenient
to England, and I have to beg that your Grace will authorize
me to draw upon Her Majesty's Treasury for the amount of
passage money allowed to Governors on returning from their Governments.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-05_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64015.txt
================================================================================

No. 15

I have the Honor to forward herewith the Annual Blue
Book for the Colony of British Columbia for the year 1862
embodying the particular information required under the various
heads in as full a manner as the present early and unsettled
condition of the Colony will admit.

2. I have to apologize for the delay which has occurred
in forwarding this Book, but the difficulty of collecting
statistical information upon many points in a Country like
this is very great, and in some instances after the information
has been received, it has come in such a shape as to be
valueless. These drawbacks will however decrease from day to
day, and meanwhile I trust that the full and special reports
which I have from time to time transmitted, have kept Her
Majestys Government well informed upon the general condition
and prospects of the Country.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-05_Wood_to_Newcastle_V646W01.txt
================================================================================

Wood to Newcastle

I beg to apply to your Grace for the appointment of Judge to the
Colony of Vancouver Island, now shortly to be vacant on the
retirement of his Honor Mr Cameron the present Chief Justice. I
have had the honor to furnish to the Colonial Office testimonials in
my favor on the occasion of my applying for a judgeship at Port Natal
in the summer of 1861 an appointment then erroneously supposed to be
vacant copies of which I understand to have been taken, & to which I
beg now to refer.

I have practised my profession in this Colony for more than a year,
and I believe I may challenge any enquiries you may be pleased to
make that I have conducted myself with ability, & shewn myself
possessed of professional knowledge fully adequate to the
administration of Justice here or elsewhere in her Majesty's
Colonies—and thus I have maintained to the utmost of my power the
character & honor of my profession. I left England to practice in
the Colonies fully relying on what I understood to be the practice of
the Colonial Office not to make appointments of Judges at home,
unless convinced from the advice of the Governor of a Colony, that
there was no one in that Colony qualified to occupy the position of
Judge.

I am aware that there is a resolution of the House of Assembly of
this Colony to the effect that a retiring pension to the present
Chief Justice of this Colony would not be given unless his successor
be appointed from home thereby implying that in their judgment for
some reason or another, no barrister in this Colony is eligible for
the honor. I believe I am entirely justified in saying that this
resolution of the House of Assembly was not founded in any conviction
of my own personal unfitness for the office, but upon a conviction of
what was supposed to be advisable for the general interests of the
Colony.

I need hardly say that on general grounds, the passing over barristers
of conduct and character without grave grounds of disqualification
acts as a direct injury to the Colony, in depriving it of the
adherence of an honorable & efficient bar, & tends to lower & degrade
the tone of the profession, and I think your Grace will be convinced
that there is no state of circumstances obtaining in this Colony,
which should prevent a man of firmness & integrity, apart from
questions of personal qualification, from doing his duty as a judge.

I respectfully ask your Grace not lightly to consider the privilege
of the Crown in appointing Judges in accordance with sound and
established Colonial principle & practice, and I further entreat your
Grace not to expose those now practicing at the bar of this Colony,
to the humiliation which each and all of us must feel at the entire
bar being passed over as unfit for the bench. A slur which must
pursue us in whatever Colony or place we may hereafter practice our
profession.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-06_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64016.txt
================================================================================

No. 16

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
Graces despatch of the 3rd January last No 62 in reply
to my despatch of the 12th of October marked "Separate"
transmitting a Memorial from Mr Cormack and Mr Holbrook
relative to the Revd R.L. Brown's Essay on British Columbia,
and I have to acquaint your Grace that I have furnished a
copy of your Grace's despatch for the information of those gentlemen.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-06_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64017.txt
================================================================================

No. 17

In conformity with the instructions contained in the
Book of Colonial Regulations I have the honor to forward
herewith to your Grace the Returns described on the other
side hereof

*

as received from the Treasury, for the Quarter
ending 30th September 1863.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-07_Booth_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645TA01.txt
================================================================================

Booth to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for
Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st Instant
transmitting copies of two Despatches from the Governor of Vancouvers
Island enclosing lists of Stores required for the Lighthouses at Race
Rocks and Fisgard Island, and requesting to be informed whether my
Lords think it desirable that the Colonial Agents General should be
authorized to procure and send out these Stores as proposed by the
Governor.

In reply I am to state to you for the information of the Secretary of
State for the Colonies that the course hitherto adopted for the
supply of Stores required for the Lighthouses in Vancouvers Island
has been for the Board of Trade to procure the stores and send them
out to the Colony, the expenses incurred being repaid by the Colonial
Office.

In the present case my Lords think it would be desirable that the
same course should be pursued and if the Secretary of State for the
Colonies concurs in that opinion, they will cause the Stores to be
procured and sent out to the Colony on the understanding that the
expenses incurred by the Board of Trade will be repaid by the
Colonial Office.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-08_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64018.txt
================================================================================

No. 18

I have the honor to enclose herewith a letter addressed
to Your Grace by Mr J.B. Gaggin, a stipendiary magistrate
of British Columbia, representing and complaining of an act
of injustice, which he alleges he has received at my hands,
by being suspended from the exercise of his functions pending
an investigation into his accounts.

2. In accordance with rule I proceed to report upon his
complaint altho' it seems to me that the papers he himself
furnishes sufficiently exhibit the cause of his suspension,
the reason of the suspension being removed, and justify the
course adopted.

3. I must first explain that one of the capacities in
which Mr Gaggin acted was that of Collector of Roads Tolls
at Douglas, a service from which a considerable amount of
Revenue is received; and Knowing the difficulties and risks
attendant upon the conveyance of money from the Collectorate
to the Treasury, I gave special orders to the Treasurer to
instruct the outstation Collectors to take advantage of
the trips of the "Gold Escort" to remit to the Treasury.

4. On the particular occasion referred to by Mr Gaggin
I had expected, and calculated upon, a large sum from Douglas.
To my Surprise, upon the arrival of the "Escort," instead of
such sum coming to hand, a report is made by the Treasurer, copy
enclosed herewith, that no money had been remitted from
Douglas, but, that instead, Mr Gaggin had informed him that
he did not expect the "Escort" for several days, and that when
he got his Books satisfactorily balanced he "would send a
large sum to the Treasury." I was aware that, by the returns,
a sum of £4000 should be at Douglas. I enquired as to the
stay made by the "Escort" at Douglas, and found that Mr Gaggin was afforded a period of over two days in which to
carry out the instructions he had received. He not only did
not comply with these instructions, but, he excused himself
in a most unsatisfactory manner. So serious a dereliction,
connected as it was with public money, I could not overlook,
and I therefore took such steps as seemed to me right and proper.

5. I instantly despatched Mr Nind, accompanied by an
accountant from the Treasury, to investigate the whole of
Mr Gaggin's accounts, and to enquire into the state of his
District, and pending the investigation, I interdicted Mr Gaggin from the performance of further duty.

6. Mr Nind's report, a copy of which I enclose, relieved
my mind as to any defalcations existing; but, it will be
seen from the reply to Mr Nind that his explanations upon
some points were not satisfactory, and I naturally awaited a
further report before I could decide upon the whole case.

7. As soon as I was in a position to give a decision, I
did so. There was no deficit of public money, and, therefore,
Mr Gaggin was cleared from the main charge against him. I
could not however acquit him of inattention and negligence
in the performance of his duties. After a careful consideration
of all the circumstances I came to the conclusion that the
suspension should be removed, but, that it would be for the
interest of the public service that Mr Gaggin should discharge
his duties as an Assistant Gold Commissioner and Stipendiary
Magistrate in another part of the Colony.

8. In the whole of this matter I believe I have acted
strictly in conformity with my instructions, and as was
required of me, in the just exercise of the charge committed to my care.

9. Mr Gaggin may, I can well understand, feel aggrieved
at being suspended from his duties, but that feeling should
be exercised against himself, and not against those, who, in
the interests of the public service, were, owing to his own
conduct, compelled to discharge an unpleasant duty in respect of him.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-09_Franks_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B646F01.txt
================================================================================

Franks to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
8th inst, in which you acquaint me of the fact that the Duke of
Newcastle has selected me for the post of Treasurer in British
Columbia, of the amount of my Salary & of the terms upon which I
am Entitled to draw it.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-11_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64019.txt
================================================================================

No. 19

I have the honor to transmit herewith a list of articles
required by the Assay Department and to request that your
Grace will be good enough to give instructions for those
articles to be purchased by the Crown Agents for the Colonies,
and sent out by the first ship.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-11_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64019SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to forward for Your Grace's information
a Return of the Customs Receipts at New Westminster for the
three months ending 31st March 1864, accompanied by a similar
return for the first three Months of 1863—shewing an increase
on the quarter of about 34 per Cent as compared with the first
quarter of 1863.

2. The same return also shows an increase of 29 per cent
in the number of passengers who have entered at New Westminster
during the quarter.

3. A second return which is also forwarded contains a
statement of Road Tolls collected at Yale, Douglas and Hope
in the years 1862 and 1863, and a comparative statement of
the respective March quarters of 1863 and 1864 shewing
an increase of 89 per cent in favor of 1864.

4. The full returns of Road Tolls collected at Lytton
and Lillooet made up to the quarter have not yet come to hand;
but as far as reported in the weekly statements, there appears to be a
great increase of Revenue at those places.

5. The latest intelligence from the Mines report further
discoveries of highly auriferous ground on Williams Creek and
its Tributary Streams. The area of the Gold region is thus
continually extending and effective machinery for sinking and
drainage is being introduced, giving to mining operations an
unusual character of permanence and stability.

6. The last report of the Gold Commissioner for Carribou
East dated the 27th states that "the new Mining Laws have
afforded universal satisfaction"

*

that "good substantial and
in some cases expensive buildings are being constructed at
'Barkerville' 'Camerontown' and 'Marysville,' and that a small
town is also in progress of erection at McArthurs Gulch."
The same report also states "that the Bank of British Columbia
is about establishing a branch office at Quesnel Mouth."

7. I have further the satisfaction to inform Your Grace
that the Colony enjoys peace and tranquility, and exhibits,
in other respects, many indications of growing prosperity.

8. I propose taking my final leave of the Colony on the
13th Instant, and every preparation will be made for the
proper reception of my Successor.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-12_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647401.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have to acquaint you that the Lieutenant Government of St. Vincent
vacant by the appointment of Lieutt Governor Musgrave to the Government
of Newfoundland has been offered to Mr. Berkeley the Colonial Secretary
of Honduras. In the event of Mr. Berkeley's acceptance of the Lieutenant
Government of St. Vincent the Office of Colonial Secretary of Honduras
will become vacant, and I authorize you to offer it to Captain Holmes,
your Private Secretary and Aide-de-Camp.

I place this appointment at the disposal of Captain Holmes in
consequence of the testimony borne by you on previous occasions to his
merits and qualifications.

I enclose for your information and for that of Captain Holmes the
copy of a letter from Mr. Holmes written on behalf of his son.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-12_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647402.txt
================================================================================

No. 2

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Sir James Douglas's
despatch No. 1 of the 9th of January, and to inform you that I have laid
before The Queen the Proclamation, forwarded in his previous despatch of
the 20th of August last, entitled No. 59—"The Cooks Ferry and Clinton
Road Bond Act 1863;" and that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm
and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the inhabitants of
British Columbia in the usual and most authentic manner.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-12_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64020.txt
================================================================================

No. 20, Legislative

I have the honor to forward herewith a Congratulatory
Address from the Legislative Council of the Colony for
presentation to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-13_Douglas_to_Newcastle_B64020SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to forward herewith the accompanying
communication received by me through a deputation from
the inhabitants of British Columbia, for transmission to Your Grace.

2. As it relates exclusively to the character of my
administration in British Columbia, it is unnecessary for
me to make any observations with reference to it, except
to remark that I truly appreciate the kindness and good
will which prompted the Colonists to come forward
so spontaneously to bear their testimony to my humble
efforts faithfully to discharge the trust reposed in me by my Sovereign.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-14_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE07.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to Mr Elliots letter of 30th Ultimo,
relating to a sum of £60, taken in 1861 from a Constable employed
to collect Revenue in British Columbia, I am commanded by the
Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you
the enclosed copy of a Report dated 8th Instant from the
Commissioners of Audit, No 123, relating to this matter, and
I am to acquaint you, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, that My Lords have informed the Commissioners of Audit
that They will be prepared to give allowance for this sum in
the next audited account of the Colonial Treasurer of British
Columbia, vizt that for 1862.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-14_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64112SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to submit the following Statement for Your
information.

2. When I arrived in this Colony on the 25th March I found on
reference to the Estimates for the Year 1864 (which had only just
passed the Local Legislature)

that all provision of whatever kind under the head of "Governor" had
been omitted. There was no Public Residence for the Governor and no
provision made for a temporary one.

3. As the Legislative Assembly was still sitting I thought it
expedient, with the advice of my Executive Council to bring the
subject formally under their notice.

4. This I did by a message on the 2nd of April covering the copy of
a Despatch

addressed to me while in England by Sir F. Rogers dated
26th September 1863, pointing out the proper course for me to
pursue. My message, the Despatch, and Reply of the Legislative
Assembly will be found herewith marked No. 2.

5. I at the same time sent a message to the Legislative Assembly
communicating a Despatch from Sir F. Rogers, dated 11th September
1863, in reply to my application for a Private Secretary. A copy of
my Message, the Despatch and Reply of the Legislative Assembly, will
also be found herewith, marked No. 3.

6. This ended my communication with the Legislative Assembly on
these subjects; not so however on the part of the Public and the
Press, who were almost unanimous in their expression of disapproval
of the action of the Legislative Assembly.

7. The matter finally culminated in a Public Meeting called by the
Mayor of Victoria, on the 11th Instant, when the Resolutions—Marked
No. 4—were adopted and presented to me on the following day.

8. I cannot better conclude this Statement than by transmitting
Extracts from every newspaper published in the Colony commenting upon
the whole proceeding, which you will find herewith marked No. 5.

9. Your Grace will observe that the Honourable The Speaker of the House
of Assembly, attended the Public Meeting, which is a circumstance I
think to be regretted.

10. From this Short Statement, Your Grace will be enabled to judge
in how far the action of the Legislative Assembly, in these matters,
represents the opinions and wishes of the People of the Colony, in
whose loyalty and intelligence I have full confidence. I must
however add in conclusion that my own replies and remarks to the
Deputations are very incorrectly reported.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-14_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64113.txt
================================================================================

No. 13, Financial

Referring to my Despatch marked "Separate" and dated 14th April, by
this Mail, I have the honor to acquaint you that after being
compelled to reside for three weeks in a comfortless Hotel, I have at
length succeeded in obtaining a small House at a Rental of 150
dollars per month, the owner being about to proceed to England. I
could not obtain any other house into which I could possibly put my
family, and I have therefore taken it for eleven months, being the
shortest period for which the owner would let it.

2. Your Grace will not probably think this Rent unreasonable when I
inform you that my Board and Lodging alone, of the plainest, and
least commodious description, has cost me more than 200 dollars
per week—a heavy tax in addition to other serious and
unforeseen expenses which were never contemplated by Your Grace or
myself.

3. There is at present an unexpended Balance of £5,423.— accruing
from Crown Revenue in the Treasurer's hands, and I propose to charge
the Rent of a temporary residence for the Governor against this fund,
subject to Your Grace's approval. It will be for Your Grace to
decide whether I may be reimbursed from the same source for the
serious outlay I have incurred for want of a House up to this time.

4. I enter upon the occupation of my temporary residence on the
16th Instant.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-15_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647201.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your predecessor's
despatches Nos. 1 and 2 of the 8th and 10th of February last, enclosing
requisitions for certain stores for the Light Houses at Race Rocks and
Fisgard Island.

As on former occasions stores required for these Lighthouses have
been procured and forwarded to the Colony by the Board of Trade, I have
requested the Lords of the Committee to give directions for the supply
of the Stores now required.

The Crown Agents General will be instructed to repay the cost of
the supply of these stores, and you will be informed of the amount with
a view to its' reimbursement.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-15_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64114.txt
================================================================================

No. 14

I have the honor to request that Your Grace will be good enough to
cause me to be supplied, as early as convenient, with 6 copies of the
Instructions to Governors of colonies with respect to keeping the
Accounts of Colonial Receipt and Expenditure and also with 4 copies
of the Rules and Regulations for Her Majesty's Colonial Service,
there being none of the former and only two of the latter in the
Colony.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-16_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64115.txt
================================================================================

No. 15

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-16_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64116.txt
================================================================================

No. 16, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to enclose herewith, copies of the undermentioned
newspapers: vizt

The Weekly British Colonist Nos. 19, 20, 21, and 22,
also,
The Victoria Weekly Chronicle Nos. 47, 48, 49 and 50.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-22_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647403.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

I have the honor to acquaint you that I am informed by the Lords
Commissoners of the Treasury that, under the circumstances represented
in the despatch from Governor Douglas No. 4 of the 30th of January last,
the sum of sixty pounds stolen from Collector Seymour in 1861 will be
credited to the Colony in the accounts next audited.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-22_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64200SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your
Grace's despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-23_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64116SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to transmit a Statement of certain British Subjects
which sufficiently explains itself.

2. I have seen the persons making this Statement and they appear to
be in every way respectable persons.

3. I forbear to offer any comment upon the proceedings which
occurred beyond my jurisdiction and where there is a British Consul,
who has doubtless taken cognizance of the matter.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-23_Layard_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645FO04.txt
================================================================================

Layard to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you for the information
of Mr Secretary Cardwell a copy of a letter which His Lordship has
caused to be addressed to the Admiralty expressing his opinion that
the Regulations concerning neutrality should be strictly enforced at
Vancouver's Island.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-23_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE08.txt
================================================================================

Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to transmit herewith a letter from the Board of Trade
and its enclosures being a Petition for the grant of a
Supplemental Charter to the Bank of British Columbia, and I am to
request that My Lords may be favored with Mr Secretary
Cardwell's opinion thereon.

I am to state that under the circumstances set forth
My Lords see no objection to the grant of the proposed
supplemental Charter and they will be prepared with Mr
Cardwell's concurrence to intimate their opinion to that
effect to the Board of Trade. Mr Cardwell will observe
that the accompanying statement in support of the Petition
of the Bank appears to contemplate the extension of its
business to Canada and other British Colonies generally in
North America. The draft Charter itself, however, would
give the Bank the power of establishing branches only in
places in North America to the westward of 95o longitude
and My Lords understand that the object of the Bank is to
obtain power to extend its business into the territories
of the Hudson's Bay Co and to San Francisco, California;
Their Lordships see no objection to the grant of such power.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-25_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64118.txt
================================================================================

No. 18, Miscellaneous

Referring to your Grace's Despatch, No. 46, dated 13th Jany 1864, I
have now the honor to transmit a Copy of the only information I can
obtain relating to the Person named, Vignola or Vignolo.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-25_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64119.txt
================================================================================

No. 19, Miscellaneous

In reply to Your Grace's Despatch, No 2, dated 20th Jany 1864, I
have the honor to transmit the result of my enquiries respecting a
Belgian Subject named "Norset."



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-26_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64201.txt
================================================================================

No. 1

I have the honor to report that I reached New Westminster
on the 20th of this month and took the oaths of office as
Governor on the following day.

The inhabitants wished to make manifest their loyalty to
Her Majesty and attachment to the Mother Country by welcoming
with some ceremony their new Governor. I was therefore
requested to remain for some few days in the neighbouring
Colony of Vancouver's Island while a sufficient number of
arches and other decorations were being prepared to ornament
the streets. I had every reason to be satisfied with the
cordiality of my reception.

I enclose copies of addresses presented to me by the
Municipal Council of New Westminster and by the people of
that town with my replies.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-26_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64202.txt
================================================================================

No. 2

As mentioned in my despatch No 1 of this date, the
people of New Westminster requested that I should remain
some days in Vancouver's Island while they made preparations
to give me a ceremonious welcome to this Colony. The reception
would have lost half its formality had I landed from a
common trading Steamer amid a crowd of miners so it was
proposed that I should make a requisition upon the Senior
Naval Officer on this station for the services of a gunboat
to convey me to New Westminster. Captain Lord Gilford
 accordingly placed Her Majesty's Ship "Forward" at my disposal.

I have given Lieutenant Lascelles of this vessel
the usual certificate of his having entertained myself,
Private Secretary and three servants for two days. I hardly
know whether the allowance to Mr Lascelles for this service
should be made from Imperial funds, those of the Colony,
or from my own pocket. However that may be I would beg that
no hesitation be shewn in admitting Mr Lascelles's claims,
the subsequent adjustment would present no difficulty.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-26_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64203.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

A few days before my departure for British Columbia I
had a conversation in Downing Street with an Officer of Her
Majesty's Treasury, in the presence of several gentlemen of
the Colonial Office, respecting a claim advanced by the
Imperial Government against this Colony for the sum of ten
thousand, seven hundred pounds (£10,700) expended on the erection of
Barracks for the Royal Engineers at New Westminster.
Even from the statement of the official gentlemen present
at the interview it appeared to me that the claim was one
which could not without some appearance of injustice be
pressed against the Colony; and I think it was conceded
on behalf of the Treasury that no further steps would be
taken in the matter until I had reported with local knowledge
upon the question.

I have not been able in the short time which has elapsed
since my arrival in British Columbia to find the correspondence
respecting this supposed debt to the Treasury, but one glance
at the Engineer's Camp has convinced me that the buildings
are almost valueless to the Colony. I would therefore
earnestly beg that no further steps be taken to enforce
payment of the account claimed until I shall have had an
opportunity of laying my view of the question before Your Grace.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-27_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64117.txt
================================================================================

No. 17

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-27_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64120.txt
================================================================================

No. 20, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to enclose, herewith, copies of the undermentioned
Local Newspapers:

The Weekly British Colonist

Numbers 23 and 24.

The Victoria Weekly Chronicle

Numbers 51 and 52.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-27_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64121.txt
================================================================================

No. 21, Financial

I have the honor to transmit a printed copy of the Annual Estimates
for 1864, as voted by the Legislative Assembly.

2. You will observe that the Salaries for all the Officers contained
in the civil List proposed by Your Grace, in Your despatch of 15th
June 1864, have been struck out.

3. My Predecessor has already issued the necessary warrant
authorizing the Treasurer to pay the Salaries of these Officers, (at
the old rate) out of the Crown Revenues accruing in his hands, and I
have now to request Your Grace's Authority for the payment of these
Salaries at the increased rate laid down in your despatch above
adverted to.

4. The whole Staff of the Colonial Secretary's Office consists of
one clerk; and the
Governor is wholly without clerical assistance of any kind.
I have, under these circumstances, been compelled to employ a
Gentleman as my Private Secretary, and I would request your Graces
authority to pay him at the rate of £300 or £350. per annum out of
the Crown Revenues of the Colony. The latter sum, having regard to
the very high cost of living, is in my opinion, the minimum upon
which a gentleman can exist.

5. I will draw my own Salary from the same source till I receive
Your Graces instructions.

6. I may in conclusion add that judging from the Public feeling, and
recent proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, I entertain little
doubt that Your Grace's proposition in regard to the Civil List will
be finally accepted and the necessary Salaries voted.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-27_Pease_to_Colonial_Office_V646P01.txt
================================================================================

Pease to Colonial Office

Allow me to ask whether the Colonial Office has or can obtain any
information respecting the case stated in the papers herewith which I
shall be obliged by being returned when not required.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-29_Murdoch_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645LN02.txt
================================================================================

Murdoch to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have to report, for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell, the
steps we have taken to carry out your oral instructions to have
engrossed and executed the Deed of Grant for endowing Christ Church,
Victoria, in Vancouver Island.

2. On the day after we received from you the Draft Deed for
engrossment we applied to Messrs Maynard and Son, the Solicitors of
the Hudsons Bay Co (who are made parties to the Deed for the purpose
of conveying the legal Estate of the Land) to fix a time for the
execution of the Deed.

3. We then learned that the Company had not yet seen the Deed, and
that it was necessary that the Draft should be left with them for the
purpose of verifying the description of the Land and the plan of the
premises. The Draft was accordingly left with Messrs Maynard and
Son on the 7th ultimo. On the 17th we wrote to Mr Maynard to
request its return, and were informed that the Company wished it to
be seen by Mr McTavish, their representative at Victoria, who
happened to be in this Country, but was not then in London. On the
1st instant we wrote to the Secretary of the Company to urge the
matter on, and on the 4th we were informed in reply that Mr
McTavish was then in France but expected back on the 8th and that on
his return the transaction should be completed as soon as possible.
Mr Fraser, the Secretary of the Company, added, that the only cause
for the delay was the wish of Mr McTavish to have an opportunity of
examining the Draft and the Map attached to it, before the Deed was
signed on behalf of the Company. Not hearing further on the subject
we again wrote on the 19th instant to Mr Fraser a letter of
reminder, and received from him a reply dated the 27th. Copies of
the correspondence with the Company are enclosed.

4. From Mr Fraser's last letter it will be seen that the Company
have no objection to the deed. Indeed unless there had been some
error in the description of the Lands they could have no objection to
it, since it only completed an arrangement which they had sanctioned
and commenced. At the last moment, however, they have shifted their
ground, and started a difficulty with which we are incapable of
dealing. They decline it seems to part with the legal Estate in the
lands in question until the Colonial Authorities are prepared to
carry out in its integrity the Agreement between the Crown and the
Company of the 3rd Febry 1862, thus using their fiduciary power in
one transaction to enforce a settlement of their Land Claims in another.

*

5. Mr McTavish called upon us yesterday as intimated in Mr Frasers
last letter—but the result of the interview produced no change in
the position of the affair.

6. As we were aware that an early termination of the matter was
desired by the Bishop of Columbia and as there was no reason to
anticipate any objection to the measure on the part of the Company, to
save time we had the Deed engrossed for signature. We enclose it
herewith together with the Draft which we received from you.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-30_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647202.txt
================================================================================

No. 2

I have received Sir James Douglas's despatch No. 3 of the 12th of
February enclosing a Resolution of the House of Assembly of Vancouver
Island in which the House declines to pass the Civil List Act proposed
in the Duke of Newcastle's despatch marked "Separate" of the 15th June
last.

I regret that the House of Assembly did not feel able to concur in
the proposals submitted to it on this subject.

I am desirous however to prevent as far as possible the
disappointment and inconvenience to individuals which this decision
might occasion.

It appears from the Resolution of the Assembly that the Crown Land
Fund for the year 1863 amounted to £4500 but that a considerable portion
of this sum consisted of the proceeds of sales effected in former years.
There may be sources of Revenue, such as fines and forfeitures, fees of
Office, the proceeds of which the Crown could justly appropriate, but in
the absence of any precise information on this head I can only authorize
you to issue warrants for the payment of the salaries of the Governor
and the Colonial Secretary, at the respective rates of £3000 and £600 per
annum assigned to them by my Predecessor, out of any funds which may be
under the direct control and at the disposal of the Crown.

It will of course rest with the Legislature to make provision for
the remuneration of the other Officers employed under the Government in
any way and from any source which may seem most appropriate to them.

Besides the Civil List, Sir James Douglas's despatch raises a still
larger and more important question, namely the union of both Colonies
under one Governor, though with some distinct administrative
departments.

On this subject I am desirous of having the benefit of your views
as soon as you shall have acquired on the spot sufficient experience and
knowledge to enable you to form your opinion, and to supply reliable
information for the assistance and guidance of Her Majesty's Government
in considering the question. I shall in like manner ask
Governor Seymour, to whom I shall communicate a copy of this despatch, to
furnish his views on the same matter, and I need scarcely say that it
will not only be unobjectionable but highly desirable, that you and he
should consult freely on the subject, although it will be the most
convenient course that ultimately each should report to me independently
the conclusions which he may form on the subject.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-30_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647203.txt
================================================================================

No. 3

I have the honour to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter
from the Foreign Office accompanied by a copy of one from that Office to
the Admiralty conveying the opinion of Her Majesty's Government that the
regulations for the
 observance of Neutrality between the American
belligerents should be strictly enforced within the limits of Vancouver
Island.

These regulations have been communicated to your predecessor in
various circular despatches from this Office.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-30_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647404.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, a copy of
a despatch from Sir James Douglas and a copy of the answer which I have
addressed to Governor Kennedy.

You will see that independently of the subject of the Civil List,
which of course is confined to Vancouver Island, Sir James Douglas
raises in his despatch the more general question of the union of both
Colonies under one Governor, though with some distinct administrative
Departments.

In conformity with the intimation which you will find that I have
made to Governor Kennedy, I shall be glad to receive from you, after
sufficient experience and consideration, your opinions on this important
subject.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-04-30_Lugard_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645WA04.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to
request that you will acquaint Mr Secretary Cardwell
that it appears that on the late withdrawal from British
Columbia of the detachment of Royal Engineers, under the
command of Colonel Moody, the arms and accoutrements
specified in the accompanying List were left in charge of
the Local Government.

Colonel Moody states that this course was adopted at
the request of the Governor, who was desirous that the
arms should be made over to the Local Militia & Volunteers,
and who undertook to apply for the consent of the Home
Government to this being done.

In the event of Mr Cardwell being of opinion
that it is desirable that the Local Forces should have the
use of these arms, Earl de Grey will have no objection
to their being retained on the usual terms,

*

namely, the Rifles on loan, and the accoutrements and ammunition on
payment of their Actual Value.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-04_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64122.txt
================================================================================

No. 22, Miscellaneous

Herewith, I have the honor to transmit Loyal Addresses to Her Majesty
and His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales from the Mayor and
Inhabitants of this Colony, and to add my own assurance that they
have been adopted with the most earnest unanimity.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-05_Franks_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B646F02.txt
================================================================================

Franks to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

Immediately on the receipt of your letter of the 16th ulto
I placed myself in communication with the Officers of H.M. Treasury
with a view of entering into the Securities which your letter refers
to. I believe that I shall, in a very short time, be in a position
to report to you that the matter has been arranged.

In the meantime however, it may be convenient that I should
state, in answer to your question
regarding the date at which it will be convenient to me to embark for
the Colony, that with every desire to use despatch, I fear it
will be wholly impossible for me to name an earlier time than the
departure of second West India Mail in June.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-05_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64122SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to transmit the copy of Resolutions of the House of
Assembly of Vancouver Island which were transmitted to your Grace in
my Predecessor's despatch No. 3, Legislative, dated 12th Feby 1864.

2. The circumstances connected with the passage and transmission of
these Resolutions appeared to me so unusual that I deemed it my duty
to supply what I conceived to be an important omission before they
could be advantageously or regularly submitted to Your Grace.

3. I therefore brought the Resolutions under the notice of my
Executive Council in the Minute, marked No. 2, and subsequently with
their unanimous concurrence I transmitted them for the consideration
and opinion of the Legislative Council (to whom they had not
previously been submitted), with the message marked No. 3.

4. The Reply to this latter Message is herewith, marked, No. 4.
I also enclose newspaper copies of the Debates of the Legislative
Council on this subject, which you will observe was brought under
consideration on the 11th April, and the decision only arrived at on
the 3rd May and communicated to me this day (5th May).

5. My principal object in the present Despatch is to place the
proceedings of the Local Legislature before Her Majesty's Government
without delay.

6. These proceedings appear to me to be singularly anomalous and
inconsistent, involving some questions upon which I am unwilling to
offer a hasty opinion.

7. I do not think I am overstating the case, when I assume that
the Local Legislature of this Colony are desirous of securing the
benefit of good Government without the burden of providing for the
cost of it,

*

as the conditions under which they profess to desire re-union with
the Sister Colony render such a consummation impracticable.

8. The Legislature has been in Session since the Month of September
1863, and I do not apprehend that any beneficial result would accrue
from again submitting the subject, in any form, for consideration
during the present Session. It is therefore my intention to prorogue
the Assembly as soon as the dilatory manner in which the Public
business is transacted will permit.

9. It will appear on reference to the accompanying Estimates,
approved and assented to by my Predecessor, that the Legislative
Assembly, though convened in September 1863, deferred voting the
Supplies till the 3rd March 1864, or two months after the period
from which they were to take effect; and that, while they ignore, and
strike out, many items in the Civil List, they deal with various
items of "Crown Revenue" as assets for General Colonial purposes.

**

10. As an illustration of the complications which the action of the
Assembly must eventually produce, I may point to the fact that the
"Treasurer's" Salary is struck out of the Estimates, though nine
tenths of that officer's duty consists in the receiving and
disbursing and accounting for, the General Revenue raised by
taxation. The same observation applies with more or less force to
every officer whose Salary has been struck out of the Estimates.

11. My short experience in this Colony renders me diffident in
offering any very decided opinion; but I cannot refrain from
expressing my convictions that the resources of this Colony, properly
administered, are ample to meet all reasonable demands, such as
proposed in Your Grace's despatch (Separate, dated 15th June 1863)
and that the present mode of raising Revenue is crude, unproductive,
and inequitable.

***

12. While I feel it my imperative duty to administer the Laws and
Government as Established, I cannot suppress my belief that the
separation of this Colony from British Columbia will prove a great
misfortune to both. I have made no secret of this opinion, and I am
so thoroughly impressed with the great importance of re-union for the
ultimate interest of both Colonies, that I will most cheerfully
relinquish the Office I hold the moment it can be effected. I lean
to the belief that personal rather than public interests have caused
the Separation, to which Your Grace reluctantly assented.

13. I venture to predict that a re-union, if it do take place,

will effect a very trifling saving on the Civil Lists of the Colonies
as Your Grace has proposed them.

14. It is unnecessary for me to offer any lengthened comment upon
the Resolutions now adopted by both branches of the Legislature: any
action taken in the direction of a Union, must be in accordance with
the wishes and interests of the people of both Colonies, and I
therefore look upon this appeal to Your Grace as a simple waste of
time which can effect nothing.

15. I enclose a newspaper extract from the proceedings of the
Legislature of British Columbia bearing upon this subject.

16. I will only add, in conclusion, that I differ widely from the
arguments and alleged facts addressed by the Majority of the
Legislative Council, both of which are in my opinion very fallacious
and exaggerated.



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FILE: 1864-05-06_Ross_to_Cardwell_B646R01.txt
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Ross to Cardwell

I have to apologize to you for troubling you in the matter of
this letter but as I can get no reply to my private letters I have no
alternative but to fall back upon you.

The affixed Note which I would thank you to return is cut from
The Inverness Courier of the 14th August 1862 and refers to my
deceased son.

He was at the time of his death in the service of a firm of the
name of Livingston Fargo & Co who as far as I can learn were due him
a considerable sum of money at his death and otherwise he must have
left considerable effects.

In the circumstances I have to request you to take a widowed
mothers feelings into consideration and issue an order on The
Governor of British Columbia to institute a strict and searching
enquiry into the amount of effects left by him and to order him to
take the necessary measures to cause these to be restored to or
remitted to me.



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FILE: 1864-05-07_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64204.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

With reference to my despatch No 1 of the 26th
ultimo I have now the honor to submit to your Grace
further congratulatory addresses, presented to me by the
undermentioned Bodies. I add copy of my replies.
 1. The Legislative Council.
 2. The Minister and Missionaries of the Wesleyan
Methodist Church.
 3. The Minister and Office Bearers of St Andrew's
Church, New Westminster.
 4. The Members of the St Andrew's Society.
 end



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FILE: 1864-05-07_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64205.txt
================================================================================

No. 5

I have had the honor to receive Your Grace's despatch
No 3 of the 29th of February 1864 calling my attention
to the hardship to which Captain Houghton, late of Her
Majesty's Army, has been subjected by an unexpected
alteration of the privileges in the acquisition of land
accorded to Naval and Military Officers in British Columbia.

2. In obedience to Your Grace's commands I laid before
the Legislative Council an Ordinance exempting from the
operation of Sir James Douglas' proclamation No 2 of
1863 any officer who can shew that he left the Army or Navy
with the intention of Settling in this Colony previously
to the Horse Guards Circular of the 31st August 1863
and who is prepared to depose that he was not aware at
the time of leaving the Army of the alteration in the
privileges allowed to Officers. The bill laid before the
Council by me has now become law. As the public faith of the
Colony is to a certain extent involved in this matter I
send at once two copies of the Ordinance just passed, in
advance of those which will be accompanied by a formal report.

3. Captain Houghton has been informed of the passage
of the Act in relief of himself and others similarly Situated.



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FILE: 1864-05-11_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647405.txt
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No. 5

I have the honour to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter
from the War Department respecting certain Arms and Accoutrements left
by Colonel Moody R.E. in charge of the Government of British Columbia
for the use, it is stated, of the local Militia and Volunteers.

I am not aware of the existence of any such force in British
Columbia, but I have to request that you will report the present state
of these Arms stating in whose charge they are kept and the best manner,
in your opinion, of turning them to the public advantage.



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FILE: 1864-05-12_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647203A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With reference to my Predecessor's circular despatch of the 1st of
January 1863 I desire now to make you acquainted with the general tenor
of the information concerning Colonial Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums
which has been obtained from the Colonies at large, and also with the
steps which it has been thought desirable to take in the endeavor to
make that information available for effecting amendments in the
manner of treating the indigent sick and Lunatics in the Colonies.

I transmit to you therefore a copy of a Circular despatch which has
been addressed to the Governor of Her Majesty's Colonies who had
forwarded in due course answers to the interrogatories which accompanied
the circular despatch of the 1st of January 1863.

I shall feel obliged to you to let me know without delay whether
there exist any and what Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums in the Colony
under your Government, and, if there be none, I should be glad to
receive your remarks upon the fact of their absence, and in the prospect
of the creation of suitable institutions of this kind for the
alleviation of human suffering.



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FILE: 1864-05-12_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647204.txt
================================================================================

No. 4

I have received Sir James Douglas's Despatch No. 4 of the 3rd of
March enclosing a copy of a Resolution passed by the Legislative
Assembly of Vancouver Island representing the necessity of appointing a
Barrister from this country to fill the Office of Chief Justice, and
stating that the House would be prepared to vote a pension of five
hundred pounds (£500) per annum to the present Chief Justice.

The arrangement which the House of Assembly desire to effect is one
which appears to be very well worthy of adoption, but I cannot propose
to any Member of the Bar of England to go to Vancouver Island until I
have the means of giving him a sufficient assurance that his Office will
have the independent and permanent character which is on public grounds
so desirable but which the Laws now in force do not confer.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-12_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647405A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With reference to my Predecessor's Circular despatch of the 1st of
January 1863 I desire now to make you acquainted with the general tenor
of the information concerning Colonial Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums
which has been obtained from the Colonies at large, and also with the
steps which it has been thought desirable to take in the endeavor to
make that information available for effecting amendments in the manner
of treating the indigent sick and Lunatics in the Colonies.

I transmit to you therefore a copy of a circular despatch which has
been addressed to the Governors of Her Majesty's Colonies who had
forwarded in due course answers to the interrogatories which accompanied
the Circular despatch of the 1st of January 1863.

I shall feel obliged to you to let me know without delay whether
there exist any and what Hospitals and Lunatic Asylums in the Colony
under your Government, and, if there be none, I should be glad to
receive your remarks upon the fact of their absence, and in the prospect
of the creation of suitable institutions of this kind for the
alleviation of human suffering.



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FILE: 1864-05-12_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64124.txt
================================================================================

No. 24

Referring to my Predecessor's despatch No. 4, dated 3rd March 1864,
on the subject of the appointment of a Chief Justice for Vancouver
Island, I have the honor to state that my short experience in the
Administration of the Government of this Colony, has strongly
impressed me with the necessity of changes in the Courts of Justice,
which it would be fruitless to originate while I have a Chief Justice
and Attorney General whose united cooperation I cannot expect.

2. These Gentlemen differ toto coels on points of Law and the
construction of Local Acts, and various proceedings which have come
under my notice render it too obvious that there is a want of moral
weight or legal knowledge on one, or both sides, which is detrimental
to the public interests and unfavorable to public confidence in the
administration of the Law.

3. I would therefore beg for an early decision upon the question
submitted in my Predecessor's despatch, as I think Mr Cameron's
retention of Office, or retirement from the Public Service ought not
to be left in doubt longer than absolutely necessary.



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FILE: 1864-05-13_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64122SQ.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With a view to correct erroneous or exaggerated Reports of a Massacre
of fourteen white men which may reach Your Grace through other
channels, I deem it my duty to place the facts before you, as it will
be impossible for the Governor of British Columbia to communicate
them to your Grace by this Mail.

2. The Statements of the Survivors of this sad tragedy, together
with the newspaper accounts, which I enclose, and which are
substantially correct, leave me little to add.

3. The party of men who have lost their lives in the manner detailed
in these papers, were employed by "Mr Waddington", an enterprising
and highly deserving member of this community, in forming a Trail or
Road from the Head of "Bute Inlet" to the Cariboo Mines in British
Columbia, and had prosecuted this work for a distance of forty miles
North of the Head of the Inlet, at which point the Massacre took
place.

4. The Tribe or part of the Tribe of Chillcoatens who have committed
this atrocity do not exceed sixty in number, and I have every reason
to believe and hope that the capture and identification of the
culprits will shortly be effected by the prompt and vigorous measures
which I feel certain Governor Seymour will adopt. This will be
rendered more easy by the aid of more powerful and friendly Tribes in
their immediate neighbourhood, who are always ready to give up
culprits on condition of being rewarded for so doing.

5. The Survivors are now in hospital here and I have transmitted
their depositions to Governor Seymour and will not fail to afford him
every assistance in my power to vindicate the Law.

6. It is known that the Chillcoaten Tribe are peculiarly jealous of
their women and in the absence of any assigned reason for this
ferocious proceeding, I would fear that the residence of a number of
single white men among the Chillcoatens, and the almost certain
results, may be among the causes which have led to the catastrophe.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-13_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64125.txt
================================================================================

No. 25

I have the honor to lay before you a Statement of Fees paid to
Lawyers and Attorneys on account of Public prosecutions in this
Colony, from April 1863 to present date, with a view to obtain Your
Grace's opinion upon the regularity of these charges.

2. I am induced to make this application under the following
circumstances: The Colonial Secretary some days ago, submitted for
my approval a Bill from the Attorney General (Mr Cary) amounting to
$340 dollars, which he informed me was in the usual course.

3. I found upon inquiry that there was no authority beyond that of
Custom for these charges, and no rule or scale for the Amount of Fee
charged, and is therefore subject to no check.

4. Your Grace is of course aware that the Attorney General is a
Salaried officer, and also that there is not any Crown Solicitor—as
in other Colonies.

5. I confess I do not understand for what purpose an Attorney
General receives a Salary, if not for the purpose of conducting Crown
prosecutions. I also think that the Legal Staff of the Colony is
incomplete without a Crown Solicitor.



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FILE: 1864-05-13_Mackean_to_Cardwell_B645MI03.txt
================================================================================

Mackean to Cardwell

On 17th March, I signed on behalf of this Bank a Petition
to the Queen in Council for a Supplemental Charter, and as the
additional powers we seek will increase our sphere of usefulness,
and be beneficial to many besides our shareholders, I venture to
request your favorable consideration.



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FILE: 1864-05-14_Head_to_Fortescue_Parliamentary_Under-Secretary_V645MI04.txt
================================================================================

Head to Fortescue (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

It appears from recent papers received from Vancouver's Island that
Legislation has been taking place there with a view to grant
something in the nature of exclusive privileges to an American
Telegraph Company, who are organizing a line from San Francisco.

It appears to be of the greatest importance that in the British
Colonies on the Pacific no exclusive rights should be granted which
might hereafter interfere with the Establishment of a line to be
carried eastward from the Rocky Mountains over British territory.

So far as I can understand [from] the newspaper reports referred to there
seems to be a saving of some kind with reference to a future line
through Canada; but the matter may hereafter have such an important
bearing on British interests in North America, that I think it right
to call the attention of the Right Honourable the
Secretary of State to the Subject.

The Legislation referred to took place in Vancouvers Island, and is,
I presume, not binding on British Columbia. This latter colony, is of
course the most important in some respects, but a communication with
the Pacific ought to be carried to the port of Victoria. I have
already expressed to you the readiness of this Company to take early
steps for the erection of the telegraph across their own territory,
and they will also be prepared to take effectual means for securing
the completion of the line from the pass in the Rocky Mountains to
New Westminster on terms analogous to those already contemplated by
the Legislature of that Colony.

I have the honor to enclose the Victoria paper referred to.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-14_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64126.txt
================================================================================

No. 26

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-15_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64123.txt
================================================================================

No. 23

I have the honor to enclose the copy of a Letter from my Predecessor
granting twelve months leave of Absence to Mr W.A.G. Young, Colonial
Secretary of Vancouver Island, together with the Treasurer's
certificate of the date to which Mr Young has received Salary in
this Colony.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-16_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64205SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
Grace's despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-19_Franks_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B646F03.txt
================================================================================

Franks to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I believe that you are aware of my intention to leave England by
the West India Mail Steamer of the 17th June.

I am informed that Admiral Denman leaves England by the same
steamer to assume the command of the squadron in the North Pacific,
and that the Sutlej is under orders to proceed to Panama to take him
up to Vancouver.

British Columbia is one of the most distant British Colonies,
and the expenses of the journey there are very heavy. I would beg
leave, therefore, to enquire whether, considering this, it would
be possible to grant me a passage on board the Sutlej, which, as I
am informed, proceeds immediately on Admiral Denman's arrival, to her
destination.

I beg to be understood to make this request subject to any charges
which are usual on such occasions.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-19_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64206.txt
================================================================================

No. 6

I have had the honor to receive your Grace's despatches
No 68 of the 16th, and Separate of the 28th February
announcing the appointment of Mr Joseph William Trutch to
be Surveyor General of this colony. It appears from the
second of these communications that your Grace had been
informed that Mr Trutch was engaged in some contracts for
Public Works, and I am directed to report, in case there
was any such contracts which remained unfulfilled, how far
they were liable to conflict with his public duties, and
whether any plan can be suggested for enabling Mr Trutch to
divest himself, without undue sacrifice, of such of them
as would both continue for a considerable time in execution,
and would appear also to be incompatible with his official duties.

2. The gazette notice of Mr Trutch's appointment,
copied into the colonial papers, reached him before
I received your Grace's first despatch. He called on me
in Victoria, and, in reply to my inquiries, stated that
he proposed such interest in the Tolls on bridges in British
Columbia that he scarcely thought he could accept the
appointment intended to be conferred on him.

3. There are two great routes from New Westminster
to the gold mines of Cariboo. They run together up the
Fraser to the mouth of Harrison's River. The "Douglas
Lillooet" line here diverges and follows the last named
river into Harrison's Lake. By "portages," Lillooet, Anderson's
and Seton's Lakes are successively reached; then the line
rejoins the Fraser which it crosses and runs over land to
Clinton where it forms a junction with the conflicting
"Yale-Lytton" route. From this point there is but one
established road to Cariboo. The alternative mode of proceeding
from the mouth of Harrison's River to Clinton, is by
navigating the Fraser as far as Yale, and then travelling
by the great trunk road which crosses the main river at
Spuzzum, and Thompson's River a little above Lytton.
Both of the rival routes are kept up by tolls. Vested and
conflicting interests have sprung up in each line. Newspaper
puffs endeavour to attract the traffic, and the boilers
of the several steamers are strained to their utmost to
insure speed and obtain custom. The number of passengers
and amount of freight annually going to the diggings being
now ascertained with an approach to correctness everything
that benefits the Douglas-Lillooet road injures that
by Hope-Yale & Lytton. Conversely if the traffic on
the first named line be impaired, the profits on the Second increase.

4. Mr Trutch is the sole proprietor of the magnificent
suspension bridge which spans the Fraser at Spuzzum. He
levies certain tolls upon it for six years and a half under
Ordinance No 10 of 1863—after which it becomes the
property of the Government. The tolls upon this, the
Alexandra bridge, are now worth about four thousand pounds (£4000)
a year to Mr Trutch, but the colony is tolerably prosperous,
the traffic is increasing and beginning to shew a decided
preference for the Yale-Lytton line. In all probability
therefore Mr Trutch's receipts from the Alexandra bridge
will rise year by year. He likewise owns one half of the
bridge about to be opened to traffic over Thomson's River
above Lytton. The tolls on this bridge are likely to amount to
four thousand (£4000) a year also. Thus Mr Trutch has at present
an interest to the extent of six-thousand (£6000) a year in one of the
competing roads of the Colony.

5. It is difficult to imagine a case in which a man's
interests were more clearly against the Strict performance
of his public duties. Both lines of travel would be in his
charge as Surveyor General. As such he would receive a
salary of eight hundred (£800) a year. But let him neglect the
Douglas-Lillooet route. Let him allow one of the many
portages between the lakes to become impassible, the whole
traffic rushes over his own bridges and Mr Trutch's private
income rises to ten or twelve thousand a year. But interests
to the extent of two million of dollars exist between Douglas
and Lillooet. They are owned by men of Singular energy. I
enclose a hand-bill showing the competition which exists
between the rival routes, and I suggest for your Grace's
consideration that the framers of it would not tamely
see their fortunes placed at the mercy of the proprietor
of the Yale-Lytton bridges. That Mr Trutch cannot accept the
office of Surveyor General and retain property in the Alexandra
and Thompson's Bridges was his own conviction in Victoria. In
New Westminster he has applied to be installed in the office
conferred on him by your Grace stating that in his conscience he
feels he will do justice to both routes and knows how to
disregard common clamour and newspaper abuse.

6. I considered the matter in Council. It was without
hesitation agreed that Mr Trutch could not hold the office
and his bridges. I was pressed to appoint some one else. The
spring had come back. There were about one hundred thousand
pounds to be expended on Public Works and my predecessor had
virtually shut up the Lands and Works Office. It was indispensable
that an appointment should be made at once. There were but two
men fit for the office in the colony, Mr Trutch and Captain
Holmes of the Royal Artillery. It was unanimously urged upon
me to nominate the latter gentleman without delay. To this
course I said I would only resort as a last necessity. The two
names had been before your Grace together and Mr Trutch had
been preferred. I was bound therefore, if possible, to carry
out your selection. Again Mr Trutch has much greater knowledge
of the country than Captain
Holmes, who accompanied me from
England in the capacity of Private Secretary, can as yet possibly
have. Besides Mr Trutch has shown in his roads and bridges great
engineering skill. Without therefore asserting any superiority
in Scientific or practical knowledge to be possessed by Mr Trutch I considered that he was the most fit man for the office
as the matter stood before us. I therefore requested the Council to
suggest some other means, if possible of meeting the difficulty. I
was advised, since I would not employ Captain
Holmes, to purchase
Mr Trutch's interest in the bridges over Fraser and Thompson's River.

7. It would be taking up too much of your Grace's time if I were
to detail the most tedious, unsatisfactory and unpopular negotiations
which passed between Mr Trutch and myself on this subject, and how
I repeatedly sought the assistance of both Executive and
Legislative Councils, and had the matter thrown back upon me
for decision. I made most liberal offers. I would take this
favorable Season as an average and receive on behalf of the
Government the tolls of the Alexandra bridge this year, and pay
him the same amount now and annually during the continuance
of his rights. That is to say, supposing the receipts this year
to be four thousand pounds (£4000) Mr Trutch would receive payment
at that rate for six years and a half. That is, omitting last
years profits twenty six thousand pounds (£26,000) for a bridge which
cost eight thousand. I offered him further a bonus of from ten
to fifteen thousand pounds (£10,000/£15,000) at the end of his term of
incumbency should the amount of goods leaving New Westminster for the
interior increase in the ratio upon which Mr Trutch based his
claims. He refused these extremely liberal terms, and the
negotiations to the great satisfaction I believe of the public,
and certainly to my own relief, came to an end.

8. In the emergency I was about following the advice of
the Council and requesting Captain
Holmes to act as Surveyor
General, and proceed at once to make the great road into
Cariboo a work on which other Surveyors had failed, when Mr Trutch proposed an entirely new arrangement. This has, subject
to certain modifications of my own, been accepted.

9. Mr Trutch has been appointed Surveyor General. He
retains his property in the bridges for the present. I will
therefore only employ him in works above the Clinton Junction
or below the mouth of Harrison's River. He will, with such
assistance as I can afford, at once lay out the line of road
into Cariboo. Time presses and Captain
Holmes has consented
to take charge of a portion of the work, being paid as an Ordinary
Surveyor. As soon as the Survey shall be completed Mr Trutch
will go to England. He will report himself to your Grace and he
will further endeavour to sell the rights he holds in the
Columbian bridges. It seems irregular my granting him leave of
absence so early, but the case is peculiar. He cannot touch
either the Douglas-Lillooet or Yale-Lytton road as he is now
circumstanced, yet both require attention. Mr Trutch will draw
no salary when absent from the Colony. He will have to satisfy
me by the 1st March 1865 that he has parted with his interests
in the bridges, or else resign.

10. I will make the only arrangement possible during Mr Trutch's absence and place Captain
Holmes in charge of the
Survey department.

11. I enclose a copy of the letter written by my orders to
accompany Mr Trutch's commission when handed to him.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-20_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE09.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of the 16th Ultimo
announcing the appointment of Mr C.B. Franks to be
Treasurer of British Columbia, I am desired by the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit herewith
a Copy of a letter that has been addressed by Their Lordships
to the European Assurance Society on the subject of the
Accounts of that Colony, and I am to request that you will
move Mr Secretary Cardwell to communicate the same to
 the Governor in order that there may be no misunderstanding
on the part of the Officer who has recently been appointed
Colonial Secretary as to his duties as Auditor of the
Treasurer's Accounts in conformity with the instructions
of 1848, copies of which were forwarded in the letters of
this Board of 29th December 1858 and 24th November
of the same year;

My Lords take this occasion of observing that the
Regulations of 1839 for the custody of Public Moneys under
which a Maximum Balance to be retained in the hands of the
Colonial Treasurer should be paid by the Governor, has not
yet been carried out in British Columbia;

They are of opinion that the Governor's attention should be
called to the Several Regulations contained in Chapter 9 of the
Book of Colonial Regulations relating generally to the
custody of Public Monies, and that he should be instructed
forthwith to give effect to those Regulations—especially
as regards the Survey's of the Funds in the Chest at the
regular Quarterly periods, as well as at uncertain
periods and without previous notice.

I enclose herewith separate Copies of the Regulations
of 1839, and of the Forms.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-20_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64127.txt
================================================================================

No. 27

I have the honor to enclose the copy of a letter from Mr A. Watson,
Treasurer of this Colony, applying for an increase of Salary.

2. Your Grace will observe by the correspondence named in the margin

*

that Mr Watson was appointed at a Salary of £500 per annum. Your
Grace has in your despatch dated 15th June 1863 proposed to fix Mr
Watson's Salary at £600 per Annum—a sum, in my opinion, barely
sufficient to secure the services of a competent Officer, having
regard to the very high cost of living in this Colony.

3. Mr Watson appears to be an industrious and accurate Officer and
I have authorized his drawing Salary at the rate of £600 per annum
from the 1st January 1864, on the distinct understanding that it is
subject to your Graces approval.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-05-20_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64207.txt
================================================================================

No. 7

Your Grace will probably ere this reaches you have received
intelligence of the massacre of 14 out of a party of 17 Europeans
by the Indians at Bute Inlet in this Colony. The time of the
departure of the last mail packet from Victoria to San Francisco
did not allow of letters from New Westminster being transmitted
by her. I now take the earliest opportunity open to me to state
such of the circumstances attending the event as I am acquainted
with, and report the steps I have taken to prevent further loss of life, and to bring the murderers to justice.

2. It has been a favorite scheme with some capitalists in
Vancouver's Island to open a road from the head of Bute Inlet
to the gold mines of Cariboo. The project has not met with much
support in this colony, inasmuch as the road, if successful,
would divert much traffic from New Westminster, and cause a
falling off of the tolls on the great rival routes, the "Yale
Lytton" and the "Douglas Lillooet," on which both sums of money
have been expended. Latterly the Bute Inlet road has created
but little interest even in Victoria and the undertaking has fallen
entirely into the hands of a private speculator, Mr Alfred Waddington.

3. He has sent several expeditions to the Inlet, and
made himself well acquainted with the country the road would
have to traverse and also, as he imagined, with the Indians,
by whom it is occupied. The relations between the natives and
the white men seemed satisfactory. The gangs of road makers
who annually resumed the work with each returning Spring, became
more and more confident of a friendly welcome. In 1863 the white
men bartered their arms for furs with the Indians, and this
year Mr Brewster and the party under his command came over
quite unprotected. Among 17 men there was but one gun.

4. On the evening of the 29th of April all the road
makers went to their blankets in perfect security. Even
the precaution ordinary in the bush of having one to keep watch
was dispensed with. At the ferry over the Homathco, 30 miles
from the head of Bute Inlet, a retired Sapper was left in
charge. Nine miles further up, twelve men slept on the road;
and two miles again beyond them, Mr Brewster and the remaining
three workmen. As it was only from the party of twelve that
anyone escaped, it is only in relation to them that my knowledge
of the mode of massacre is complete.

5. The Indians made their attack on this party of tired
labourers, totally unprepared for defence, before day break,
on the 30th of April. The time was well chosen. Not a white
man was up, and those who were suddenly awakened by the sound
of the musket shots and war-whoops found that the first volley
poured in at the tent door had killed most of their companions.
To make sure of all, the Indians pulled down the tent upon
those whom the first shots had spared and struck at them with
their knives through the canvas.

6. There is but little doubt that Mr Waddington's party
would have been exterminated but for the fortunate accident
that one of the tents had been pitched within "two steps" of
the precipitous bank of the river Homathco, which there
rushes by with minimum velocity. Moseley, after seeing
the man who slept on either side of him killed, threw himself
over the bank and was carried down by the stream unharmed.
Peterson, with his left arm shattered by shot, followed his
example and was likewise carried to a place of safety. Buckley
stabbed in each side, knocked over the head with the butt
end of a musket, staggered fainting into the bush and was
left for dead. Late in the afternoon he revived and managed
by the following morning to reach the ferry over the Homathco.
Here he found Moseley and Peterson, but the ferry-man's house
was empty. Blood was splashed about inside and on the road,
across which some heavy body had been dragged to the riverside.
The Scow had been cut adrift, the smaller boat hacked almost
to pieces. It seemed as if the massacre had been in contemplation
for some time and every means adopted for preventing the return
of any one who might by accident escape from the night attack.
Some friendly Indians here joined the three men and told them
how the ferryman, Smith, had been killed, by the Chilicoaten
Indians on the evening preceeding the general massacre. They had
witnessed also the total destruction of the small party
who had slept beside Mr Brewster, the foreman of the gang,
a little in advance of the main party.

7. The three white men were paddled down the Homathco
to the "town site" on Bute Inlet. From thence they were conveyed
to Nanaimo on Vancouver's Island in a canoe and arrived in
Victoria on the 11th of May.

8. I have before me the depositions taken by the Police
Magistrate in that town. They shew no cause for the deadly
hatred of the Chilicoaten Indians. The witnesses declare
that there was no provocation given, no tampering with their
women or abuse of the men. The incentive to the slaughter
remains unknown, and the deponents fall back in their conjectures,
on cupidity. But this seems an insufficient motive. The property
of small value, the rough clothes, and poor provisions of the
road makers would offer but a small temptation to the commission
of so terrible an outrage. Some people say that Mr Waddington's
party may have given offence by carrying the road into the
territory of the Chilicoaten Indians without asking permission.
But this again breaks down, inasmuch as the perpetrators of the
massacre are, it is believed, the very Chilicoaten Indians who
assisted them in their labours. Others throw out the conjecture
that the proceedings previous to Sir James Douglas's departure,
have induced the Indians to believe that the white men are left
without a head. Possibly so. We know that the more civilized
tribes on the Fraser have been allowed to believe that they are
now without a protector or a friend.

9. The most plausible supposition was made to me verbally
by Moseley. There may have been, he thinks, a quarrel between
Smith, the ferryman, and some Indians. Smith was a man of violent
character and irregular habits. The quarrel may have led to blows.
The blows to death. A dread of punishment may have arisen. Hence
probably the throwing of the body into the river and the cutting
adrift of the Scow. To conceal the one murder, the general
massacre may have been undertaken. This last hypothesis
would assume a greater fear of the power of the white men than I
can venture to suppose exists in the breast of the Indians. All
remains mere guess work respecting the motives which caused this
melancholy incident.

10. The town site at Bute Inlet, and the country through which
the road runs for the first thirty miles, is in the joint
occupation of the Cayoosh and Ludataw Indians both, we
trust, friendly to the English. The next tribe met with in
advancing is a small one; an offshoot of the Chilicoaten
 Indians. Pellot is their Chief, and he was seen taking
an active part in the destruction of the white men. Behind
the Cascade Mountains, among which this small tribe live, are
the great body of the Chilicoatens occupying a fine open
Country extending Northward, probably 150 miles, by 120 East
and West. A deadly feud existed until recently between them
and the Coast Indians—Cayoosh & Ludataw—but two years
ago Mr Waddington succeeded in making peace between the
tribes, who have since remained on tolerable terms though
still suspicious of each other.

11. From all the evidence before me it appears clear that
the offshoot members of the Chilicoaten tribe under Pellott
were alone concerned in the massacre. There were no strangers
seen by the survivors. The work of slaughter was performed by
the sixteen men who had for some weeks performed the drudgery
of the Camp. The spot where the white men perished is situated
in a desolate and rugged country. The only tolerable access to
it is by Mr Waddington's road and that is not available to
the assassins who would be exposed to the summary vengeance
of the Coast Indians. They cannot remain where they are. There
is nothing there to support life. They must therefore have pushed
on over the mountains and torrents towards the open country
inhabited by the parent tribe. The fishing season is attracting
thousands of Indians to the lakes in the Chilicoaten Country,
and we can tell, with an approach to precision, where the
murderers are now to be found.

12. The steps taken by me in this conjuncture are the
following. I have despatched Mr Brew, the Police Magistrate
of New Westminster, with a party of 28 Special Constables
in the gunboat "Forward" to Bute Inlet. These men are volunteers
unused to bush life, and armed with rifles and revolvers. Mr Brew will collect all the information and assistance he can
from the Coast Indians and advance with his party as far as
the place where the massacre took place, thirty nine miles
from the Inlet. He will first see if there are any survivors
from Mr Waddington's party. There, on the present terminus
of our road, the Scene of our mishap, Mr Brew will consider
what is next to be done, and principally whether it is possible
to push on through the singularly difficult country before
him into the open land beyond. He will send an express to me
and ask for reinforcements, should the expedition be carried
further. There are fortunately four months provisions at the
head of Bute Inlet, but I do not at present see that the men
could have any sufficient base of operations and supply should
they traverse the mountains and appear on the plains, tired,
certainly, after a three weeks struggle over an impracticable
country, and their numbers perhaps thinned by sickness. A
forced retreat over the mountains again, would probably entail
an amount of disaster which I could scarcely allow myself to
contemplate. I am of opinion therefore that Mr Brew's party
will not advance beyond the spot where their communications are secure.

13. My main reliance for the capture of the murderers and
the vindication of the law is in a mounted expedition which
I have ordered to be despatched from Alexandria on the upper
Fraser. The prairies extend almost up to the river, food can
be transported for the men, grass is found for the horses. Mr
William Cox, one of the Gold Commissioners of Cariboo will
command a force of about 50 men, sworn constables also—for
we wish to proceed legally—but a formidable body, safe in the
plains against all Indian attack. I have been obliged to leave
very much to Mr
William Cox's discretion, but it is believed he will
 at once proceed to the head quarters of Alexis, the great Chief
of the Chilicoaten tribe, shew his warrant and explain that
the Queen's law must have its course. He will support his
application for redress by shewing my proclamation offering a
reward of £50 for the apprehension of each of the murderers,
and I allow myself to hope that his mission will not be
unsuccessful. I see no other means of dealing with the matter.
When your Grace is informed that the wages of Mr
William Cox's
party must be those prevailing in the Gold Mines of Cariboo,
and that all the supplies will have to be purchased at the
exorbitant rates there prevailing, you will see that I am
making an immense sacrifice of the finances of the Colony for
the maintenance of its honor and the support of the law.

14. I wish to impress upon your Grace that this is, as
yet, no war. I have rejected all offers of assistance beyond
the Colony from men bent on vengeance. I aim at securing
justice only. We have therefore in the field but Magistrates
and Constables. Extraneous assistance may ultimately be required.
At present Alexis will see in Mr
William Cox's band many familiar
faces, which he will recognize as those of friendly but
determined men.

15. Much time has unfortunately been lost in taking proper
steps to assert our authority. But not by me. I beg distinctly
however to be understood as not making a complaint against
anyone in the Statement I submit.

1. The news of the ferryman's murder reached Victoria
on the 5th April.

2. The authentic intelligence of the Bute Massacre, was
brought by the survivors, on the early morning of Wednesday
the 11th. Yet no information was despatched to me until
mid-day on Friday the 13th. There was a frigate and two gunboats
in Esquimalt harbour but the letter was sent to me by the
regular Mail Steamer which had about 150 tons of freight on
board. The news reached me at half past ten at night. Within
half an hour I had applied to the Senior Naval Officer on the
Station for assistance, and by three in the morning my application
left New Westminster, the intervening hours of the night having
been taken up in discharging, at the expense of the Government
with all the strength that could be procured, the heavy cargo
of the Mail Steamer. On that same morning the instructions
to Mr
William Cox for the organization of his party were despatched,
and Mr Brew and his men were in readiness to await a reply
from Lord Gilford the Senior Naval Officer.

3. On Sunday at 10.30 the gun boat "Forward" with Lord Gilford on board arrived. She was despatched at 6 p.m. with
Mr Brew and his force.

16. The distances to be traversed by Mr Cox and his
party are very great, and I fear I shall not be able to report
any satisfactory results to your Grace under three months. I
sincerely hope I may be able to do so at the expiration of that
time. But there is a painful incident in this case, which I
have as yet omitted to mention. Six of Mr Waddington's road
party were sent by way of Bentinck Arm to commence operations
on the other side of the Cascade Range. Their course will almost
inevitably have brought them in contact with the murderers of
their fellow labourers. This was known in Victoria. Why were
two days lost in communicating with me?

17. I shall address your Grace in another despatch of this
day's date respecting the defenceless condition of this Colony.
Situated as we now are, an Indian insurrection might become a
war for existence, carried on any how by the Settlers & diggers
against an overwhelming native population.



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No. 8

In my despatch of even date on the subject of the Bute
Inlet massacre I mentioned that I proposed to address your
Grace respecting the defenceless state of this Colony. I wish
to make no unreasonable requests. I prefer no complaints.

2. During my administration of the Government of Honduras,
there seldom passed any long interval of time without my having
to make application for the support of a ship of war. I cannot
call to my mind a single occasion in which reluctance was shewn
to furnish me with the aid required. Whether addressed to
Jamaica or Greytown my applications were at once complied with.

3. In British Columbia I find the arrangements in these matters
very different. A frigate and two gunboats were in Vancouvers
Island when the news of the massacre was received; but the
transmission to me of the intelligence was delayed two days, and
then sent by the ordinary mail packet.

*

My urgent request for naval assistance was, after some hesitation,
complied with by the Senior Naval Officer, to the extent of supplying
the gunboat "Forward," coupled
with the request that she should be detained in the Colony as
short a time as possible.

**

I am therefore left in doubt whether she is available for keeping up the
communication between head quarters and the force I have despatched to
Bute
Inlet under Mr Brew.

***

Your Grace will have seen from the statements made
in my despatch above referred to, that I am not grudging in
the expenditure of the resources of this Colony, but the want
of a sea-going steamer—cannot be supplied here. We have river
steamers drawing 18 or 20 inches, with two or more stories
of cabins upon them, which would not be safe in rough water.
I have done what I can to make up for our deficiencies, by
despatching an Agent to purchase from my own travelling
allowance a small vessel at Portland in the state of Oregon.
I shall not however be able to depend upon her in bad weather.

4. At this present moment there are in Esquimalt harbour
three vessels of war. The "Tribune" frigate, the "Columbine"
sloop and the gunboat "Grappler." In British Columbia we have
merely the gunboat "Forward," which I have been requested
to return as early as possible. Lord Gilford the present
Senior Officer has, though with perfect civility, thus
disposed of my urgent application for aid, in a crisis which
may be one of great importance to the Colony. He informed
me, it is true, that the "Tribune" has not sufficient steam
power to proceed to the head of Bute
Inlet, and that the
"Grappler" has received severe damage in a cruize to the
Northwest. Mr Brews expedition, it should also be added had
been dispatched before the arrival of the "Columbine" at
Esquimalt was known to Lord Gilford. The great urgency for
her assistance had therefore passed before I was informed that
she could not be spared for service in this Colony.

5. I am ignorant of the instructions furnished to the
Admiral of the Pacific Station, and it may be beyond the power
of any subordinate authority, if even of the Admiral himself,
to employ ships of large size in the navigation of this coast;
but I should conceive that the gunboats ought to be freely placed
at the disposal of the Governor of British Columbia
****

in any case of emergency, when their services are not indispensably
required in Vancouvers Island. Or that if the "Grappler" and "Forward"
are specially attached to the neighbouring Colony, one or two
vessels of the class might be allotted to this. This large and
important province which now costs the Imperial Government
absolutely nothing for its maintenance, and does not absorb
a fraction of Her Majesty's land forces, has claims I conceive,
in the still early stage of its existence, to receive a share
of the naval protection the mother country affords to other and
less exposed prossessions.

6. I regret that I have to make these representations
at the particular time when a person so obliging and anxious
to please in other respects as Lord Gilford, is Senior Naval
Officer. But it is well at the outset, that I should understand
what assistance I may expect from Her Majesty's Naval forces,
in case there should be an imminent risk of isolated massacres
swelling into insurrection.

7. I should add that the fear of the Indians is now very
general along the coast, and that I have been requested by the
workmen in the Copper Mines of Queen Charlotte's Island to
afford them some protection or else permit them temporarily
to abandon their labours, with the right to resume them at
some safer time. My reply is that I can afford no naval protection,
but that the Company will not forfeit their Charter should they
now have to retire from the island.



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FILE: 1864-05-21_Cox_&_Co._to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V646C02.txt
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Cox & Co. to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

We have the honor to enclose a letter from Mr A.E. Kennedy shewing
that he assumed and administered the Government of Victoria
Vancouvers Island, from 26th to 31st of March last, requesting an
issue of his Salary for that period.



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FILE: 1864-05-23_Ransom_to_Cardwell_B645MI04.txt
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Ransom to Cardwell

I beg to enclose, as required by our Deed of Settlement,
the half-yearly statement of this Bank for the six months
ending 31st December last.



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FILE: 1864-05-26_Romaine_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645AD01.txt
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Romaine to Under-Secretary of State

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to
acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 23d Instant, enclosing
a Copy of a Despatch from the Governor of Vancouver Island forwarding
a Copy of a Memorial from the Legislative Council relative to the
Defenceless state of that Colony; and I am to acquaint you, in reply,
for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that
the Subject has been several times before their Lordships and that
they consider it had better be referred to the Committee on Defences.



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No. 5

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No.
11 of the 29th of March reporting your assumption of the Government of
Vancouver Island.



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No. 6

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your depatch No.
12 of the 30th of March, and to express to you my satisfaction at the
cordiality with which you appear to have been welcomed by the
inhabitants of Vancouver Island and at the demonstrations of loyalty on
the occasion of your arrival.



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FILE: 1864-05-27_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD01.txt
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Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of
the 26th Instant, enclosing a Copy of a Letter from
Mr C.W. Franks, requesting a Passage from Panama to
Vancouver's Island, via HM Ship "Sutlej," and I am to
acquaint you, in reply, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, that My Lords have no objection to Admiral Denman
granting Mr Franks a Passage, provided No public expense
is thereby incurred, and that he may apply to that Officer.



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FILE: 1864-05-27_Romaine_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645AD02.txt
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Romaine to Under-Secretary of State

My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have received a communication
from the Vancouver Island Graving Dock Company containing a proposal
for the construction of a Dock at Esquimalt Harbour and soliciting
the concession of the Water Rights appertaining to certain Lands. I
am commanded by their Lordships to transmit to you for the
consideration of Mr Secretary Cardwell the copy of the reply that
has been addressed to the Company on the Subject.



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No. 7

I have the honor to acquaint you that Messrs Cox & Co have
transmitted to this Office your application dated 1st of April for the
payment to them of your salary from the 26th to the 31st of March last.

I have caused Messrs Cox [& Co] to be informed that your salary as
Governor of Vancouver Island is not payable from Imperial but from
Colonial funds, and that it must be drawn by you in the Colony.



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No. 8

It has been brought to my notice that a Bill is now passing through
the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island by which certain exclusive
rights are granted to an American Telegraph Company who are about to
construct a line from San Francisco.

I enclose for your information a copy of a Parliamentary Paper from
which you will learn that the policy of the Imperial Government is
directly opposed to the grant of any monoply of Telegraphic
communication, and I have therefore to instruct you to withhold your
assent from any Bill granting such a monoply unless it contains a clause
suspending it's operation until Her Majesty's Pleasure be made known.

I am of opinion that it is most improbable that such law would
receive Her Majesty's approval, or, if passed without a suspending
clause, be allowed to remain in operation.



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FILE: 1864-06-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647209.txt
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No. 9

With reference to my other despatch of this day's date I have to
inform you that I have received within the last few days an Ordinance
from British Columbia similar in it's objectionable provisions to the
Law which I understand is being passed by the Legislature of Vancouver
Island. I therefore deem it right to forward for your information a
copy of a despatch which I have addressed by this Mail to Governor
Seymour explaining the objections entertained by Her Majesty's
Government to the grant of exclusive privileges to Telegraphic
companies.



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No. 6

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Sir J. Douglas's
despatch No. 20 of the 12th of April enclosing a congratulatory Address
from the Legislative Council of British Columbia on the birth of a son
to the Prince and Princess of Wales.

You will have the goodness to inform the Legislative Council that I
caused their Address to be communicated to His Royal Highness the Prince
of Wales, and that His Royal Highness received with much satisfaction
the congratulations which it contained.



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No. 7

I have received your predecessor's despatch No. 14 of the 4th
ultimo accompanied by three Ordinances of the Legislature of British
Columbia including No. 9 of 1864 intituled

An Ordinance to encourage the
construction of a telegraph line connecting British Columbia with the
telegraph lines of the United States and for other purposes.

I observe that by the 5th clause of this Ordinance there is secured
to the California State Telegraph Company, for a period of twenty years
after the completion of a certain telegraph line, the exclusive right of
sending and receiving messages between any place within the Colony of
British Columbia and any other place within the territory of the United
States of America to the West of the Rocky Mountains.

From the Parliamentary Paper noted in the margin

*

of which a copy is enclosed you will learn (what, from the correspondence
between this department and Mr. Collins, respecting the construction of
a telegraph line to British Columbia across the North of Asia, which
correspondence was communicated to you on the 10th of February last, you
will already have inferred) that Her Majesty's Government are unable to
sanction the establishment of any exclusive privileges in regard to
telegraphic communication, and you cannot fail to see that the strict
enforcement of this principle is peculiarly indispensable in British
Columbia through which Her Majesty's Government may have to communicate
in very critical times and on very important matters with Her Majesty's
Naval Forces on the Pacific. It will therefore be impossible that the
5th clause of the Ordinance under consideration should be allowed to
remain in operation, and the California State Telegraph Company should
be at once so informed.

I have hesitated to recommend the immediate disallowance of this
Ordinance because it appears to me that by allowing it for the present
to remain in operation I shall facilitate those negotiations between the
Government and the Company which will be necessary to provide either for
the continuance or for the abandonment of the enterprise.

I hope that you will be able to make arrangements under which the
understanding may proceed, but it must be clearly understood that the
exclusive right of telegraphic communication can under no circumstances
be allowed, and that if the clause giving that right be not repealed I
shall have no other alternative left than that of advising Her Majesty
to disallow the whole Ordinance.



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No. 9

On arriving in this Colony I found the Legislative Council,
created under the authority of the Order in Council of 11th
June 1860, in its first Session.

2. Beyond delivering an opening address, my Predecessor
appears to have taken but little part in Legislative proceedings,
and the Council, new to business, and guided only by their zeal,
had made a degree of progress in Legislative work, which would
have detained a more experienced body much longer. In addition
to making Laws with unusual rapidity, the Council wandered
frequently into the province of the Executive Government, and
passed many resolutions on subjects which did not perhaps
properly come within their cognizance.

3. But I must state that most of the Bills passed by the
Council appeared to me to have a beneficial object, and that
the resolutions tendered—though somewhat irregularly—sound
advice to the Government. The productions of three months, of
the Council's industry, lay before me to deal with as soon
as I arrived. Each day raised some fresh topic of importance
for discussion within the Council, or decision by me outside,
so that I became convinced that were I to allow myself even to
share in the responsibility of Legislation, I must check the
exuberant activity of the Council. I therefore seized the very
earliest moment when a Prorogation became possible, and went
down to the Council, with the closing speech of which I have
the honor to submit a copy.

4. Though I have in this Address noticed questions of
the greatest magnitude and pronounced an opinion on most of them,
with a confidence which might appear, on the 12th day of my
administration of this Government, rash, I would beg your Grace
to notice, that I am but little pledged to carry out the resolutions
of the Council. I have chosen to consider them as authority for
spending the amount mentioned in each, in the manner specified
therein, but I have reserved to myself perfect freedom of action
in most cases. There are but three resolutions of importance in
which I have formally concurred. But one that I have actually
commenced to carry out. The progress of the two others has not
passed beyond negotiation. I am at work in making a good road
from Quesnel Mouth into Cariboo. I am in correspondence respecting
the Establishment of a Light Ship at the mouth of the Fraser and
the securing Steam communication between New Westminster and
San Francisco. In all these matters I shall shortly address your
Grace further. Today I will only say, that I consider the making
of a road into Cariboo, as the most important and beneficial work
which could be undertaken in the Colony. The last forty five
miles to the gold mines are now accomplished in from two to five
days, according to the weather. I trust before the winter sets
in to see them travelled over in five hours.

5. The Ordinances assented to, or reserved, shall be separately
reported on, and in another despatch I shall fully report upon
a subject which engrosses much attention in this and the
neighbouring Colony of Vancouver. The Legislature of that Island,
have, I believe, sent home resolutions praying to be united to
British Columbia under one Governor.

*

The Council here protest
against union upon any terms. I have noticed the resolution of
my own Council in the 15th paragraph of my address. It is due
to Your Grace to explain my meaning more plainly than I have done
to the Council. The strong opinion I have to express is that it is
simply impossible, in my opinion, to govern satisfactorily the
district of Cariboo from Vancouver Island. Victoria cannot, in
my opinion, ever again be the seat of Government for the vast
territory of British Columbia.

6. I should mention that I presided at the first meeting
of the Council held after my arrival in the Colony. My presence
however evidently operated as a check on the freedom of debate.
I absented myself from subsequent meetings and thereby in my
opinion made a considerable step towards the conferring liberal
institutions in the Colony.

7. I shall in obedience to the XIth Section of the
Royal Instructions of 11th January 1864, prepare standing
Rules for the Government of the Council before its sitting in
December. I shall, in them, have to determine clearly the amount
of control over the general affairs of the Colony which shall
be allowed to this branch of the Legislature and prevent a
repetition of the neglect of important constitutional principles,
which was conspicuous in the Session it became my duty to close.



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No. 10

I have the honour to transmit to you for your information a copy of
a letter which the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have caused to
be addressed to the Directors of the Vancouver Island Graving Dock
Company, relative to the concession of Water rights in that Colony in
connection with proposed work.



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FILE: 1864-06-02_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64210.txt
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No. 10

I have the honor to forward an authenticated and two plain
copies of an Act of the recent Session of the Legislative Council
of this Colony entitled:

An Ordinance to increase the facilities for registering
documents relating to Real Property.

I add the Report of the Attorney General which appears
sufficiently explanatory of the objects of this enactment.



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FILE: 1864-06-03_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64211.txt
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No. 11

I have the honor to forward an authenticated and two plain
copies of an Ordinance of the recent Session of the Legislative
Council of this Colony, entitled:

An Ordinance to declare the lawful rate of interest in the Colony.

I add a copy of the Report of the Attorney General which appears
to me, sufficiently full, to render any remarks from me superfluous.



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FILE: 1864-06-03_Seymour_to_Newcastle_B64212.txt
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No. 12

I have the honor to forward an authenticated and two
plain copies of an Ordinance of the recent Session of the
Legislative Council of this Colony, entitled:
An Ordinance relating to Patents.

I add the Report of the Attorney General. He has furnished the
best excuse which can be offered for this imperfect measure
when he states that it has been passed to meet an immediate
emergency, in anticipation of more extended Legislation on the
subject. I may mention that the amount of fees has not yet been
settled by the Governor in Council.



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FILE: 1864-06-04_Kennedy_to_Newcastle_V64128.txt
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No. 28

I have the honor to report that I have appointed Mr Henry Wakeford
Acting Colonial Secretary during Mr Young's absence on leave and
subject to your approval.

I deem myself fortunate in securing the services of Mr Wakeford who
has only just arrived from Western Australia where he has held
responsible offices under the Crown for many years.

I had no public officer competent to fill the office, and no means of
procuring one to carry on the public service for the performance of
which Mr Wakeford's capacity and experience eminently fit him.

I have sanctioned half salary at the rate of £600 per annum subject
to your approval.



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No. 29

I have the honor to transmit a letter from Mr Henry Wakeford which
explains itself.

I have informed you in my Despatch No 28 by this Mail that I have
appointed this Gentleman Acting Colonial Secretary during Mr Young's
absence and I should have found great difficulty in carrying on the
Public Service here without his assistance.

I would hope that Mr Wakeford may be permitted to draw half salary
from his office in Western Australia till I am enabled to make
permanent provision for him here.



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No. 30, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit a copy of Addresses presented to me as
Her Majestys Representative on assuming the Government of this
Colony.

These Addresses afford gratifying proofs of the affectionate loyalty
of the People of this Colony to Her Majesty's Throne and Person.



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No. 31, Financial

1. I have the honor to transmit herewith the copy of a letter
addressed to me by the Surveyor General of this Colony which in view
of all the defalcations which have occurred I deem it my duty to lay
before you.

2. I may shortly state the origin of this letter. An advance
warrant for the large sum of $10,000 was lately submitted for my
approval, which I was informed was the usual course. I questioned
the propriety or necessity of making such large advances to an
officer who was not under bond for pecuniary trust and on making
further inquiries ascertained that the Surveyor General (or his
office) was virtually a colonial accountant, that he was the Officer
who judged whether accounts coming into his office were correct, and
then paid them himself, thus destroying the usual, and proper check,
had they been paid by the Treasurer.

3. A conversation with the Surveyor General resulted in his writing
the accompanying letter.

4. I have informed the Surveyor General that I will take immediate
steps to have his accounts audited and all pecuniary responsibility
as far as possible transferred to the proper office, that of the
Treasurer.

5. While addressing you on this subject, it is proper for me to
inform you that there is no Auditor in this Colony, Mr Ker late
Auditor for the two Colonies having resigned, and the provision made
for the salary of an auditor by the local Legislature in the
Estimates for 1864 (seven hundred and twenty five dollars) wholly
inadequate to secure an efficient Officer to replace him. I therefore
propose to employ Mr Ker at the salary I have at my disposal (if he
will accept of the office) till more suitable arrangements can be
made.

6. The result of this shortsighted and mistaken economy is that the
public accounts of the Colony which in my opinion ought to be
audited monthly have not yet been audited for 1864, thus throwing
additional trouble upon the Treasurer, and opening the door to great
irregularities.

7. The Treasurer concurs in my views, and I only bring the subject
under your notice to guard myself from any responsibility resulting
from a system of which I disapprove.



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No. 32, Financial

It appears that the public Accounts of this Colony have never been
transmitted to England for audit, the Auditor's action being final.

I would wish to be informed whether this is the practice authorized
by the Secretary of State and the Lords of the Treasury.



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No. 33, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit a letter entrusted to me by Mr
Nicholles of this colony which I have read as I understood to be the
writers desire.

The truth of some of these statements is beyond my personal
knowledge, and others do not require any comment. They are all I
think possibly true and probable.



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No. 13

I have the honor to forward an authenticated and two
plain copies of an Ordinance of the recent Session of the
Legislative Council of this Colony, entitled:

An Ordinance to facilitate the formation of Mining Joint Stock Companies.

I add the Report of the Attorney General.



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No. 14

I have the honor to forward an Authenticated and two plain
Copies of an Ordinance of the last Session of Legislative Council
of this Colony, Entitled:
An Ordinance for regulating the Postal Service.

I add the Report of the Attorney General which appears to me
to afford all the information Your Grace would require.



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No. 15

I have the honor to forward an Authenticated and two plain
copies of an Act of the recent Session of the Legislative Council
of this Colony, Entitled;

An Ordinance for the relief of certain Naval and Military Settlers.

I add the report of the Attorney General.

2. The bill which has now become Law was laid by me before
the Legislative Council in obedience to the instructions conveyed
in Your Grace's despatch No. 3 of 29th Feby 1864.

4. [3.] As it was possible that some Naval Officers
might be in a similar position to that of Captain Houghton, referred
to in Your Grace's despatch, the Act has been made to protect Naval
as well as Military Settlers.



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No. 17

I have the honor to forward an Authenticated and two plain
Copies of an Act of the recent Session of the Legislature of
this Colony, entitled:

No 13. An Ordinance for the regulation of the
Inland Navigation of British Columbia.

I add the Attorney General's Report upon it.

2. Your Grace will observe that the Ordinance has been passed
with a suspending clause. I should probably have disallowed it
but for this provision.

3. I will at the outset say, that I believe public opinion is
in favour of an allowance of the measure. In my own it is
premature. I think every facility should be given for the
accommodation of passengers when a "rush" to a new Gold Mine
occurs. I believe it is generally admitted that had the Act
been brought into immediate operation and rigidly enforced, it
would have stopped the running, as high as Yale, of every Steam
Vessel now on the Fraser. I should be disposed to risk an
occasional accident rather than make the access to the upper
country too difficult.

4. During the early summer Months when the snow melts on
the mountains the water rushes with immense velocity down the
bed of the Fraser in the Narrow Gorges of the Cascade Mountains.
At Emory's Bar, when I recently went up to Yale, the stream ran
down at the rate of from fifteen to sixteen miles an hour. The
surface of the river showed inequalities of fully three feet,
and drift wood of all sizes came down upon the steamer as she
struggled against the stream. The boilers had been tested and
allowed a maximum of 100 lbs. steam. We entered the vessel
with the ordinary rate of 110 lbs. which was increased to 140
lbs. when I last looked at the register, but I presume it rose
much higher as at 140 lbs. she could make no head way, but
merely drifted from the high ridge of water in the centre of
the river to a hollow under the rocks. The boilers stood the
pressure and presently the ship landed her passengers and
freight at Yale, having carried the former 100 miles up the
river at a dollar a head. Such a System though subject to
occasional misfortunes is admirably calculated to develope
the resources of a new country. Vessels of a more solid
description than those in use could not afford to carry
passengers and freight at the low rate now prevailing on the Fraser.

5. I doubt likewise the necessity of forcing our River
Steamers to carry boats and am of opinion that such a provision
would be extremely inconvenient. The Vessels now in use draw only
about eighteen inches when loaded and approach everywhere to the bank.

6. I submit these remarks for Your Grace's consideration,
without recommending the total disallowance of the Act.



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No. 8

In my despatch No. 7 of the 1st instant I acknowledged the receipt
of your predecessor's despatch No. 14 of the 4th of April which was
accompanied by three Ordinances of the Legislature of British Columbia
assented to by him on the 10th of March last and intituled respectively

No. 6—"An Ordinance for the amendment of the Licences Act, 1859."

No. 8—"An Ordinance to authorise the introduction of steam
traction engines into British Columbia."

No. 9—"An Ordinance to encourage the construction of a telegraph
line connecting British Columbia with the Telegraph Lines of the United
States and for other purposes."

The last named Ordinance formed the subject of my despatch No. 7 of
the 1st instant.

I have laid the remaining two Ordinances before The Queen and I am
commanded to acquaint you that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm
and allow them.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the inhabitants of
the Colony in the usual manner.

Ordinance No. 8 creates a monopoly of the use of steam traction
engines but since the monopoly lasts only one year and is a matter of
purely Colonial concern I have not refrained from advising Her Majesty
to confirm the Ordinance: I have however to observe that the Colonial
Government will do well to be on their guard against the temptation
which will always exist to purchase an immediate advantage by granting
to private persons exclusive privileges which may be the source of
future embarrassment and inconvenience.



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No. 16

I have the honor to transmit an Authenticated and two
plain copies of an Ordinance of the late Session of the
Legislative Council of this Colony, entitled:
No 16. An Ordinance to amend Customs Duties.

I add the Report of the Attorney General.

2. The three first clauses of this Act are not of a
nature to raise any discussion. Public opinion in this and
the Neighbouring Colony is not unanimously in favor of the fourth.

3. Victoria, in Vancouver Island, is the largest commercial
town in the two Colonies on the North West Coast of America. It
is likewise a Free Port. The greater part of the traffic with
the Indians along the Coast of British Columbia has been conducted
from thence. Under these circumstances Sir James Douglas, as
Governor of the two Colonies, on their Legislative separation,
issued a Proclamation, 2nd June 1859, to authorize the
clearance of vessels in Vancouver Island for any Port on the
Main land North of the Fraser River, on payment of the Customs
Duties of this Colony. This arrangement would probably have
continued in force, notwithstanding the objections to which it
is subject, had not the Colonial Secretary of Vancouver Island,
shortly after my arrival, declined to collect any more duties
for British Columbia. The question, thus thrust forward for
consideration, was brought before the Executive Council, and I
was pressed to allow some such measure as that now transmitted.

4. The new Law creates some dissatisfaction in Victoria, and
I have gone to the extent of promising, in reply to a petition,
to consider the whole question further before I meet the Legislative
Council again. I have given no pledge that I will allow any
alteration of the present Law, but I have sent down a Customs
Officer to clear, in Victoria, such vessels as may be ready to
sail for this Coast. The favor will not be repeated, and in
future, the Law, as it stands, shall be strictly carried out.
Vessels going to engage in the very profitable traffic with the
Northern Indians will have to clear at New Westminster.

5. The advocates of the Ordinance of last Session urge,
1stly The inconvenience of employing a Public Officer of
this Colony at a Port where our Legislature has no jurisdiction
and where the Local Law furnishes him with no authority to
exercise the duties imposed upon him. 2ndly, It is said
that British Columbia loses much of its Revenue from the
System of smuggling, carried on from Victoria. A vessel, it
is alleged, clears from that Port, for the fur trade, with
a certain amount of cargo on board, and then fills up, in
the smooth waters of the Gulf of Georgia, with well paying
articles, such as whiskey and other spirits, which it is our
policy to keep from the Indians.

6. These reasons in favor of the new Law appear to me
forcible, and I have others to add from my own experience. I
find it extremely inconvenient to have the centre of intelligence
respecting the proceedings of our Coast Indians at a Port
over which I have no control. For instance, the massacre of
Mr Waddington's road party on the Bute Inlet Trail was known
in Victoria nearly three days before it was communicated to
me. Further, I consider now that our relations with the Northern
Indians are somewhat strained, that the trade with them should
be to a certain extent under the supervision of the Government
of this Colony. It would probably be a great pecuniary
benefit to Victoria, if we were to be engaged in hostilities
with the Native tribes. To all of us, with the exception of a
few general dealers in New Westminster, it would be an unmixed
calamity. On the Mother Country such a war would throw enormous
charges, and I need scarcely say, that the injuries it would
inflict on the Native races are incalculable. Victoria, alone
would gain, and Victoria, if I may judge from the Public Press
and the speeches at Public Meetings, would not be indisposed
to precipitate us into war.

7. I know the objections to which the present Act is liable,
and I shall give them further consideration. But to preserve
the peace of the Colony and to prevent the further demoralization
of the Coast Indians by totally irresponsible persons, I beg that
the present Ordinance may not be disallowed.



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No. 9

I have laid before The Queen the Ordinances noted in the margin

*

which were forwarded in your Predecessor's despatch No. 9 of the 19th
of February last, and I am commanded to acquaint you that Her Majesty has been
pleased to confirm and allow them.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision on these Ordinances to the
Inhabitants of British Columbia in the usual and most authentic manner.

The decision of The Queen on the Ordinance No. 3 of 1864 to
appropriate a sum of money to the service of the present year will be
communicated to you in another despatch. I think it right however to
point out to you that, inasmuch as a Legislative Council cannot be
considered to be a Parliament, the phrase "in Parliament assembled"
which occurs in the 1st paragraph of this Ordinance is incorrect, and
should be avoided in future legislation.



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Head to Fortescue (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

I have the honour to inform you that the Committee of the
Hudsons Bay Company have sent Dr Rae to Ruperts Land with
a view to ascertaining the Best and most practicable route for
an Electric Telegraph across the Company's Territory from Red
River to the head of Frasers River or thereabouts. The Committee
are anxious that Dr Rae whilst he is in the Country may have
an opportunity of surveying (roughly at least), the probable
route for a line of Telegraph from the head waters of the Fraser
to New Westminster, but they are apprehensive that in making an
examination of this kind without the authority of the Government
of British Columbia the Hudsons Bay Company may appear to be
assuming rights which they do not possess beyond the Rocky
Mountains. The Committee would therefore request that instructions
may be given to the Governor of British Columbia to permit such
an examination to be made by Dr Rae as a necessary step with
a view to future arrangements.



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No. 26

With reference to my despatches No. 1 of the 26th
April 1864, and No. 4—of the 7th May, I have the honor
to submit copies of the undermentioned addresses which have
been presented to me. I add copies of my answers.

1. Town and District of Douglas.

2. New Westminster Fire Department.

3. Inhabitants of Yale.



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FILE: 1864-06-08_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE11.txt
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Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In reply to Mr Elliot's letter of the 3rd inst.
I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you that the Paymaster General has
been authorized to pay to Sir James Douglas the sum of
£800, for Passage Allowance on his retirement from the
joint government of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.



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Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am desired by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you, for the information of Mr
Secretary Cardwell, that Their Lordships have had under Their
consideration the British Columbia Ordinance, No 7 of 1864
to authorize a Loan of £100,000, enclosed in Mr Elliot's
letter of the 26th Ultimo.

My Lords will not object to the confirmation of this
Ordinance, but They request that the following observations may
be forwarded to the Governor for the guidance of the Colonial
Government in bringing the Ordinance into operation.

My Lords are of opinion with reference to Clauses Nos
1 & 9 that the application of the Money to be borrowed should
be confined to the Survey and fresh construction of Roads
Bridges & Public Works, & that no part of it should be expended
in defraying the ordinary charge of Repair & Maintenance which
should in British Columbia, as elsewhere, be provided for out
of current revenue.

Their Lordships observe that Clause 12 of the Ordinance
empowers the Governor & Council to redeem portions of the
Loan before the Debentures arrive at Maturity, and to employ
for that purpose either current Revenue or the Moneys of
the Sinking Fund: and that Clause 13 directs that the amount
thereafter payable to the Sinking Fund shall be reduced in
the proportion of the Debentures paid off to those remaining outstanding.

Assuming that the Sinking Fund, as created by the Ordinance
will suffice for the ultimate liquidation of the whole debt,
and that the 2 1/4 per Cent is the amount required to accomplish
that object in thirty years, then the payments to the Fund—after
a portion of the Loan shall have been redeemed by purchase out
of the accumulations for the time being of the Sinking Fund—must
not be reduced in the same ratio as the Loan itself, otherwise
it will not be possible to avoid a deficiency of the Sinking
Fund at the end. On the contrary as the principal is
reduced by the appropriation of Sinking Fund, the per Centage
to be contributed to that Fund in respect to the balance
of the Loan should be increased, the limitation of the annual rate to
2 1/4 per Cent provided by Clause 10 being in such a case set aside.

In any future Ordinance that may be passed & that may
afford an opportunity of doing so provision should be made
for increasing the rate accordingly on the Debentures outstanding.



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No. 27

Having been compelled, when on a Voyage from Bute Inlet
to New Westminster in Her Majesty's Gunboat "Forward," to put
into Nanaimo in Vancouver Island for Coal I was received with
every demonstration of loyalty to Her Majesty, whom I have the
honor to represent in a neighbouring Colony, and of good feeling
towards myself.

2. I enclose copy of an address which was presented to me on
landing and of my reply.



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No. 18

May I request that Your Grace would be pleased to direct
the Agents General for Crown Colonies to procure and transmit
to this Colony the Articles described in the enclosed requisition.



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Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to Mr Elliots letter of 10th April
last, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, that Mr Charles W. Franks who has been appointed
 Treasurer of British Columbia, has now executed a personal Bond
for £2000, and that the European Assurance Society has given a
Bond for a corresponding amount, as security for the due
performance by him of the duties of his Office. The Bonds will
be retained in this Department.



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No. 19

In obedience to the Instructions conveyed in Your Grace's
despatch to Sir J. Douglas, No. 60, of the 27th of November
1863, I have the honor to forward all the information I can
collect respecting the death of Donald Monro.

The intelligence contained in the "Times" of the 24th
of October 1863, appears to be substantially true. There is
every reason to suppose that Munro, at the time of his death was
not possessed of any property.



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No. 10

I have the honor to inform you that Mr. Charles Franks has been
appointed Colonial Treasurer of British Columbia vacant by the
retirement of Colonel Gosset R.E.

Mr. Franks has executed the necessary bond and found the security
required for the due performance by him of the duties of his Office; and
he will proceed to the Colony by the next Mail to that which conveys
this despatch.

I take this opportunity of forwarding to you for your information
and guidance a copy of a letter from the board of Treasury with its
enclosures relative to the proper auditing of the public accounts and
the custody of the public monies.



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Separate

With reference to your predecessor's Despatch No. 66 of the 3d.
November last I transmit to you herewith the Queen's Warrant for the
appointment of Mr. Charles William Franks to be Colonial Treasurer for
the Colony of British Columbia in the room of Capt. W.D. Gosset, R.E.



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FILE: 1864-06-10_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE13.txt
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Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

The Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury have
had before Them Mr Elliot's letter of the 31st Ultimo
enclosing an Ordinance passed by the Legislative Council of
British Columbia—No 3 of 1864—to apply the sum of £135,639.16.7 out of
the General Revenue of the Colony for the service of the year 1864.

I am to request that you will state to Mr Secretary
Cardwell, with reference to the observations in that letter,
that My Lords would be unwilling to interfere with the Legislation
of the Council of that Colony further than by exercising a general
supervision over proceedings of a financial character for which
Her Majesty's Government may be considered to some extent
responsible until a strictly Representative Assembly is constituted.

Until that form of Institution is created My Lords are of
opinion that the Regulations which have been laid down for the
guidance of the Officers charged with the administration of the
financial affairs of Crown Colonies should be adhered to.

*

At the present occasion the Governor, in forwarding the
Ordinance, appropriating £135,639.16.7 to the service of the
year 1864, has omitted to accompany it with the Estimates of
Revenue—Form A of Instructions of 1848—or the Estimates of
Expenditure—Form B—or with any information in regard to any
increase or decrease of charge in comparison with the Estimates
of the previous year.

My Lords are not prepared, without means of reference to
the usual Returns, to state objections to, or approval of,
the mode in which the Revenue of 1864 has been appropriated
according to the Schedule annexed to the Ordinance, and They
would wish to receive the Estimates in the usual Form and
a Report from the Governor on the subject—together with
such information as may have been laid before the Council
at the time of passing the Ordinance.



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No. 11

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your predecessor's
despatch No. 10 of the 16th of March accompanied by an Ordinance passed
by the Legislature of British Columbia on the 10th of March 1864 and
entitled "No. 7 An Ordinance to authorise a loan of £100,000."

I have laid this Ordinance before The Queen and I am commanded to
acquaint you that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the inhabitants of the
Colony in the usual manner.

I enclose, however, for your information and guidance, an extract of a
letter from the Board of Treasury relative to the expenditure of the
money raised under the Ordinance and to the principle of the reduction
of the sinking fund contemplated in the 13th clause.



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No. 12

I have the honor to transmit to you for your information a copy of
a letter from the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from which it
appears that the Company have sent Dr. Rae to Ruperts Land for the
purpose of ascertaining the most practicable route for an Electric
Telegraph from Red River to the head of Fraser's River; and they are
anxious that he should, while in the country, have an opportunity of
surveying the probable route for a line from the head waters of the
Fraser to New Westminster.

I am desirous that Dr. Rae should receive every assistance in the
prosecution of this undertaking, and I have therefore to request that
you will cause instructions to be issued to the Magistrates or Officials
up the country to enable him to make the requisite examination.



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No. 13

I have received with much satisfaction Sir James Douglas's
despatch marked Separate of the 11th of April last, giving so favorable
an account of the progress of British Columbia.



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Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches of
the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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No. 34, Military

Having succeeded in organizing a small Volunteer Force in this
Colony, I would feel obliged for a copy of any Colonial Volunteer Act
which you may deem most applicable to this Island.



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No. 35

I have the honor to transmit certain papers relative to the
defalcations of Mr G.T. Gordon late Treasurer of this Colony.

It would have been more satisfactory to me if this case had been
finally closed by my Predecessor and it is I think very inexpedient
that it should be longer left open.

You will observe that I brought the matter under the notice of my
Executive Council who decided upon foregoing any further proceedings
for the recovery of the amount of Gordon's defalcations from his
sureties.

On a full consideration of all the information I have been able to
obtain, I concur in this decision, and have therefore directed the
amount to be written off the public accounts as irrecoverable.



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No. 36, Separate

I have the honor to transmit certain Resolutions adopted by the
Legislative Assembly of this Colony with a view to Her Majesty's
Government taking any action in the matter which may be deemed
expedient.



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No. 37

I have the honor to transmit the copy of a memorandum which explains
itself.

My attention was drawn to the fact that a small detached rock upon
which a Lighthouse is built at the entrance of Esquimalt Harbour
(called Fisgard Island) was claimed to be private property and I
therefore instituted an inquiry into the tenure by which it was held
by the government.

It will appear from the accompanying memorandum of the Treasurer that
the sum of £150 was paid to Mr W.A.G. Young, the Colonial Secretary,
by the
Surveyor General on 20th December 1859 "being the purchase
money for Fisgard Island", and that no conveyance to the Government
has been executed.

I cannot ascertain any reason why this money should have been paid
till the conveyance was completed. The Surveyor General informs me
that the money was paid by order of the Colonial Secretary.

Mr Young is now in England and I would recommend that he should be
called upon to execute a legal conveyance of this Island.

I do not know, nor can I discover any record of the basis of this
purchase by the government, but it appears to me questionable that
a bare rock devoid of all verdure beyond low water mark could be
claimed as other than belonging to the Crown. Its intrinsic value is
certainly merely nominal.

Captain Richards R.N., Hydrographer to the Navy can probably afford
information on the subject.



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Knollys to Colonial Office

I am desired by Lieut: General Knollys to inform you that the
accompanying Address of Congratulation having been laid before Their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, he will feel
obliged by your communicating the same to the Mayor of the City of
Victoria.



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FILE: 1864-06-14_Murdoch_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645LN03.txt
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Murdoch to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In compliance with the Oral instructions received from you, we took
the necessary steps for having the Deed of Endowment of Christ Church
in Van Couvers Island duly engrossed and executed by the Hudsons Bay
Co, and by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of
Columbia.

2. We have just received back the Deed from the Bishop, which I
enclose herewith in order that it may be forwarded to the Colony to
be executed by the Governor, after which I presume it will be
delivered over to the Custody of the Bishop, a copy being of course
retained by the Governor.

3. By the 3rd Geo 4th Cap 72 Sec 28 all Deeds made for any of the
purposes of the Church Building Acts are exempt from Stamp duties.
But feeling some doubt whether the present Deed came within the
purview of those Acts we submitted the point to the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue, when it was decided that the Deed was subject to the
ordinary Deed Stamp of £7.15 with the usual progressive Duty. The
proper Stamps have accordingly been affixed, and the Solicitor to the
Bishop has proposed to remit to me the amount.



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No. 14

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Predecessor's
despatch No. 15 of the 5th of April, accompanied by the Blue Book of
British Columbia for the year 1862.



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FILE: 1864-06-15_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647415.txt
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No. 15

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 1
of the 26th of April reporting your arrival at New Westminster and that
you had taken the Oaths of Office as Governor of British Columbia.



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FILE: 1864-06-17_Corbett_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645MI06.txt
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Corbett to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am desired by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue to
request that you will have the goodness to inform me of the
amount of the Salary and emoluments, as Stipendiary Magistrate
in British Columbia, received by Mr Peter O'Reilly, of
the late Revenue Police Force under this Revenue; and whether
such salary and emoluments are paid from Imperial or
Colonial Funds.



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No. 11

I have the honor to request that you will inform the Mayor of
Victoria that General Knollys has received from him, and has laid before
the Prince and Princess of Wales an Address of Congratulation from the
Mayor and Council of Victoria on the Auspicious occasion of the birth of
a son to their Royal Highnesses.

The sentiments of loyalty and of attachment to the Royal Family
contained in this address are very gratifying, and I am convinced that
the Corporation of the City of Victoria could have had no wish to convey
it to it's destination otherwise than in a regular manner. At the same
time, in order to preserve hereafter uniformity in public
correspondence, it is necessary for me to request you to apprize the
Mayor of Victoria that the practice in all the British Colonies is to
transmit such Addresses through the Governor of the Colony to the
Secretary of State.



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No. 16

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 2
of the 26th of April reporting the circumstances under which passages
from Vancouver Island to New Westminster were afforded to yourself, your
private Secretary, and two Servants in Her Majesty's Ship "Forward."

I consider that the expense of these passages should be defrayed
from the public funds of British Columbia, and upon being apprized by
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty of the Amount of the Claim
preferred by Lieutenant Lascelles, I shall authorize the Crown Agents to
pay it from any sum in their hands belonging to the Colony.

It will of course devolve upon you to keep the Agents in funds to
meet this or any other incidental charges of a similar nature.



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No. 17

I have had under my consideration the Ordinance No. 3 of 1864,
enclosed in your Predecessor's Despatch No. 9 of 29th of February

to apply a sum of One hundred and thirty five thousand Six hundred and
thirty nine pounds sixteen shillings and seven pence out of the General
Revenue of the Colony for the service of the year 1864.

I have communicated on the subject with the Lords Commissioners of
the Treasury—But in order to enable their Lordships to form a correct
judgment whether there exist any objections to the mode in which the
Revenue is appropriated according to the Schedule annexed to this
Ordinance, it is necessary that they should possess the Estimates of the
Revenue and Expenditure of British Columbia for the present year,
prepared in the usual form, and accompanied by a Report from yourself,
together with such information as may have been laid before the Council
at the time of the passing of the Ordinance.

Forms marked A and B were transmitted to your Predecessor and have
been in use in the preparation of the annual Estimates since the first
establishment of the Colony in the year 1858. I have to request that
you will supply me with the required information in those forms.



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No. 18

I have received your Predecessor's Despatch No. 18 of the 8th of
April enclosing a letter, with copies of other documents from Mr. J.B.
Gaggin, a Stipendiary Magistrate in British Columbia, complaining of
having been suspended from his Office pending an investigation into the
state of his accounts, and of his ultimate removal from Douglas to
another Station. I do not feel satisfied by these papers of the
propriety of the course taken towards Mr. Gaggin, but I refrain from
expressing any decided opinion until I am in possession of a full report
from you on all the circumstances.

I enclose for your information copies of the several documents
which have reached me. You will be able to call upon Mr. Nind or Mr. Gaggin for any further explanations which you may find to be necessary
for the elucidation of the case.



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No. 38

Referring to my Despatch No 37 dated 14th June I have the honor to
transmit the copy of a Deed of Conveyance of Fisgard Rock executed by
Mr W.A.G. Young on the 14th May 1864, and which was delivered to
the Acting Colonial Secretary on the 21st June only.

I may remark that I had, previously to writing the Despatch before
adverted to, inquired of the Treasurer, Acting Colonial Secretary,
Attorney General, and Surveyor General who respectively disclaimed
all knowledge of the execution or existence of any such Deed and
there was no record of it in the Colonial Secretary's office.

Mr Drake in whose possession the Deed was is a solicitor practising
at Victoria, but is not a salaried officer of the government.

It will be observed that the Surveyor General's name is not attached
to this Deed and if it be deemed necessary I apprehend a fresh Deed
must be executed.



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FILE: 1864-06-21_Munro_to_Secretary_of_State_B646M02.txt
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Munro to Secretary of State

In November last I made application to your Lordship to make an
inquiry regarding the circumstances attending the death of my son
Donald Munro who was found dead on the banks of the Bear River,
Cariboo, British Columbia; and to take possession of any effects
belonging to him. You informed me in reply that you would take the
necessary steps to carry out my request but not having had any
further communication on the subject I think it right to remind you
in the matter in order to [carry out] a full and complete
investigation. I am informed by a friend and companion of the
deceaseds that he had on his person a Gold Watch and I am naturally
most anxious that that article as well as the Tin Cup found at his
side, with the inscription containing the sad record of the manner in
which he met his death, should come into my hands.



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No. 12

I have the honor to transmit to you the Deed of Endorsement of
Christ Church in Victoria Vancouver Island which has been duly executed
by the Hudson's Bay Company, and by His Grace the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Bishop of Columbia.

It is necessary that the Deed should be executed by you, and that
you should deliver it to the Bishop with whom it will rest to effect it's
registration, or any other formalities requisite in Vancouver Island.



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FILE: 1864-06-24_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647213.txt
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No. 13

I have the honor to acquaint you that the Mayor of Victoria,
Vancouver Island, has forwarded an Address from the Corporation
congratulating the Queen upon the birth of a Son to their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and I have to request that
you will inform the Mayor that the Address has been laid before Her
Majesty who was pleased to receive it very graciously.



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No. 14

With reference to your Despatch No. 22 of the 4th ultimo, I have
the honor to request that you will make known to the Inhabitants of
Vancouver Island that their Address congratulating the Queen upon the
birth of a son to the Prince and Princess of Wales has been laid before
Her Majesty who was pleased to receive it very graciously.



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FILE: 1864-06-24_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647215.txt
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No. 15

With reference to your Despatch No. 22 of the 4th ultimo, I have
the honor to request that you will make known to the Inhabitants of
Vancouver Island that their Address of Congratulation to Their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales upon the birth of a Son has
been duly laid before their Royal Highnesses who were much pleased by the
evidence which it affords of their good wishes.



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No. 19

I enclose a copy of a letter from Mr. Donald Munro dated the 21st
Instant, and I have the honor to request that you will inform me whether
on the receipt of my Predecessor's Despatch No. 60 of the 27th of
November last, any enquiries were made respecting the fate of Mr. Donald
Munro junior and with what result.

I have also to request that you will if possible comply with the
wish of Mr. Munro to be placed in possession of his son's watch and the
cup found at his side.



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No. 20

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Predecessor's Despatch
marked Separate of the 13th of April last. I have read with much
satisfaction the address presented to Sir James Douglas by a Deputation
on the close of his Government of British Columbia expressive of their
appreciation of the merits of his public Services, and of the manner in
which he had conducted the Affairs of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-07-01_Birch_to_Cardwell_B64219SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
despatches, of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-07-02_Douglas_to_Cardwell_B646D01.txt
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Douglas to Cardwell

It is with extreme reluctance that I venture to trespass
upon your time with a matter of personal concern; as it is one,
however, which involves a question of right, I think it only
proper, that I should bring the subject fairly and frankly under
your notice.

The matter I allude to is connected with the appointment
which I lately had the honour of holding as Governor of British
Columbia. When the offer of that appointment was made to me by
the right Honourable Sir Edward Lytton in his Despatch No 3 of
the 16th July 1858 it was accompanied by one imperative
stipulation—which was, that I should relinquish the whole of
my interests in the Hudsons Bay and Puget Sound Companies, and
subject to that condition I was assured of the appointment, and
that I should hold the office for "6 years at least," provided always,
that my administration of the office continued to meet the approval
of Her Majesty's Government.

On these terms, involving I would observe, the sacrifice of
many personal interests, I agreed to accept the appointment and,
on my part, I have carefully, complied, in every particular, with
the terms of that agreement.

Her Majestys commission containing my appointment as Governor
of British Columbia is dated, if my memory be not in fault, on
the 2d day of September 1858, and, strictly speaking is not
terminable before the 2d day of Septmember 1864.

In consequence however of the appointment of my successor at
an earlier date, I ceased, altogether, to draw my salary as Governor
of the Colony, from the 12th day of April 1864.

After the honours that Her Majesty has been pleased to confer
upon me and the many kind and gratifying marks of approval which
I have, from time to time, received from Her Majesty's Government,
I cannot suppose that my premature removal from the office arose
out of any feeling of dissatisfaction with my public administration,
and I would appeal to the several Memorials, forwarded, since the
middle of last year, through me, to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle,
as a proof that there exists a very general impression, both among
the people of Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, that my
administration has been entirely successful, in maintaining the
honour and dignity, of the Crown, and in furthering the best
interests of these important Colonies.

The Claim which I now
submit, is simply what the justice of the case appears to call for,
that is to say, that an allowance may be made to me equal to the sum
that would accrue from my official salary, of £3000 per anm,
for the interval (about 4 2/3 months) extending from the 12th
April, to the 2d of September 1864; being the unexpired term of
the six years, for which I was originally appointed.

I may add as a reason for pressing this claim that I have
incurred very heavy expenses through my official position, and, the
very unusual circumstance of my holding Her Majesty's Commission for
two separate and distinct Governments, and having necessarily to
entertain in two Colonies instead of one—expenses, I may observe,
which are greatly in excess of my official Income.



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No. 16

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch marked
"Separate" of the 13th of May with its enclosures, reporting the
massacre in British Columbia of a party of White men by the Chilcoaten
Indians.

I have read with much concern the accounts of this lamentable
event, and I beg to thank you for having communicated to me the tidings
by the first opportunity.



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No. 17

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 23
of the 15th of May, enclosing a copy of a letter addressed to Mr. Young
by Sir James Douglas, granting that gentleman leave of absence for 12
months.

I have also received your Predecessor's Despatch marked Separate of
the 14th of March, informing that this leave had been granted to the
Colonial Secretary with the concurrence of the Executive Council, but
before conveying to you my final approval of this step, I should wish to
know whether the absence of Mr. Young from his duties, for the whole
period for which the leave has been granted, would subject you to any
serious inconvenience.



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No. 39

1. It is unnecessary for me to preface this communication by
detailing the very great importance of an efficient Police Force in
this as in other portions of Her Majesty's Dominions.

2. The necessity for such a force sufficient in number and efficient
in organization becomes still more important in this Colony where
there are no regular Troops.

3. I find that the whole Police Force in this Island consists of
eight Constables, two Serjeants, and one Superintendent who are
stationed and employed in the City of Victoria.

4. There are neither Police nor Magistrates in the outlying
Districts, with the exception of Nanaimo where there is one paid
Magistrate and an insufficient allowance for one constable.

5. It is needless for me to enlarge upon the inevitable consequences
of this state of things—drunkenness, and violations of the Law,
endangering the lives and property of the citizens and settlers.

6. The men obtainable for the Police Force in this colony are of a
most undesirable class and hence constant changes are occurring in
the Force by the introduction of new and untrained men who are of
little use and frequently compromise its character.

7. With a view to remedy this evil I am desirous of obtaining some
trained men from the Irish Police, or men who have retired on pension
from that Force.

8. Some of these men, were on my application sent to Western
Australia some years ago and acquitted themselves very creditably.

9. The inducements I can offer to such men to take service in this
colony are as follow: The pay for constables is one dollar and a
quarter per day, with clothing, namely, coat, trousers, hat. If they
live in barracks they have a cook found them, with fuel and soap.
Serjeants receive one dollar and three quarters per day.

10. Their duties would be principally confined to the City of
Victoria.

11. The climate is equal to that of the South of Ireland, and public
lands are obtainable for one dollar per acre with a highly
remunerative price for produce.

12. The Colony will bear the expense of the passage of the men, (but
not that of their families) on condition of their entering into bonds
with the Agent General that they will refund the amount of passage
money so paid in the event of their quitting the service or being
dismissed for misconduct, within a period of two years after arrival.

13. I will further authorize the Agent General to defray the cost of
passage for the
families of such men on condition of their entering into bonds
for the repayment of such advances by quarterly payments of one sixth
of the sum so advanced to be deducted from their pay.

14. The number of men immediately required would be six and they may
be sent as soon as arrangements can be completed by the Agent
General.

15. I need hardly impress upon the Officer entrusted with the
selection of the men that steadiness and good character are all
important requisites. Their duties will be light compared with those
they have been trained to, and it will be my desire to make their
position comfortable and respectable.

16. I would wish two of the six men to be selected if possible from
the mounted branch of the Police.



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No. 40, Separate

1. I have the honor to transmit the Blue Book of Vancouver Island
for the year 1863 being the first that has ever been compiled for
this Colony.

2. I received this Book from the Colonial Secretary a few days
before his departure from the Colony in the middle of May, and a
pressure of business has prevented me from verifying its contents
until now.

3. It is not my intention to offer any lengthened comments upon
tables and statistics which I do not think very reliable, and, this
being the first Blue Book of Vancouver Island, there are no
comparisons to make.

4. I must, however, offer some observations with a view to correct
erroneous statements which have been placed before Her Majesty's
Government in reference to the finance and taxation of this colony.

5. It has been stated authoritatively that this Island is
"overburdened" by taxation. I will therefore recapitulate the taxes
levied.

Real Estate Tax which produced in 1863 £8854

Trade Licences 3687

Liquor Licences 4914

Harbour Dues 3563

The details and rates of these taxes will be found at pages 1 and
2 of the Blue Book.

6. The Ports of the Island are
free, and there are no import or export duties of any kind.

7. The Real Estate Tax of one per cent per annum upon the assessed
market value of all real estate is that which has been dwelt upon as
most oppressive and "burdensome".

8. I have no intention of discussing the policy of this Tax, but it
can hardly be considered "burdensome" when compared with the tax for
selling liquors (I think
too low) which realized £4914, or more than
half that paid by the whole real estate of the Colony.

9. When the amount raised by Trade Licenses, £3687 (including
various professions and callings) is compared with the value of
Imports, I think it will be apparent that the commercial interest is
not overburdened with taxes.

10. I believe the following may be taken as a nearly correct value
of the imports:

*

1861 1862 1863

$2,018,424 $2,550,242 $3,860,430

£ 416,299 £ 525,987 £ 796,213

11. There being no import duties the bulk of the population escape
taxation in any form whatever, while the merchants and traders pay a
tax of £3687 for Trades Licenses being less than one half per cent
upon their sales.

12. There has been a net increase of Revenue including loans in 1863
as compared with 1862, of £26,343, while there has been an increase
of expenditure of £22,689.

13. The state of the Roads and land communication is very defective
though an expenditure of £18,000 has been incurred in 1862 and 1863
and a large outlay voted for the current year. The law and practice
in connection with this important subject stand greatly in need of
amendment and will occupy my immediate attention.

14. The same may be said in reference to the survey, sale, leasing
and general management of Public Lands.

15. A project for dredging and deepening the Harbour of Victoria has
been entered upon, I think unadvisedly, and without sufficient data,
which will I fear result in the useless expenditure of a large sum of
money.

16. The population are orderly loyal, and prosperous. Pauperism is
unknown.

17. The condition of the Indian population is very lamentable.
Drunkenness and prostitution being the prevailing and prominent
characteristics. I refrain from further notice of this matter which
will be made the subject of a separate Despatch at an early period.

18. The capability of this Colony to support a population has been
much discussed, and very opposite views expressed. There is in my
opinion sufficient agricultural land of fine quality to support a
million of people and the climate is unexceptionable and most
salubrious.

19. Expensive and defective postal and other communication are the
great bar to progress, and reflect but little credit upon two great
nations, England and America. A "Times" newspaper costs fourpence
postage, and that for a book is entirely prohibitory.

20. It is surprising how little is known of the resources and
interior of this Island. Loose assertion and surmise have been
accepted in lieu of accurate examination or survey. To remedy this
great want I have recently despatched an exploring party under an
intelligent leader, liberally supported by private subscription in
aid of the Government expenditure. The first report from this party
is highly encouraging.

21. I can see nothing to retard the steady progress and prosperity
of this Island if the colonists are prudent and true to themselves.



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FILE: 1864-07-07_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64141.txt
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No. 41, Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-07-07_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64142.txt
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No. 42, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit herewith a Requisition with which I beg
to request the Crown Agents for the Colonies may be instructed to
comply.



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FILE: 1864-07-07_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64143.txt
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No. 43, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit the Newspapers and Government Gazette as
enumerated in the margin

*

for the Quarter ended 30th June 1864.

**



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FILE: 1864-07-07_Sargeaunt_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645AG05.txt
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Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

In reply to the enquiry contained in the last paragraph
of your letter of the 3rd ultimo I have the honor to
acquaint you for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell
that the amount overpaid on account of the Government of
British Columbia on the 30th June was £1289.9.6, but
that the Crown Agents have received from the Colony a Bill
for £6200 which matures on the 30th proximo.



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FILE: 1864-07-11_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647218.txt
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No. 18

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 24 of the
12th of May, in which you press for an early decision on the question of
the appointment of a successor to the present Chief Justice.

You will have received my Despatch No. 4 of the 12th of May, to
which I beg to refer you as containing the answer to your present
communication.



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No. 19

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 25
of the 13th of May, relative to certain fees paid to the Attorney
General of Vancouver Island.

There can be no doubt that a Colonial Attorney General is,
generally speaking, not at liberty to charge the Government for his
services, but before pronouncing any opinion on Mr. Carey's [Cary's]
case, I should be glad if you would request him to explain on what
grounds, being a salaried Officer, he advanced a charge for particular
services.



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No. 20

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 10
of the 14th of March, enclosing, among other Acts, an Act entitled
 An Act to grant the right to construct a Telegraph Line
connecting Victoria with the Telegraph System of the United States and
for other purposes.

On the subject of this Act I have only to refer you to my Despatch
to Governor Seymour of the 1st of June last (copy of which was forwarded
to you by the Mail of that day) as conveying the views of Her Majesty's
Government.



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FILE: 1864-07-11_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE14.txt
================================================================================

Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to transmit to you herewith, for the information of
Mr Secretary Cardwell, a copy of a Report, No 217, from
the Commissioners of Audit dated 23rd Ultimo, with copy
of the reply which My Lords have addressed to the Commissioners
relating to expenditure on Roads in British Columbia, and to
the money borrowed by Debentures and Road Bonds to cover that
expenditure during the year 1862.

I am, at the same time, to transmit to you the enclosed
statement of payments not provided for in the estimates for
the year, and to request that you will move Mr Secretary
Cardwell to inform My Lords whether he sees any objection to
the admission of the charges enumerated in that statement;
My Lords would suggest that the Governor of British Columbia
should be instructed to prepare at the end of each year,
Supplementary Estimates of all expenditure not covered by
the original Estimate of the year, and to submit the same,
as soon as convenient at the commencement of the following
year, to the Legislative Council with an Ordinance to
authorize the appropriation of the amount required to cover
the excess over the original estimates.



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FILE: 1864-07-13_Helps_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645CO01.txt
================================================================================

Helps to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by the Lord President of the Council to transmit to you
the enclosed Order of Her Majesty in Council, of the 9th inst.,
leaving to their operation three Acts passed, in December and March
last, by the Legislature of Vancouver Island; and I am to request
that you will be pleased to lay the same before the Secretary of
State for the Colonial Department.



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FILE: 1864-07-13_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64144.txt
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No. 44, Legislative

I have the honor to enclose for your information a copy of my Address
on proroguing the Legislature of this colony on the 8th of July.



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FILE: 1864-07-13_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64145.txt
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No. 45, Financial

Referring to your Despatch No 2 dated 30th April 1864, I have the
honor to enclose a copy of communications which have passed between
the House of Assembly, the Legislative Council and myself, together
with a letter from the Treasurer on the same subject.

I cannot but concur in the popular belief that the Resolutions which
have given rise to this correspondence were hurried through the House
by a few influential persons on the eve of my arrival in the Colony
for the purpose of embarrassing my administration.

The prompt and judicious reply conveyed in your Despatch No 2, 30th
April 1864, supported by the public opinion of the colony, has
entirely discredited the authors of this proceeding, and I entertain
little doubt that the question of a "Civil List" will be met in a
becoming spirit on the re-assembling of the Legislature which will be
necessary at an early period.

I trust that you will approve of the course I have adopted in paying
the public officers under the vote of indemnity passed by the House.
Had I declined to do so, the public service must have fallen into
serious confusion, as you will observe by the tenor of the
Treasurer's letter that he had no funds other than Crown Revenue in
his hands to meet current liabilities.

It is now obvious that the Resolutions contained misstatements which
ought not to have been transmitted to the Secretary of State
unchallenged.



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FILE: 1864-07-14_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64146.txt
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No. 46, Legislative

I have the honor to submit an Act respecting Barristers and Attorneys
at Law passed by the Legislature of this Colony on which I have
reserved my Assent in consequence of the advice of the Attorney
General whose observations on this Act I enclose.

This Act passed both branches of the Legislature, and my individual
opinion is in favour of its becoming Law.

I do not feel justified in setting aside the advice of the Attorney
General without a higher opinion which I have no means of obtaining
here.

I would therefore beg that I may be aided by the opinion of the Law
Officers of the Crown as to whether they think Mr Attorney General
Carey's objections are sufficiently weighty to justify me in
refusing assent to this Bill.

I would beg for this opinion at as early a period as possible.



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FILE: 1864-07-16_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647421.txt
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No. 21

By my Despatch No. 11 of the 11th June you will have learned that
Her Majesty had been pleased to allow and confirm the Ordinance passed
by the Legislature of British Columbia on the 10th of March 1864,
intituled No. 7 An Ordinance to authorize a Loan of One hundred thousand
pounds (£100,000).

I am aware of the necessity under which your Government labours of
endeavouring to borrow money in England speedily in order to be relieved
from the heavy interest at which in the meantime it has been obliged to
raise money in the Colony. I have therefore consulted on the subject
with the Crown Agents for the Colonies, but I regret to inform you that
the present state of the Money Market is so unfavorable that any
immediate attempt to raise the loan would be attended with extreme
difficulty, and could only succeed upon terms of unusual disadvantage.

Under these circumstances, I have been unable to do more at present
that to instruct the Crown Agents to raise the money at such times and
in such portions as they may find compatible with the state of the
Money Market and with the interests of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-07-16_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647422.txt
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No. 22

I have the honor to acknowledge your Despatch No. 4 of the 7th of
May, forwarding copies of congratulatory Addresses presented to you on
your arrival in British Columbia.

I have perused with much satisfaction these evidences of the good
feeling with which you have been received in the Colony, and I approve
of the answers which you have returned to them.



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FILE: 1864-07-16_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647423.txt
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No. 23

I have just seen a private letter received by one of my Under
Secretaries from you this day, which you addressed to him in the
impossibility of preparing an Official Despatch under the circumstances
in which you wrote. You allude to the massacre of a party of road
makers by the Chilicoten Indians, and describe the difficulty of
capturing the Offenders or of giving some effectual discouragement to a
repetition of such acts.

I have acquainted the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty with the
state of affairs reported in your letter, and have requested that such
measures as they consider expedient may be taken for affording you the
support and protection you desire.

At the same time it is necessary for me, while deeply regretting the
melancholy loss of life which has occurred, and the probable disastrous
consequences, to draw your serious attention to the great importance of
moderating by every means in your power the spirit of retaliation to
which such events too naturally give rise, and of confining within the
limits of justice and of sound policy, the measures of chastisement to
which you may find it necessary to have recourse. Those measures must
be guided solely by a sense of justice, and a desire to re-establish
peace and order upon a permanent basis.
I should deprecate nothing so
much as the breaking out of a War which you justly say would be very
costly, and which might lead to prolonged feelings of animosity between
the two races, that could be productive of nothing but evil and danger.



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FILE: 1864-07-18_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647221.txt
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No. 21

I have received and have had under my consideration the Acts
numbered 86, 87, 91 passed by the Legislature of Vancouver Island in the
months of December and March last, and transmitted to me in you despatch
noted in the Margin.

*

I have reported to Her Majesty in Council my opinion that the said
Acts should be left to their operation; and I have the honour to
transmit to you herewith an Order of Her Majesty in Council dated the
9th instant approving that Report.



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FILE: 1864-07-18_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647424.txt
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No. 24

I have the honor to acquaint you that the Crown Agents for the
Colonies have been authorised to comply with the Requisition for Stores
for the Assay Department forwarded by your Predecessor on the 11th of
April last.

The Agents have reported the receipt of a Bill for £6,200 which matures on the 30th of next month, from
the proceeds of which the cost of the Stores will be defrayed.



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FILE: 1864-07-18_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD02.txt
================================================================================

Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to Mr Elliot's Letter of the 18th
Inst, enclosing a Copy of a Letter from the Governor of
British Columbia relative to the Massacre of a Party of
Roadmakers by Indians, and requesting that suitable
support and protection may be afforded by the Naval Forces
to the Governor; I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty to send you herewith, for the information
of Mr Secretary Cardwell, a Copy of the Instructions on
this subject sent to the Senior Officer of Her Majesty's
Ships at Esquimalt by the Mail of the 16th Inst.

My Lords observe that Governor Seymour in his Letter uses
the expression "I dispatched a Gun Boat &c," but they hope
that the expression has been used inadvertently and that it
is not intended to imply that he has any authority over
Her Majesty's Naval Officers.



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FILE: 1864-07-19_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647425.txt
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No. 25

I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter
from the Board of Treasury accompanied by a report from the
Commissioners of Audit which exhibits under different heads the excess
of the actual over the estimated expenditure of British Columbia for the
year 1862.

I feel confident that you will use your best endeavours to bring
the accounts of the Colony into a satisfactory condition, and in
furtherance of that object I have to request that you will cause to be
prepared at the end of each year supplementary Estimates of all
Expenditure not covered by the original Estimates for the year, and that
you will submit these Estimates as soon as convenient in the following
year to the Legislative Council together with an Ordinance to authorize
the appropriation of the amount required to cover the excess over the
original Estimates.

With reference to the present account received from the
Commissioners of Audit I have to request that you will report upon the
items, in order that I may be in a position to judge whether I may
properly recommend to the Lords Commissoners of the Treasury that they
should be allowed.



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FILE: 1864-07-19_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645TE01.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of 18th Ultimo, I am commanded by the
Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you
herewith 6 copies of the Instructions of 1847, to Governors of
Colonies for keeping accounts of Colonial Revenue and Expenditure,
which have been asked for by the Governor of Vancouver's Island.

I am at the same time desired to transmit to you the enclosed copy of
a Report from the Commissioners of Audit, No 283, of 12th Instant,
with copy of the Regulations of 1839 and of the Form of Certificate
referred to in Articles 302 and 312 of the Colonial Regulations,
Edition of 1856, relating to the Custody of Public Moneys in the
Colonies, and I am to request that you will move Mr Secretary
Cardwell to communicate these several documents to the Governor of
Vancouver's Island, together with the Instructions of 1847.



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FILE: 1864-07-19_Partington_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645WA01.txt
================================================================================

Partington to Under-Secretary of State

With reference to your letter of the 7th Instant on the subject of
providing defences for the Colony of British Columbia, I am directed
by Earl de Grey and Ripon to request that you will favour him with
three copies of the Maps (large scale) of that Colony, which, as he
is informed, have been sent home by the Surveyor General of
Vancouver's Island.

The maps are required to enable due consideration to be given to the
Subject in question.



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FILE: 1864-07-22_Booth_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645TA02.txt
================================================================================

Booth to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for
Trade to request that you will inform Mr Secretary Cardwell that My
Lords have had under their consideration the Act of the Legislature
of Vancouver Island passed in March last and intituled No 89 "An Act
to establish Pilots for the Port of Victoria and for other purposes
relating thereto", with the Extract of observations thereon of the
Attorney General of that Colony which were enclosed with your letter
of the 16th of this month.

My Lords observe that the Act appears to make it compulsory on some
vessels bound inward to the Port of Victoria in that Island to
employ a pilot or pay the half pilotage rate.

This provision having been considered by the Colonial Authorities
desirable for shipping in the present circumstances of the Port My
Lords do not now see in it or in any other provision in the Act reason
why the Act may not properly be submitted for the sanction of Her
Majesty.

At the same time I am to suggest for the consideration of Mr
Cardwell that it might be well that the attention of the Governor of
the Colony should be directed with a view to future legislation to
the provisions relating to Pilotage contained in the Acts of the
Imperial Parliament, 17 & 18 Vic: C 104 and 25 & 26 V. C 63 and
more particularly to those which enable Pilotage Authorities to
extend exemptions from compulsory pilotage to reduce Pilotage rates
and to authorise Masters and Mates when found competent to pilot the
vessels to which they belong in waters where pilotage is compulsory.



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FILE: 1864-07-22_Douglas_to_Cardwell_B646D02.txt
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Douglas to Cardwell

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of Mr Fortescue's
Despatch of the 4h Instant, conveying your request that I will,
for the reasons stated, formally resign the Vice-Admirals Commission
issued to me on my appointment to my late Government of British
Columbia.

In compliance with such requirement I therefore, beg to tender
 my resignation of the Office of Vice Admiral of the Colony of British
 Columbia and its Dependencies, and I hereby resign all powers,
rights, or privileges conferred on me or entrusted to me by such
Commission issued to me as aforesaid, save and except in so far as
relates to any act or thing heretofore done by virture of the said
office.

The Commission itself I have left behind me in British
 Columbia but if it be required, I can return it from thence so soon as
may be practicable.



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FILE: 1864-07-22_Douglas_to_Cardwell_V646D01.txt
================================================================================

Douglas to Cardwell

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of Mr Fortescue's Despatch
of the 4h Instant, conveying your request that I will, for the
reasons stated, formally resign the Vice-Admirals Commission issued
to me on my appointment to my late Government of Vancouver's Island.

In compliance with such requirement I beg to tender my resignation of
the Office of Vice Admiral of the Colony of Vancouver's Island and
its Dependencies, and I hereby resign all powers, rights, or
privileges conferred on me or entrusted to me by such Commission
issued to me as aforesaid, save and except in so far as relates to
any act or thing heretofore done by virtue of the said office.

The Commission itself I have left behind me in Vancouver's Island,
but, if it be required, I will cause it to be returned from thence
so soon as may be practicable.



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FILE: 1864-07-22_Hammond_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645FO05.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by Earl Russell to state to you that His Lordships
referred to the Law Officers of the Crown your letter of the 18th
Ultimo and its inclosure as well as a Despatch which had been
received from Her Majesty's Consul at San Francisco, respecting the
seven men who were arrested on suspicion of being implicated in a
plot to seize one of the Vessels of the Panama Line of Steamers, and
I am now to transmit to you, to be laid before Mr Secretary
Cardwell, a copy of the report which has been received from the Law
Officers upon this case.



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FILE: 1864-07-23_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647222.txt
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No. 22

In compliance with the request expressed in your Despatch No. 14 of
the 15th of April I have the honor to transmit to you six copies of the
Instructions of 1847 to Governors of Colonies for keeping accounts of
the Colonial Revenue and Expenditure, together with four copies of the
Colonial Regulations, and a copy of the Colonial Office List in which
those Regulations are to be found.

I also enclose a copy of the detailed Regulations of 1839, with a
form of Certificate relating to the custody of public money in the
Colonies.



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FILE: 1864-07-25_Pollock_to_Cardwell_B646P01.txt
================================================================================

Pollock to Cardwell

In reading the inclosed Massacre of Scotch Settlers by Indians
in British Columbia and finding the name of my son Robert Pollock
among the slain I fear he is one of the Number. He left this in
August 1853 along with a Mr John Smith and Family to South Astralia
[Australia] he being then 16 years of age, and was with them 2 years
when he left for the Gold Diggings. We heard of him being on several
of the gold fields in South Astralia but not from himself untill last
Feby I received a letter from him Dated 2nd December 1863
Victoria Vancouver Island—in it he stated that he wrote me last
April that he was going to the Cariboo Mines and expected an answer
from Me when he came down in the fall, the letter not Coming to Land,
he did not receive the expected answer. He then wrote the letter
mentioned, which I answered on the 16th of Feby last and was
expecting an answer from him about this time.

I having no person there to apply to I ask this favour at your
hand as Secretary to the Colonies if in your power to furnish me with
any further information about the matter.



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FILE: 1864-07-25_Sargeaunt_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645AG06.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have received by the last Mail from British Columbia, the
enclosed Requisition for Stationery &c from the Colonial
Secretary of that Colony, copy of whose letter is herewith
annexed, and have the honor to request that you will be so
good as to move Mr Secretary Cardwell to authorize the Crown
agents to provide the articles in question at the following
cost, vizt

Stationery from Messrs De la Rue & Co
£98. 4.3

Paper for Printing Department from Ditto
67. 0.0

2 Seals from Messrs Warrington
7.15.0

£172.19.3



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FILE: 1864-07-26_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647223.txt
================================================================================

No. 23

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 33
of the 4th of June, and to request that you will inform Mr. Nicholles,
whose letter you enclose, that I have duly received his communication.



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FILE: 1864-07-27_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647224.txt
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No. 24

With reference to the Duke of Newcastle's Circular of the 30th of
April 1863 and to your Predecessor's reply of the 21st of July
following, I have the honor to request that you will secure, as far as
you are able, the extension to Vancouver Island of the Regulation
prohibiting Government Officers from any concern in the management of
any Bank, Railroad or other Commercial undertaking.



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FILE: 1864-07-27_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647426.txt
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No. 26

With reference to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle's circular of the
30th of April 1863 and to your Predecessor's reply of the 21st of July
following, I have the honor to request that you will take steps for the
extension to British Columbia of the Regulation prohibiting Government
Officers from any concern in any Bank, Railroad or other Commercial
undertaking.



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FILE: 1864-07-27_Julyan_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645AG07.txt
================================================================================

Julyan to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 16th Inst, relative to the negotiation of the Loan
authorized by the British Columbia Loan Ordinance of the 10th
 March 1864, amounting to £100,000, and conveying to the Crown
Agents for the Colonies Mr Secretary Cardwell's authority for
their proceeding to raise this Loan in such portions and at such
times as they may find compatible with the state of the Money
Market, and with the interests of the Colony.

In reply I beg to inform you, for Mr Cardwell's information,
that although the Crown Agents have received instructions from
the Colonial Government to place one half the amount on the
market forthwith, and they have furthermore reason to believe
that the money is urgently wanted, yet they are so strongly
convinced that it would be prejudicial to the interests of the
Colony to attempt to place their Debentures on the market just
now, that they propose to abstain from making any such attempt
until there shall appear to be some reasonable prospect of success.

The high price of money, and the attraction of capital to
the great Financial and Banking Companies which are daily brought
before the public, coupled with the strong indications given
by the Press and by Parliament of a desire for a change in the
Colonial policy of this Country, have had the effect of
seriously depreciating Colonial Government Securities, and
have rendered it impossible, at the present moment, to
negotiate a loan of any considerable amount unless at a great sacrifice.

The Crown Agents will at once make all the preliminary
preparations for raising the Loan, so as to be ready to
take advantage of the first favorable turn in the Markets;
but they propose with Mr Cardwell's Sanction to allow
the matter to stand over until that time arrives.



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FILE: 1864-07-28_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647427.txt
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No. 27

I have to request that you will furnish me with three or four
copies of the latest and most authentic map of British Columbia; the
only one in the possession of this Department was compiled under the
directions of Colonel Moody in the year 1862, a single copy of which was
forwarded to the Secretary of State.



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FILE: 1864-07-29_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647225.txt
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No. 25

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch marked
Separate of the 23rd of April enclosing a Memorial addressed to you by
certain British Subjects complaining of their arrest and detention at
San Francisco by the Authorities at that place.

I have to acquaint you that Her Majesty's Government having
considered the circumstances of this case do not think it desirable to
interfere.



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FILE: 1864-07-30_Birch_to_Cardwell_B64219SQ.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
despatches, of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-07-30_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64147.txt
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No. 47

Impressed with the singular ignorance of the resources of the
interior of this Island, which prevailed on my assuming Office, I
felt the great necessity of some organized system of exploration.

In the then existing temper of the Legislative Assembly, and their
opinion recorded in Resolutions transmitted by my Predecessor that the
Crown Lands were "valueless," I was unwilling to apply to the
Legislature for funds to carry out my views.

In this juncture I found some public spirited Gentlemen connected
with the trade and commerce of the Colony willing to aid me in this
matter on my undertaking to contribute two dollars from Crown
Revenue, for every one which was raised by public subscription.

A Committee was formed, subscriptions raised, and a party organized
and despatched on the 8th June last.

It is not my intention in this hastily written Despatch to go into
details. I may, however, state generally that although a portion
only of the south Eastern part of the Island has been examined, the
results have been very satisfactory, and a considerable quantity of
good agricultural land discovered abounding with game and many
fur-bearing animals. I will at a later period furnish you with a
detailed account of the proceedings of the exploring party.

My object in at present addressing you is to give the earliest
information of alleged gold discoveries
in the Sooke River District about 20 miles to the Westward of
Victoria, and with this view I enclose a copy of the Report of the
leader of the exploring party, Mr Robert Brown, a gentleman in whose
intelligence and veracity I have every reliance.

A considerable number of people have already left Victoria for the
Sooke District. I have sent an Acting Gold Commissioner, and issued
such Rules and Regulations as are necessary for the present to insure
order and protect the public interests.

The District where these alleged discoveries have been made is
unsurveyed and unoccupied, and I have therefore marked it on the
Maps, and notified it as a Crown Reserve to be dealt with as may be
hereafter found expedient.

I may observe that a yield of one quarter of that obtained at Cariboo
would be more profitable to the miners at Sooke, owing to its
proximity to this City, the cheapness of provisions as compared with
the prices at other diggings and the easy access by land and by
water.

I will keep you informed of any further discoveries which may be
made.



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FILE: 1864-07-30_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64148.txt
================================================================================

No. 48, Legislative

1. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches
named in the margin relative to certain Bills passing or passed by
the Legislatures of British Columbia and Vancouver Island granting
certain exclusive privileges to an American Telegraph company who are
about to construct a line from San Francisco.

2. In reply thereto I have now the honor to transmit copies of two
Acts passed by the Legislature of this Colony bearing upon this
subject.

3. The former of these you will observe received the Assent of my
Predecessor and was transmitted a few days previous to my arrival in
this colony, and the latter

*

which was assented to by me prior to the receipt of your Despatches,
does not contain any clause of the objectionable nature to which you
direct my attention.

4. I will immediately communicate with the President of the
California State Telegraph Company and inform him that it is not
probable that the exclusive privileges granted to the Company in the
5th section of the Act (a copy of which I now enclose) will receive
Her Majesty's confirmation, this Act having been passed, not only in
ignorance, but in violation of the policy of the Imperial Government
which is opposed to the grant of any monopoly of telegraphic
communication.

5. I will also bring this Act under the notice of the Legislative
Assembly of this Colony at an early period with a view to its repeal
or modification.



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FILE: 1864-07-30_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD03.txt
================================================================================

Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to send you, herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, an extract from a Letter of the 4th Ultimo,
No 67, from Vice Admiral Kingcome, reporting an unsuccessful
attempt having been made by the Gun Boat "Forward," in conjunction
with Governor Seymour, to discover the Murderers of 24 Men employed
in making a Road from Bute Inlet and the North Bentinck Arm, to Cariboo.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Birch_to_Cardwell_B64220.txt
================================================================================

No. 20

I have the honor to enclose, herewith, the Returns required
by Instructions contained in the Book of "Colonial Regulations,"
relating to the Revenue and Expenditure of this Colony during
the quarters ended the 31st December 1863, and the 31st
March 1864, also, during the Year 1863.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647226.txt
================================================================================

No. 26

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 27
of the 20th of May reporting that, subject to the approval of the
Secretary of State you authorized Mr. Watson, the Colonial Treasurer, to
draw his Salary at the rate of Six hundred pounds (£600) a year.

I regret that I am unable to sanction the increase of Mr. Watson's,
or of any other Salary without sufficient security that funds, not
merely arising from accumulated balances, but from the Revenue annually
accruing to the Crown or the Colonial Treasury will be forthcoming to
meet the charges which would be thus created.



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FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647227.txt
================================================================================

No. 27

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No.
32 of the 4th of June in which you enquire whether the practice of not
sending home the public accounts for audit in this Country has been
sanctioned by the Secretary of State.

In reply I have to acquaint you that the accounts of the General
Revenue in a Colony possessing Representative Institutions, like
Vancouver Island, are not subjected to Audit in this Country, but that
the Crown Revenue, that is to say, the monies derived from the disposal
of lands, and other sources not under the control of the Assembly ought
to have been so audited.

In case therefore it should appear probable that the Assembly will
not take over the Crown Revenue on the terms offered by the Duke of
Newcastle, steps should be at once taken for placing this Audit
upon a proper footing prospectively: submitting annual statements
of Estimates and Accounts similar to those furnished in Crown Colonies,
as provided by the 10 Chap: Sec. II of the Colonial Regulations.

In any case, however, a statement of the past Receipts and
Expenditure of the Crown fund should be compiled and sent to the
Secretary of State.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647228.txt
================================================================================

No. 28

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches Nos.
28 and 29 of the 4th of June, and in conveying to you my approval of the
appointment of Mr. Henry Wakeford to discharge the duties of Colonial
Secretary during Mr. Young's absence, I have to acquaint you that I
consider that Mr. Wakeford may continue to draw his half Salary from
Western Australia, notwithstanding his acceptance on half salary of the
acting appointment of Colonial Secretary of Vancouver Island.

Mr. Wakeford must of course understand that this temporary
employment does not give him any claim to succeed to any Office in the
appointment of the Secretary of State.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647229.txt
================================================================================

No. 29

Since addressing to you my Despatch No. 16 of the 4th of July I
have received further accounts of the lamentable massacre to which that
Despatch relates, and I find one point on which I am desirous of
receiving some explanation from you.

It appears that when the intelligence of these murders was received
in Victoria, it was also known that a road party had been sent out to
British Columbia, whose course was likely to bring them into contact
with the Indians who had murdered their comrades.

I should be glad to learn what steps, if any, were taken by the
Government or by Mr. Waddington or his Agents to provide either directly
or through Governor Seymour for the safety of the road party.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647428.txt
================================================================================

No. 28

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 6
of the 19th of May reporting the circumstances under which you had
granted Mr. Trutch, the Surveyor General leave of absence to proceed to
this Country, and had placed Captain Holmes in charge of the Survey
Department.

I have to acquaint you that I see no reason to object to the course
which you found yourself obliged to take in this matter.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647429.txt
================================================================================

No. 29

With reference to my Despatch No. 21 of the 16th ultimo I have the
honor to transmit to you a copy of a letter from the Crown Agents
stating the grounds on which they have been compelled to postpone for
the present any attempt to raise the British Columbia Loan authorised by
the Ordinance of the 10th of March last.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647430.txt
================================================================================

No. 30

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches Nos.
7 and 8 of the 20th of May relating to the massacre by Indians of a road
party in Bute Inlet and your plans for the detection and punishment of
the murderers, and I have received the tidings of these murders with deep
regret.

I have noticed with especial satisfaction your anxiety to give your
proceedings a strictly legal character, and your refusal of offers of
assistance made from beyond the Colony, which might have impressed a
different character on your proceedings. I rejoice to see that you are fully alive to the consequences which
an Indian War would entail upon the Colony and I trust that you will be
especially careful not to take any measures which may convert an
isolated outrage perpetrated by a band of murderers into a tribal War.

I am sensible of the expense which is thrown upon the Colony by the
operations which you report, but I would observe that they are
undertaken exclusively in the interest of the Colony, and that the
expense is in a great measure due to the high rate of profits which the
Colonists are realizing and therefore can hardly be viewed as any matter
of complaint.

I enclose a copy of a letter from this Department to the Admiralty
relative to Naval assistance and to an expression which you used, I
believe inadvertently, in one of your semi-official letters which was
brought under the notice of their Lordships. I trust that nothing will
occur to interfere with the cordial co-operation which ought to subsist
between yourself and the Admiral on the Station.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-01_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64149.txt
================================================================================

No. 49

1. I have the honor to transmit two letters dated June 7th and 8th
1864 addressed to me by Mr Nagle formerly Harbour Master at
Victoria.

2. I find on reference to the Despatch Book of my Predecessor that
he reported Mr Nagle's dismissal in a Despatch No 67 dated 25th
October 1861.

3. I was wholly ignorant of this matter being left open and
unadjusted till I received Mr Nagle's letter of the 7th June 1864,
and I cannot after diligent search in the Colonial Secretary's Office
(where no Register has been hitherto kept) discover any grounds for
this apparently unnecessary delay.

4. The documents relating to this question are very voluminous and
somewhat obscure, and I therefore do not transmit them.

5. I think it necessary however, to transmit my references to the
Treasurer, Attorney General, and Acting Auditor, with their replies
thereto,

*

as necessary to an understanding of the case, though they do not in
any way account for the delay in closing it.

6. I brought the subject under the notice of my Executive Council
and after a full consideration, it was decided that it would be
inexpedient and impolitic for the Government to take legal
proceedings to recover the sum of three hundred and eight dollars
($308) alleged to be the amount of Mr Nagle's defalcations, as the
unaccounted for delay in so doing would render the result more than
doubtful.

7. Under these circumstances I have with the advice of my Executive
Council directed this amount to be written off the public accounts
without pronouncing any opinion as to Mr Nagle's guilt or innocence,
which is I think still a matter of doubt.

8. Whether guilty or innocent Mr Nagle's social degradation and
dismissal from office and the Commission of the Peace are in
themselves a severe punishment.



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FILE: 1864-08-01_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64150.txt
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No. 50, Financial

1. I have the honor to submit for your consideration the documents
named in the enclosed Schedule.

2. Shortly after assuming the Government of this colony I directed
my attention to its financial condition, and observed that a large
arrear of the Real Estate Tax remained uncollected over several
years.

3. Knowing the high market value of real property in Victoria and
the solvency and prosperity of its owners, I was naturally surprised
at finding this large arrear, and addressed myself to the Treasurer
for information in the Queries herewith.

4. That officer's Report and replies will be found herewith.

5. On receiving that Report I caused an inquiry to be addressed to
the Attorney General, and on the same date I caused a letter to be
addressed to the Chief Justice.

6. The replies to these letters are now transmitted with other
papers bearing upon the same subject.

7. I also enclose a copy of "The Real Estate Tax Amendment Act 1862"
to which these letters and documents refer.

8. You will observe that the Attorney General and the Chief Justice
are directly at issue as to the power conferred on the Executive by
Sections 42 and 43, and it would therefore be most inexpedient to
attempt to enforce the collection of these arrears before a Judge
avowing and having given publicity to the opinions conveyed in his
letter dated 26th July 1864.

9. The doctrine laid down in the letter of the Chief Justice that he
did not think the Legislature of Vancouver Island had
authority
to make such a Law as that under consideration appears to me to be
wholly fallacious, and if carried out to its full extent would render
local legislation useless.

10. "The Real Estate Tax Amendment Act, 1862" was duly passed by
both bodies of the Legislature and assented to by the Governor and
has not been disallowed by Her Majesty.

*

11. There is unfortunately no Appeal from the Chief Justice on
points involving the construction of local laws, and I fear that
great evils have already arisen from a want of decision and firmness
in the administration of them.

12. It is obviously useless for the local Legislature to pass laws
if the Chief Justice is authorized to set them aside or refuse to
enforce them on the grounds of their impolicy which it would be out
of place here to discuss.

13. I regret exceedingly to trouble you with this matter on which I
would ask for a legal opinion.

14. The law business of this Colony whether as administered by the
Chief Justice or conducted by the Attorney General is in a very
unsatisfactory condition, and I shall probably be under the necessity
of addressing you upon this subject at an early period.

15. I am unable to discover any record of the reasons for these
arrears being allowed to accumulate since 1860 beyond those contained
in the documents which I enclose.



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FILE: 1864-08-04_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647230.txt
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No. 30

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 31
of the 4th of June, and to approve the arrangement you have made for
securing the Services of an Auditor, the result of which I understand
to be that the sum of 725 Dollars ($725) voted by the Assembly will be
paid from the General Revenue to Mr. Ker for Auditing the Accounts of
Vancouver Island.

I assume that Mr. Ker does not hold office in British Columbia.



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FILE: 1864-08-04_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64151.txt
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No. 51

Referring to my Despatch No 47 dated 30th July 1864 by this Mail I
have the honor to transmit copies of Reports from Mr Golledge, Acting
Gold Commissioner at Sooke River, (20 miles west of Victoria)
together with specimens which accompanied his last Report.

I have this day seen a very beautiful nugget, value $70, brought down
last night by the man who dug it up and whose truth may be relied
upon.

I yesterday sent up the Surveyor General to take such measures as may
be necessary toward reserving Crown Lands for a Townsite and other
public purposes, and I will immediately adopt such measures as may be
necessary to insure order.

A large influx of people may be expected from the American Continent,
but on this head I have no apprehensions, my experience assuring me
that they respect our Laws and are as manageable as Her Majesty's
subjects.

Victoria is being rapidly emptied of its population and a few days
more will leave those who must remain, without labourers or servants.

Several of the Police have already gone, and the remainder unless
bribed by higher pay will speedily follow.

The importance of these discoveries may be estimated from the fact
that the cost of provisions at Cariboo is from four hundred to six
hundred per cent higher than they will probably be at Sooke.



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FILE: 1864-08-05_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64152.txt
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No. 52, Miscellaneous

In reply to the Secretary of State's Despatch No 6 dated 28th March
1864, I have the honor to inform you that Richard Hatcher is acting
as cook at the Steamboat Hotel in Esquimalt in this Colony. This man
is said to have arrived in the Colony in November 1862 by the
"Silistria"—to be a native of Hampshire, and to have left a wife
keeping the Station Hotel, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. He has
lately bought 150 acres of land in the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-08-09_Lugard_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645WA02.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge
receipt of your letter of the 30th Ultimo, and to return to you the
Map of British Columbia agreeably to the request therein contained.



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FILE: 1864-08-10_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647231.txt
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No. 31

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 30
of the 4th of June.

I have read with pleasure the Addresses which you have forwarded
offering you so cordial a welcome on the occasion of your arrival in
Vancouver Island and your assumption of the Government of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-08-12_Birch_to_Cardwell_B64221.txt
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No. 21

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
despatch No. 1 of the 12th of April last, in which you
authorize Mr Seymour to offer the Appointment of Colonial
Secretary of Honduras to Captain Holmes, R.A. in the event
of that Appointment becoming vacant by Mr Berkeley's acceptance
of the Lieutenant Government of St. Vincent.

2. In the absence of the Governor I immediately on the
receipt of this despatch communicated with Captain Holmes who,
as you are already aware from Mr Seymour's despatch No. 6 of
the 16th of May last, has been employed with the Surveyor
General in marking out the great line of road about to be
constructed from Quesnel Mouth, (the present terminus of the
waggon road) to the Cariboo Mines.

3. As the Governor's return to New Westminister is uncertain,
I have thought it better to forward Captain Holmes' acceptance
of the appointment without any further delay.



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FILE: 1864-08-13_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD04.txt
================================================================================

Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to send you, herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, and with reference to My Letter of the 30th
Ultimo, a Copy of a Letter of the 14th June, No 68,
from Vice Admiral Kingcome, enclosing a Copy of a Letter of
the 1st June, from His Excellency, Mr Seymour, Governor
of British Columbia, respecting the Massacre of White Men
who were working on the Road from Bute Inlet to Cariboo,
and reporting the arrangements made by the Governor and himself
for the Capture of the Murderers.

I am further to acquaint you that in a subsequent Letter
of the 15th June, No 69, Vice Admiral Kingcome reports
the arrival of Mr Seymour and his party of Volunteers at
Esquimalt, for the expedition to North Bentinck Arm, and that
he himself would proceed in the "Sutlej" on that day to the same place.



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FILE: 1864-08-15_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647232.txt
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No. 32

I have had under my consideration your Despatches named in the
margin.

*

The questions raised in them about the salaries of the Officers in
the Civil List, proposed in June 1863, have been settled for the present
by my Despatches 4 of the 30th of April and 26th of the 1st Instant.
But when I authorized the payment of £3,600 to the Governor and the
Colonial Secretary I had not been informed that your Predecessor had
already directed the Treasurer to pay out of Crown Revenue the other
Salaries in the Civil List at the old rates, amounting to £2,020. You
will distinctly understand that all payments which have been or can be
sanctioned, must be within the amount which the Crown Revenue will be
sufficient to meet, until such time as proper provision shall be made by
the Colonial Legislature for payment from other Colonial resources.

As to the remaining questions your requests to be allowed a private
Secretary and house rent, and to be reimbursed such hotel expenses as
you may have been put to for want of a residence, are in their nature
reasonable, but so far as appears at present the payments already
authorized are as great as the Crown Revenue will suffice to meet, and
I regret therefore my inability to sanction any further charge upon
that Revenue without being assured of its adequacy to bear it.

I have to request that you will lose no time in transmitting
the fullest information in your power.

As to the crown Revenue i.e. the Balance now in hand—the
payments which by reason of Contracts already entered into are
certain to be made to the Crown—and the estimated receipts from
future land sales and other sources if any, and also assuming
British Columbia to be unwilling to enter into the arrangement for
a reunion, as to the prospect of your Legislature's making proper
provision for the future conduct of the Government.

With reference to the 9th paragraph of your Despatch marked
Separate of the 5th of May, I have to observe that the Revenue
which has not been surrendered by the Crown to the Legislature is
not applicable as General Revenue, and for the proper mode of
treating it I would refer you to my Despatch No. 27 of the 1st
Instant.



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FILE: 1864-08-16_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647431.txt
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No. 31

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 9
of the 1st of June last.

I have read with great interest the Speech which you delivered to
your Legislative Council on the occasion of your addressing them so
soon after the assumption of your duties as Governor, and I hope that it
may prove to have been the precursor of a prosperous Administration.



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FILE: 1864-08-16_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64153.txt
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No. 53

Consequent upon the discovery of gold in the Sooke District I have
appointed Mr Richard Golledge, Clerk in the Treasurer's Office as
Acting Gold Commissioner, he being the best available officer I had
for that service.

I have not yet fixed any amount of remuneration beyond his present
salary with the exception of allowing his actual expenses, reserving
this for future consideration.

Mr Golledge's temporary appointment will of course involve the
additional salary for an Officer to fill his place during his absence
from the Treasury.

I have also the honor to inform you that I appointed Mr Charles J.
Hughes, a resident of Victoria, to the office of Acting Stipendiary
Magistrate at Sooke Harbour. This gentleman who was well esteemed
and of good capacity, for some unknown cause committed suicide in a
most deliberate manner immediately on his arrival there.



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FILE: 1864-08-16_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64154.txt
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No. 54, Legislative

I have the honor to inform you that I have after consultation with my
Executive Council decided upon immediately convening the Legislature
for the purpose of re-considering their decision upon the proposal
contained in the Duke of Newcastle's Despatch marked, Separate, dated
15th June 1863 in reference to the Crown Lands and Revenue of this
Colony.

The discovery of gold will probably induce the local Legislature to
modify the views expressed in their Resolutions transmitted by my
Predecessor in his Despatch No 3 dated 12th February 1864.

I apprehend that I am acting in accordance with the views of Her
Majesty's Government in affording the local Legislature the earliest
opportunity of occupying their proper position in reference to the
management of the Crown Lands under the altered circumstances of the
case. I will not however deem myself justified in assenting to other
terms than those proposed by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the
Colonies in the Despatch before adverted to.



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FILE: 1864-08-17_Lugard_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645WA03.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Under-Secretary of State

With reference to previous correspondence which has taken place
relative to plans of British Columbia;

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit to you,
for Mr Secretary Cardwell's information, the accompanying copy of a
letter received from Colonel Moody R.E., late Commanding Royal
Engineer in that Colony, on the above subject, and I am to signify
Lord de Grey's request that you will move Mr Cardwell to favor him
with two copies of the maps therein referred to, should the Statement
in the last paragraph of Colonel Moody's letter be correct.



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FILE: 1864-08-18_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64157.txt
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No. 57

I have the honor to transmit a copy of the latest Report from Mr
Golledge, Acting Gold Commissioner in the Sooke District.

I also transmit a few photographs representing some part of the gold
field which may prove interesting.

The amount received for licences &c up to this time is about 2000
dollars.

There is a steady increase in the quantity of gold produced and the
miners appear to be content with their prospects.

I beg to enclose a small nugget,

*

one of the first obtained.

I have seen one of the value of $70.



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FILE: 1864-08-19_Young_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V646Y01.txt
================================================================================

Young to Under-Secretary of State

I have the honor to request that you will be pleased to move the
Right Honourable Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the
Colonies, to issue the requisite authority to the Crown Agents for
the Colonies, for the payment periodically to my Agents Messrs
Woodhead & Co of 44 Charing Cross, of the Half Salary due to me
while on leave of absence from the Colony of Vancouver's Island,
commencing on and from the 15th May 1864.



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FILE: 1864-08-20_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64155.txt
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No. 55

Consequent upon the discovery of gold and the great influx of people
at Sooke Harbour I have found it necessary as a measure of safety to
appoint a resident paid Magistrate.

I was informed that American boats in considerable numbers were
plying there without licences, and it is absolutely requisite that a
Magistrate should be on the spot to prevent whiskey selling to the
Indians, and collisions between them and the white population, and to
guard against what is equally important, fights between the various
Native and sometimes hostile Tribes who are attracted there by high
wages and whiskey.

I have appointed Major Foster who has resigned his seat in the
Legislative Assembly to accept the appointment, which he clearly
understands to be temporary and subject to your approval.

I have fixed the salary at the rate of $1750 per annum the same as
that of the Police Magistrate of Victoria which is under present
circumstances very reasonable. Policemen in Victoria are now
receiving $3 1/2 per day, and their services, I am informed by the
Commissioner cannot be retained on other terms.



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FILE: 1864-08-20_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64156.txt
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No. 56, Legislative

I have the honor to inform you that I have, subject to your approval,
appointed Mr Henry Rhodes to a vacant seat in the Legislative
Council of this Colony.

Mr Rhodes is the resident Member of one of the principal mercantile
houses at Victoria and is a gentleman of high character and
intelligence.



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FILE: 1864-08-20_Richards_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645AD03.txt
================================================================================

Richards to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 19th
instant enclosing copies of dispatches from the Governor of Vancouver
Island on the subject of the ownership of Fisgard Island, and
requesting that I will communicate to you for Mr Cardwell's use any
information I may be able to supply relative to the ownership of this
Rock in the first instance by a Private Individual.

Previous to the transfer of the Colony of Vancouver Island from the
Hudson's Bay Company to Her Majesty's Government, the whole or nearly
the whole of the Shores of Esquimalt Harbour together with the
numerous small Islands in it were owned either by the Puget Sound
Company or by private individuals.

The property of Belmont at the Entrance of the harbour was I believe
owned by Mrs Young before her marriage, or by her father, and
Fisgard Island, a bare Islet between 100 and 200 yards in extent and
20 feet high, lying about 100 yards from Belmont, was I believe an
adjunct of that property.

When the Colony was established under Government auspices and became
the head quarters of the Navy with a prospect of Government
Establishments Light Houses &c, the price of land in Esquimalt
Harbour rose very considerably.

Although Fisgard Island is very small and of no intrinsic value, yet
I think it must be considered in the same category as various other
apparently equally valueless spots of ground in Esquimalt, and when
it was chosen as the site of a Light House. I do not think it was
unfair that the Proprietor of it should have expected some
remuneration, nor do I conceive, looking to parallel cases, that the
remuneration paid to Mrs Young was unreasonable.

As regards the money having been paid before a deed of Transfer was
made; there was not the greatest regularity observed in such matters
owing to the want of Legal Officers &c, but I apprehend that the
omission lay with the Surveyor General, and not with Mrs Young.

I beg to enclose a Chart of Esquimalt Harbour by which Mr Cardwell
will better understand the bearings of the case, and I shall be very
happy to give any further information personally if required.



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FILE: 1864-08-22_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64158.txt
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No. 58

I have the honor to acquaint you that I have this day received and
accepted the resignation of Mr G.H. Cary as Attorney General of this
Colony.

This has arisen out of certain pecuniary transactions which the
immediate departure of the Mail precludes me from entering upon
inasmuch as Mr Cary's accounts with the government are not yet
adjusted.

I will report fully by next Mail.



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FILE: 1864-08-22_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64159.txt
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No. 59, Legislative

I have the honor to transmit a copy of my opening address to the
Legislature of this Colony on the 20th instant.

It will explain the motives which have induced me to convene the
Legislature at an earlier period than I had intended.

I will keep you informed of the proceedings of the Legislative
Assembly in reference to the Crown Lands and Civil List by each Mail.



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FILE: 1864-08-22_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64159CO.txt
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Confidential

1. I have been informed and have reason to believe that Mr W.A.G.
Young Colonial Secretary, now on leave of absence in England, will
not return to this Colony; it being his intention to accept the
office of Secretary to Admiral Talbot, commanding a home station, and
that it was with this view He obtained leave of absence from my
Predecessor just prior to my arrival in the Colony and left it
shortly after I assumed the Government.

2. Though Mr Youngs departure by which I was left without a
Colonial Secretary immediately after I assumed the Government and the
refusal of the Legislature to provide Salary for a Private Secretary,
caused me great inconvenience and embarrassment, I could not cancel
Mr Youngs leave without committing an act of discourtesy to my
Predecessor.

3. I was, under these circumstances obliged to avail myself of the
services of the clerk to the Colonial Secretary who proved to be
wholly incompetent to carry on the duties of the office which Mr
Young I regret to say left in a very unsatisfactory condition.

4. No register had ever been kept and reference to papers and
documents thus became a work of great labor and delay and in some
cases altogether impossible.

5. Mr Henry Wakeford, Police Magistrate of Western Australia
fortunately arrived on leave of absence at this time and I
immediately availed myself of his services as Acting Colonial
Secretary (as reported in my despatch No 29 dated 4 June 1864) under
whose intelligence and industry the office is rapidly acquiring order
and regularity.

6. The character and capacity of the Public officers of the Colony
taking them as a body is of a low calibre and I derive little support
or assistance from them.

7. I would earnestly recommend Mr Wakeford being appointed Colonial
Secretary in the Event of Mr Young vacating the office.

8. Mr Wakeford has since 1855 held the offices of Private
Secretary, Clerk of the Councils and latterly that of Police
Magistrate in Western Australia, in all of which offices He acquitted
himself with great credit and did good service, and I feel confident
He will prove a valuable public servant if appointed here.

9. I think under the circumstances in which I am placed that it
would not be unreasonable to enquire of Mr Young whether He
contemplated accepting another office, and whether He intended to
return at the expiration of his leave of absence to enable me to make
provision for carrying on the Public Service.

In the event of Mr Wakeford resuming his office in Western Australia
I have no officer here capable of conducting the business of the
Secretary's office and Mr Young should be required to return to his
duties at the expiration of his leave.

*



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FILE: 1864-08-23_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64160.txt
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No. 60

I have the honor to inform you that with the advice and concurrence
of my Executive Council I have given a Free Pardon to an Indian named
How-a-matcha convicted of the murder of another Native at the late
Sessions.

The accompanying letters from the Chief Justice and Mr Sebright
Green (a respectable Solicitor) wil explain the circumstances of this
case.

I thought it a fitting opportunity of declaring the policy I intended
to pursue in regard to the Indian population, and with this view had
 all within reach assembled on the occasion of How-a-matcha's
liberation.

I enclose a copy of my address, which was interpreted and fully
explained to them, and the chiefs in return expressed their
satisfaction with all I had said.

I will shortly report upon the general condition of the Indian
population. It is imperatively necessary that measures should be
taken to prevent them from being further demoralized, and I have had
such measures for some time under consideration.



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FILE: 1864-08-24_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647233.txt
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No. 33

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 35
of the 14th of June, on the subject of the defalcations of Mr. G. T.
Gordon, late Treasurer of Vancouver Island.

As it appears that in the opinion of the Attorney General the sum
of these defalcations cannot be recovered from Mr. Gordon's Surities,
there seems to be no other course than to submit to the loss as resolved
by your Council. I have therefore to convey to you my approval of the
course you have taken in directing the amount to be written off the
pulic accounts as irrecoverable.



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FILE: 1864-08-24_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64161.txt
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No. 61

I have the honor to inform you that I have appointed Mr Thomas L.
Wood to be Acting Attorney General vice Cary resigned, subject to
your approval.

I have selected Mr Wood solely on public grounds as the best man
available. He is highly respectable in private life, a highly
respected Member of the local Bar, and his appointment I believe to
be entirely approved of by the public.

I think it is inexpedient that I should recommend the permanent
appointment of Mr Wood or any one else till the Legislature has made
provision for the salary of an Attorney General. When that is done I
will have some suggestions to offer for your consideration as to the
conditions on which the office should be held.



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FILE: 1864-08-26_Walcott_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645LN02.txt
================================================================================

Walcott to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge your Letter of the 20th
instant enclosing an Ordinance No 12 of 1864 passed by the
Legislature of British Columbia entitled "An Ordinance to
increase the facilities for registering documents relating to real
property."

2. The Colonial Attorney General in his report on the
Ordinance explains that many English Deeds cannot under the existing
Law be registered merely from the want of a few additional
unimportant words. The first object therefore of the Ordinances
is to give to Notarial Certificates of the execution of Deeds
made without the Colony relating to real property within it, the
force of acknowledgements under the British Columbia Land Registry
Act 1861, provided the Registrar chooses to accept such proof of
the execution of the Documents. This proviso is to guard against
the abuse of the facility thus accorded.

3. The second object of the Ordinance is to render compulsory
the registration of all future Crown grants before they are issued.
For want of such a provision, and an early Registry of grants,
litigation has already been occasioned, and the evil if not
remedied would increase by lapse of time. The fee for registration
is a uniform one of 5s/ which the Attorney General states is
less than one half of the amount payable under the previous Ordinance
of 1861.

4. I have the honor to report that no objection occurs to me on
this Ordinance, and I would submit that it may be left to its operation.



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FILE: 1864-08-27_Lugard_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645WA05.txt
================================================================================

Lugard to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed, by Earl de Grey and Ripon, to acquaint
you, for the information of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, that a letter was addressed on the 29th
January last to the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia,
of which a copy is herewith enclosed, to which no reply has
been received and I am to request that you will move His
Grace the Duke of Newcastle to give such directions, to the
 Lieutenant Governor, as he may think proper with a view to
insure his prompt attention to the subject referred to in
the above letter.



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FILE: 1864-08-30_Helps_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645CO02.txt
================================================================================

Helps to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by the Lord President of the Council to transmit to you
the enclosed Order of Her Majesty in Council, of the 27th inst,
leaving to its operation an Act passed in Vancouver Island in March
last, No: 89; and I am to request
that you will be pleased to lay the same before the Secretary of
State for the Colonial Department.



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FILE: 1864-08-30_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64222.txt
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No. 22

I must offer to you my sincere apologies for the delay
which has occurred in reporting to you officially on several
matters of importance. My excuse is simply this; that I have
been engaged on a work of vital interest to the colony for
many weeks, during which I was in a wild country, without pen
or paper and my communications with the civilized portions of
our territory generally cut off by the insurgent Indians.

2. I hope by increased exertions soon to make up for this
inevitable delay.



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FILE: 1864-08-30_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64223.txt
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No. 23

The Legislative Council, on the 29th of February last,
passed a resolution to request my predecessor to separate the
duties of the Auditor of Public Accounts from those of the
Colonial Secretary.

2. After due consideration I came to the conclusion that it
would be well to carry out the desire of the Legislative Council,
and I have, as a experiment, appointed Mr Robert Ker, Acting
Auditor General of the Colony for one year from 4th June 1864.

3. The expense entailed on the Colony by this experiment is
only one hundred pounds (£100). Mr Ker held the permanent appointment
of Chief Clerk in the Audit Office under the Colonial Secretary
on a Salary of Four hundred pounds (£400). I have, temporarily,
raised it to Five hundred pounds (£500).

4. I am happy to say that Mr Ker performs, as the head of a
Department, the duties of his Office very satisfactorily, and
I think it not improbable that I shall have to recommend to you,
and to the Legislative Council, a continuance of the present arrangement.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-08-30_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64224.txt
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No. 24

With reference to my despatch No 6 of the 16th of
May 1864, I have now the honor to forward a certificate
showing that I have granted seven months leave of absence
to Mr Joseph William Trutch, Surveyor General of this Colony.

2. Mr Trutch I believe to be a very good public officer but,
as stated in my despatch above mentioned, I consider his interests
in one of the great rival Roads of this Colony as incompatable
with his holding the Office to which the Duke of Newcastle
directed me to appoint him. I shall be very glad to hear that
Mr Trutch has divested himself of all private property the
possession of which might expose his public acts to unfavorable comment.



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FILE: 1864-08-30_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64225.txt
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No. 25

On my return to New Westminster after an absence of nine
weeks, I find so great an accumulation of work that I am unable
by this Mail to give you full particulars respecting the recent
Indian insurrection, and the means taken for its suppression.

2. The Chilicotens who massacred Mr Waddington's road party
at Bute Inlet, as mentioned in my despatch No 7 of the 20th
of May, marched into the interior, were joined by other members
of the tribe, and succeeded in murdering or expelling every
white person from the sea to the Upper Fraser.

3. The country in the hands of the insurgents might be described
as about three hundred miles from East to West by one hundred
and fifty North and South. It was inevitable that steps should
be taken for the assertion of our authority, and two parties of
Volunteers were started for the interior. The one, under Mr
Cox, a Police Magistrate of Cariboo, from Alexandria. The other,
under Mr Brew, Police Magistrate of New Westminster, from Bella
Coola at the head of Bentinck Arm. This latter force I accompanied.

4. These two small bodies had to make their way to Benshee
Lake in the heart of the Country. Mr Cox's party of sixty men
would then be one hundred and twelve miles from Alexandria,
the base of his operations, and Mr Brew's band of forty, two
hundred and fifty miles from Bella Coola, from whence only he
could draw his supplies.

5. It is hardly necessary for me to say that the communications
with the civilized portions of the Colony were closed to these
parties as soon as they were in the hostile country, or at least
could only be kept up by detaching a large proportion of either
force. Thus isolated in the bush our fate became a matter of
speculation throughout the Colony and the most painful rumours
circulated.

6. The two forces met at Benshee on the 6th of July and on
the following day Mr Cox's party was sent by me down towards
the Bute Inlet Mountains. They travelled over a Country, presenting
every natural difficulty, for a fortnight, pursuing the trails of
the Indians and occasionally exchanging shots with them. Mr
McLean, the second in command, fell a victim to his excess of zeal.

7. In the mean time the head quarters of Mr Brew's party,
with which I remained, occupied the important post at Benshee
where all the Indian trails converge. We were then but ten in
number, having despatched a party in pursuit of the natives and
another to escort a provision train. The force was so
disproportionate to the value of the position we held, that it
was with satisfaction we saw the return of the flying party of
twenty-five men who had left us in the preceding week, after the natives.

8. The supply of provisions with us began to run extremely
low, as the provision train did not arrive, yet perfect discipline
prevailed in Camp, and no murmurs were heard respecting the smallness of
the rations of such supplies as remained, or the total absence of many
things usually considered almost indispensable to existence.

9. By means which I shall describe another time, Alexis,
one of the principal Chiefs of the Chilicoten people, who
had refrained from joining the hostile movements of the tribe,
was induced to present himself to me, and after many days
negotiation, promised to accompany the attack, in full force,
which we determined to make on the Indians in the direction
in which Mr McLean was killed.

10. The details of the arrangements we made before my indispensable
return to the other duties of my office I shall state in another
despatch. I enclose an extract from the official Gazette showing
the success which has already attended them.

11. It appears to me creditable in the extreme to these two
small bodies of white men, that they should thus have scoured
the vast territory of the Chilicotens so well as to remain
victors in a contest in which famine fought on both sides. I
do not however venture yet to predict that the victory will be
absolutely complete.



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No. 34

The recent dreadful massacre of a Road party in British Columbia by
the Chilcoaten Indians has naturally given rise in the Colony under
your Government to the same feelings with which the intelligence was
received in British Columbia. I think it well therefore to convey to you
the caution which on the first receipt of the melancholy tidings I
expressed to Governor Seymour.

One of the consequences of such an occurrence is to give rise to a
spirit of retaliation, which may easily be carried beyond the limits of
law, of Justice, or of policy. I am satisfied it will be your care to
moderate any tendency of this nature, and so to avert the risk which
would otherwise result that an isolated outrage might be converted into
a Tribal War. I need not impress upon you what the experience of every
civilized Community settled in the neighbourhood of savage races so
abundantly demonstrates, that the utmost vigilance is requisite to avert
these dangers whenever unprovoked aggression has given rise to the
necessity for just and salutary chastisement.



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647432.txt
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No. 32

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 11
of the 3rd of June, accompanied by an Ordinance passed by the
Legislature of British Columbia on the 4th of May last, and entitled No.
11 "An Ordinance to declare the lawful rate of interest in the Colony."

I have laid this Ordinance before the Queen, and I am commanded to
acquaint you that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the inhabitants of
the Colony in the usual manner.



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No. 62

Referring to my Despatch No 58 dated 22nd August 1864 communicating
the resignation of Mr G.H. Cary, Attorney General of this Colony, I
deem it my duty to inform you that his resignation was tendered after
some correspondence on the subject of his pecuniary transactions with
Mr W. Culverwell, a broker and money lender a copy of whose letter I
now transmit.

I intimated to Mr Cary on the 19th August that the preliminary
inquiries I had made rendered it imperative upon me to institute a
more searching investigation as an Officer in his position must be
freed from all suspicion of dishonour, or quit the Public Service.

On the day after this interview, the 20th August, Mr Cary sent in
his resignation of which I enclose a copy.

As Mr Cary bases his resignation upon his inability to perform
efficiently the duties of his office, whilst conducting his private
practice and the arrangement of his private affairs, I apprehend it
is unnecessary for me to trouble you with a lengthy correspondence
and numerous accounts and documents connected with his transactions
with Mr Culverwell. I will merely add my opinion that it would have
been very much for the advantage of the public service if Mr Cary
had devoted himself to private practice and the arrangement of his
private affairs at an earlier period.



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No. 63

I have the honor to submit the accompanying papers for your
consideration in connection with the resignation of Mr G.H. Cary,
Attorney General with the following explanation.

Mr Cary had held the office of Registrar under the "Vancouver Island
Joint Stock Companies Act, 1860" from the date of its passing, in
right of which office he collected the fees under that Act.

Circumstances arose which led me to doubt the regularity with which
he had accounted for them and I called for a return showing the names
of all Joint Stock Companies registered by him, the dates of their
registration, and the fees received by the Attorney General as
Registrar.

This Return was called for on the 16th August, and on the 20th
August Mr Cary without replying to that communication paid into the
Treasury the sum of $1179.40 as shown by the Treasurers letter dated
20th August and accompanying accounts.

It will be observed that these fees had been accumulating in Mr
Cary's hands from January till August 1864 without being accounted
for.

Though I have taken steps to prevent the possible recurrence of such
culpable irregularity I do not feel justified in withholding the
knowledge of it from you.

Documents which have been placed before me show that while Mr Cary
had improperly retained this considerable sum of public money in his
hands, he had borrowed money at the rate of 3 per cent per month or
36 per cent per annum.



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No. 64

Referring to your Despatch No 19, 11th July 1864 relative to the
payment of certain fees to the Attorney General of this Colony I have
the honor to enclose the copy of a letter addressed by the Acting
Colonial Secretary to the Attorney General and his reply thereto.

2. I applied to the Chief Justice personally to know whether he
could afford me information on the subject. His Honor informed me
that he always considered the charges under consideration irregular
and unauthorized, and that he had on one occasion stated his opinion
to this effect in open Court.

3. In the interval since my Despatch No 25 dated 13th May 1864 was
written, this question has acquired additional importance. The facts
are as follow—

4. On or about the 23rd July 1864 Bills of Costs were sent in by
Mr Drake a Solicitor in the cases of The Attorney General v The
Hudson's Bay Company and Trimble v Pemberton (Surveyor General)
amounting to a considerable sum.

5. Having no guide or standard whereby to judge the accuracy or
propriety of this charge, I consulted the Attorney General and
finally sent the Bills to the proper Officer of the Court to be taxed.

6. These Bills included fees to the Attorney General amounting to
$170 dollars which were reduced by the taxing officer to eleven pounds
three shillings sterling.

7. Mr Drake applied to me in writing, and subsequently called upon
me to remonstrate against this large deduction from sums he was
actually out of pocket, and produced the Attorney General's
receipt for the amount of fees charged in his Bills $170, and
which amount he informed me Mr Cary, the Attorney General, had
himself fixed and demanded contrary to Mr Drake's expressed
opinion that the fees were excessive.

8. While this matter was under consideration, and before I made any
reference to the Attorney General, he addressed the Colonial
Secretary in the letter dated August 6th 1864, which was followed by
the letters named in the margin.

*

9. Since this branch of the question was concluded the Attorney
General has sent in a further Bill dated 5th August 1864 ($355) a
copy of which I enclose. This account I have held over pending your
decision.

10. I will only remark in conclusion that this system holds out a
direct inducement to the Attorney General and the solicitors he may
please to employ, to involve the Government in litigation with a view
to their own gain and frequently to the detriment of the public
service.

11. I find on reference to the Treasurer's accounts that from the
1st January 1864 to the 9th August 1864 fees to Crown Prosecutor
and Solicitor have been paid to the amount of $1621 dollars and there
is an additional sum of about $500 dollars now unpaid and pending
your decison, all being in addition to the Attorney General's fixed
salary.



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No. 65

I have the honor to transmit a copy of an opinion of Mr Cary, late
Attorney General, and a Judgment of His Honor The Chief Justice in
connection with the Corporation Act of the City of Victoria.

You will observe that these Officers are directly opposed to each
other on the construction of a local Act, the practical effect of
which has been to paralyse the action of the Corporation altogether,
to the great physical and moral detriment of the inhabitants of the
City.

The principle involved in this decision of His Honor is so important
that I would beg for the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown for
my guidance.



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No. 66

I have the honor to submit the accompanying correspondence for your
decision, having failed to satisfy either of the officers concerned.
Mr Pemberton, the Surveyor General, complains of a breach of faith
on the part of the Government, and Mr Pearse his Assistant thinks
injustice has been done to him.

That there has been some irregularity and some misunderstanding is
very apparent, and these ought to have been cleared up before my
Predecessor and the Colonial Secretary left the Colony.



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No. 67, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to request that the Crown Agents for the Colonies
may be instructed to send out overland with as little delay as
possible a complete set of the Imperial Statutes down to 13 and 14
Victoria inclusive.

The want of many Acts of the Imperial Parliament, of which I believe
a complete set does not exist in the Colony, is much felt.



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64168.txt
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No. 68

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD05.txt
================================================================================

Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to send you herewith, for the information of Her Majesty's
Secretary of State for the Colonies, a copy of a letter
from Vice Admiral Kingcome dated the 21st June last,
No 70 reporting his having conveyed the Governor of
British Columbia from Esquimalt to Bentinck Arm, and the

departure of His Excellency, and a party of Volunteers
into the interior for the capture of the Murderers of
the White Men at Bute Inlet.



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64225SP.txt
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Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches,
of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64228.txt
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No. 28

I have the honor to forward an Authenticated and two plain
copies of a Bill submitted to me by the Legislative Council of
this Colony in its recent Session, and reserved by me for Her
Majesty's consideration. It is entitled;
An Ordinance for the regulation of Banks.

I add the Report of the Attorney General.

2. I am not certain that our present Legislative Constitution
allows of the Executive assent being given to a Bill after the
prorogation of the Legislature; but the permission to reserve a
proposed measure for the consideration of the Secretary of State
is so convenient that I have supposed it to exist, and shall
embody it in the Standing Orders which I shall lay before the
Council at its next meeting. If I have assumed for the Governor
a power which he does not possess, the whole effect will be,
that a Bill of doubtful propriety will fall to the ground.

3. I regret, much, the delay which has occurred in forwarding
the enclosed documents, but I have recently been for upwards of two
months in the interior of the Country without the means of
communicating with you.



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No. 29

I have the honor to forward six copies of the Minutes
of the late Session of the Legislative Council of this Colony.

2.—I have cautioned the Clerk of the Board that in Official
Papers he is to discontinue calling the Legislative Council a
"Parliament."



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No. 30

On the departure of Sir James Douglas, who had been known
by the Indians as a great Chief, the principal Authority in this
territory, for upwards of forty years, an impression was allowed
to arise among them that their protector was withdrawn and would
have no successor. The Fraser River Indians uttered many
lamentations over their deserted condition, and it became desirable
for me to make myself known to the natives and show them that I had
succeeded to all the power of my predecessor and to his solicitude
for their welfare. With this object I invited the Catholic priests
and others to bring in all the Indians who were willing to come
to New Westminster and meet me on the Queen's birthday.

2. About three thousand five hundred attended the Summons.
They came by water, and the priests marshalled the procession
of canoes, which formed an extremely striking scene as they
rounded a point of the Fraser and approached my house. The
Indians sang a Catholic hymn until they passed under my windows,
when they cheered vociferously. They landed at the site selected
for a Public Park, where luncheon was provided at the expense of
the Government. I joined them in the afternoon when the enclosed
addresses were exchanged between the Chiefs and myself.

3. The day was observed as a holiday by all, and passed off
with perfect tranquillity. For the following week the shops in
New Westminster were constantly filled with eager purchasers, and
then the Indians began to return home, their canoes loaded with
goods. On my recent tour in the interior the Chiefs who had spent
Her Majesty's birth day at New Westminster everywhere came
forward to give me a respectful and friendly welcome. I am now
as well known on the Valley of the Fraser and the Thompson as
my predecessor—No white man better in the Bella Coola and
Chilicoten Country.

4. The Native gathering, probably the largest ever seen on this
side of the Rocky Mountains was the more interesting and important
from the fact that all were then excited by the recent intelligence
of the terrible massacre of our Countrymen at Bute Inlet, and
vague rumours were in circulation of a general insurrection of
the Indians being imminent. But the aspect and behaviour of the
thousands who came to New Westminster was reassuring, and I may
mention that on the day after the celebration, when the Theatre
at the Camp was burnt down, the Indians proved their good will
towards the Government by bringing out from Town and working,
one of the fire Engines gratuitously. As the Natives returned
home they seldom failed to give farewell cheers as they passed my house.

5. I regret that unavoidable circumstances growing out of
other and very different transactions with the Indians, prevented
my earlier forwarding the enclosed speeches, which show good
feeling to exist, in this neighbourhood, at least, between the
Natives and the immigrants.



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FILE: 1864-08-31_Walcott_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645LN03.txt
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Walcott to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge your Letter of the 27th
instant with an Ordinance passed by the Legislative Council of
British Columbia entitled "An Ordinance for the relief of certain
Naval and Military Settlers."

2. It will be remembered that a Despatch from the Duke of
Newcastle of the 29th of February last called the Governor's
attention to the hardship to which Captain Houghton had been
subjected by an unexpected alteration of the privileges in the
acquisition of land accorded to Naval and Military Officers
settling in British Columbia.

3. By a proclamation of March 1861 Naval and Military Officers
proceeding to the Colony were entitled to the remission of a
certain amount of money in purchasing Crown Lands according to
their rank and length of service. This proclamation was repealed
by a subsequent one No 2 of 1863 called "The Military and Naval
Settlers Act 1863" and a certain amount of land, instead of money,
was promised to Naval and Military Settlers. The Law was altered
because the price of Crown Land in British Columbia had been reduced
from £1 to 4s/2d an acre, and the effect of the alteration
was to give Officers the same number of acres as they would have
received under the first proclamation.

4. As, however, Captain Houghton had sold out of the Army
upon the faith of the first proclamation, and had quitted England
before the arrival and notification of the second, it was not
thought equitable that he should be subjected to the operation of
the second, which would reduce by nearly four fifths the quantity
of land he would have received under the proclamation of 1861.
To meet this and any similar case the present Ordinance has been
passed. It enacts that Officers whether of the Army or Navy who
shall have left Her Majesty's service before the 31st day of
August 1863, and who, but for the Ordinance of February 1863, would
have been entitled to a remission of purchase money, shall be
deemed to be entitled to such remission, provided they make a
statutory declaration that they were not aware at the time of
leaving Her Majesty's service of the alteration created by that
Ordinance, and provided further that they have duly complied with its
requirements.

5. As the present Ordinance was passed in conformity with the
views of the Secretary of State to meet a particular case, I
see no objection why it should not be approved.



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Wood to Cardwell

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a note of the 18h of
June last in reply to my application for the appointment of Chief
Justice in this Colony to the effect that my application would be
recorded.

Since applying for this appointment His Excellency Governor Kennedy
has done me the honour of appointing me Acting Attorney General for
this Colony, pending your approval; and I trust that those matters
which may have been communicated to you on my behalf will warrant the
confirmation of my appointment at your hands.

Looking upon the position of Chief Justice as one of supreme honor
and importance I should desire still to have my name retained as
applying for it should it still be considered not a matter of
paramount importance to the interests of the public that a member of
our profession should be appointed direct from home.

Some question regarding the salary of the Attorney General has
already arisen between my predecessor in office and His Excellency
Governor Kennedy and he has kindly allowed me to state my views on
the matter in this note which he has enclosed with his own dispatches.

His Excellency is of opinion that the Attorney General for this
Colony should undertake for a fixed sum all business both by way of
advice to the Government as also all contentious business in Courts
of Criminal & Civil Jurisdiction.

I have no experience in myself of the practice in such matters and am
at a distance from such friends as could give me reliable
information, but my belief is that in Colonies as at home the
Attorney Generals salary (in this Colony a very small one) is held to
cover only his advice to Government and does not relate to the
conduct in Court of Suits & prosecutions in which as in suits between
subject & subject, his brief bears a fee of the usual amount paid to
him thro' the Crown Solicitor.

I may say that in this Colony the practice of a barristers is
distinct from that of an attorney.

It is contended by His Excellency that a fixed salary tends to
prevent an Attorney General from giving false advice with a view to
litigation which he otherwise ought to & that it is convenient for
the Colony to know what their legal expenses will be beforehand—both
of which points I concede.

On the other hand a fixed salary would in the hands of a disingenuous
& indolent man tend to make him sacrifice the interests of the Crown,
possibly of great moment, if they cost him extra trouble, and it may
be easily seen that ill-advice ending in non-action is safer from
public notice & detection than advice ending in action, which passing
as it would thro' the hands of a Solicitor & forming the subject of
conference with him, would also if uncalled for attract remark at the
hands of the public. Added to this, payment according to the amount
of work done is the natural and ordinary mode of remuneration & I may
say that a mode of payment based upon suspicion of the honor of the
counsel and an exception to the known usage of the bar in respect to
other clients ought least of all to prevail towards a law officer of
the Crown usually a member of the English Bar and presumably a man of
integrity & character.

I should respectfully submit that unless inconsistent with the rules
of the Colonial Office the Attorney General's salary should only be
held to cover his advice to Government and the drawing of
proclamations & documents of a simple character but that Acts of
Parliament, Indictments, Deeds, & all matters by way of action or
suit Criminal & Civil should be paid as extra work according to the
scale of fees current in the Colony.

With respect to the existing salary, £300, I believe his Excellency
is of opinion that this sum under any view of the Attorney Generals
duties is very inadequate. The duties of the Attorney General are by
no means light, this being a colony of some commercial importance, &
now comprizing a newly discovered gold field and I believe I am
correct in saying that the salary bears no proportion to that of
other Colonies similarly circumstanced with this & where the costs of
living are so high.

In conclusion I may say that I should be much obliged if you would
give me separate instructions as to what are understood to be the
duties of the Attorney General for this Colony in return for his
salary & that you will be kindly pleased to take into consideration
the augmentation of that salary.



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FILE: 1864-09-01_Farrer_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645TA01.txt
================================================================================

Farrer to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council
for Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 20th
Ultimo, transmitting by direction of Mr Secretary Cardwell, a
Copy of a Despatch from the Governor of British Columbia inclosing
an Ordinance passed in the Month of May last, and entitled No 17
"An Ordinance for the protection of Inventions" together with the
observations of the Local Attorney General upon it: and also a
printed paper containing abstract of replies to a despatch calling
for information as to the form of application to be made by persons
desirous of obtaining patent rights in the Colonies.

In reply to the inquiry contained in your letter, I am to
request that Mr Cardwell may be informed that My Lords observe
in the communications from the Governor and the Attorney General
of British Columbia, that the Ordinance in question (which does
not give the duration of the patent right, or provide the
formalities which are to precede the grant of a patent) is regarded
by the Local Authorities as an imperfect measure, having been
passed to meet an immediate emergency in anticipation of more
extended litigation on the subject: and that under these
circumstances My Lords do not see reason why the Ordinance should
not be left to its intended operation.



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FILE: 1864-09-02_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647235.txt
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No. 35

I have received and have had under my consideration an Act passed
by the legislature of Vancouver Island in March last and entitled, No.
89 "An Act to establish Pilots for the Port of Victoria and for other
purposes relating thereto," which was forwarded with your Despatch No.
10, of the 14th March.

I have reported to Her Majesty in Council my Opinion that this Act
should be left to its operation; and I have the honor to transmit to you
herewith an Order of Her Majesty in Council dated the 27th of August
approving that report.

The enclosed Copy of a Letter from the Board of Trade will place
you in possession of the Lordships' views on the subject of this Act,
and I beg to call your attention to their suggestion that in future
Legislation respecting pilotage, regard should be had to the Imperial
Acts on that subject.



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FILE: 1864-09-02_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647433.txt
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No. 33

I have laid before the Queen the Ordinance, which was enclosed in
your Despatch No. 10, of the 2nd of June, entitled No. 12 "An Ordinance
to increase the facilities for registering documents relating to real
property" and I have the honor to inform you that Her Majesty has been
pleased to confirm and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision upon the Ordinance to
the Inhabitants of British Columbia in the usual manner.



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FILE: 1864-09-02_Farrer_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TA02.txt
================================================================================

Farrer to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

In reply to your letter of the 20th Ultimo, transmitting by
direction of Mr Secretary Cardwell for the consideration of this
Board, a Copy of an Ordinance No 10 passed by the Legislature of
British Columbia entitled "An Ordinance to facilitate the formation
 of Mining Joint Stock Companies" I am directed by the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade to state that My Lords are of
opinion that the Ordinance in question may be allowed to take effect.



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FILE: 1864-09-05_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64169.txt
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No. 69, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to inform you that I have within a few days visited
the Sooke District where gold has been recently discovered.

Between 300 and 400 men have taken out licences and a much larger
number are at work in various ways. The men are at present generally
confining themselves to working on the bed of the river and I saw
them taking out from three to thirty dollars worth of gold per day
each without other appliances than a pick and shovel. I have every
hope from the formation of the country that gold will be found over a
large extent of it. The miners are content with their present gains
and future prospects.

I have had trails cut from Sooke Harbour to the Mines, and connecting
the latter with Victoria, 25 miles. Pack horses are carrying up
provisions and supplies of all kinds at prices but little in advance
of those prevailing at Victoria. The discovery has already given a
great impetus to trade.

I enclose a number of photographic views which convey a very good
idea of the character of the country where the gold is found.



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FILE: 1864-09-05_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64170.txt
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No. 70, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit the latest Report from Mr Brown in
command of the exploring party.

Public opinion has already undergone a great change as to the value
of Crown Lands in this Colony.



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FILE: 1864-09-05_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64231.txt
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No. 31

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No. 12 of
the 11th of June, informing me that Dr Rae would probably
shortly arrive in the Colony for the purpose of surveying a
practicable route for an electric telegraph from head of Fraser
River to New Westminster, and directing me to afford him
assistance in the prosecution of the undertaking.

2. I enclose copy of a Notice which I caused to be inserted
in the Gazette calling upon all Magistrates, Constables, and
other public officers to furnish Dr Rae with any aid of which
he might stand in need. It is almost superfluous for me to say
that I shall offer him personally every assistance on his arrival
in New Westminster.



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FILE: 1864-09-05_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64232.txt
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No. 32

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No. 17 of
the 21st of June directing me to furnish certain explanations
which the Lords Commissoners of Her Majesty's Treasury require
to enable their Lordships to judge whether the Revenue of 1864
is properly disposed of [in] the Ordinance No. 3 of this year.

2. In obedience to Your commands I have now the honor to
forward the Colonial Estimates for 1864 prepared in the forms
A and B. I enclose also a copy of the speech with which my
Predecessor opened the Legislative Session.

3. The Appropriation Ordinance was passed before my arrival
in this Colony.



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FILE: 1864-09-05_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64233.txt
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No. 33

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No 18 of
the 21st of June forwarding a letter from Mr J.B. Gaggin,
a Stipendiary Magistrate in this Colony, complaining of his
suspension from Office by my predecessor. I am directed to
furnish a report on the subject.

2. The papers enclosed in your despatch furnish a full
statement of the case, on behalf of Mr Gaggin. I have only
to say that I acknowledge that statement to be correct. He was,
it appears to me, treated without sufficient consideration for
his character by Sir James Douglas. Mr Gaggin has his faults
as a public officer, but the charge of dishonesty broke down
entirely, and it was only due to him to give the utmost publicity
to that fact. Instead of this another accusation was immediately
brought forward and Mr Gaggin was removed from Douglas and left
on my hands with a slight slur upon him and a salary, but no
sphere of duties. I sent Mr Gaggin to the important little
town of Quesnel Mouth where his services appear to give satisfaction.

3. I have now written to Mr Gaggin entirely exculpating him
from the charge of dishonesty and offering him, as the most public
refutation I could give, to restore him to his former appointment
at Douglas.

4. If you should approve of the steps I have taken, the matter
may, I conceive be allowed to drop.



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No. 71, Miscellaneous

I have the honor by the desire of Mr D.B. Ring to transmit the
accompanying (original) letters.

Mr Ring entirely misapprehends my reasons for overlooking his
supposed "claims" and appointing Mr Wood to the office of Acting
Attorney General. I may here add my opinion that under the peculiar
condition of the Public Service in this Colony it will be desirable
that you should appoint a chief justice and Attorney General wholly
unconnected with it when a proper provision is made for their
salaries.



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No. 34

I have laid before the Queen the Ordinances quoted in the margin

*

which were transmitted to me in your Despatches, Nos. 12, 13 and 15 of
the 3rd and 4th of June, and I have the honor to inform you that Her
Majesty has been pleased to confirm and allow them.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision on these Ordinances to
the Inhabitants of British Columbia in the usual manner.



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No. 35

I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed Copy of a
Communication which was addressed by direction of the Secretary of State
for War to the Governor of British Columbia on the 29th of January last
requesting certain information relating to the accounts for the pay and
subsistence of the detachment of Royal Engineers lately serving in the
Colony.

Earl de Grey has informed me that no reply has yet been received to
this communication. I have therefore to request that you will furnish
me with a report on the subject.



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FILE: 1864-09-07_Higgins_to_Secretary_of_State_B646H01.txt
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Higgins to Secretary of State

By a private letter I have just received from a gentleman at
Brockville Canada West, who is aware of my having a Son in Van Couver
Island British Columbia, I am furnished with the following extract
from a Toronto newspaper,

By the arrival of HM Surveying Ship Beaver we have a full
account of the melancholy but not unexpected murder of Alex
McDonald & several of his party, while on their way through from
Benti[n]ck Arm to Fort Alexandria on the Fraser river, on the 17th
May last.

My son's name Clifford Higgins is among the number murdered.

I beg your Excellency may inform me with any particulars you may
have relating to this sad massacre, whether the body was recovered &
any information that will allow me to believe the above mentioned
Clifford Higgins was my son.



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FILE: 1864-09-07_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64172.txt
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No. 72, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit a Requisition for Books with which I beg
to request the Crown Agents for the Colonies may be instructed to
comply.



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No. 34

I have the honor to transmit herewith a Requisition from
the Harbour Master for certain Buoys and Moorings required for
the entrance of Fraser River and to request you will be good
enough to instruct the Crown Agents to procure the Articles in
question and to ship them to this Colony with all convenient speed.



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FILE: 1864-09-08_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647236.txt
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No. 36

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No.
39, of the 7th of July, requesting that steps may be taken for sending
to Vancouver Island, for service in the Colony, a small number of
Policemen who have been trained in the Irish Police Force.

The measure which you recommend appears in itself desirable, but
adverting to the discussions which have taken place on financial matters
in the Colony, and not seeing in the Estimates which have come home any
appropriation by the Legislature for such a service, I feel it necessary
to refer to you in order to ascertain that the requisite funds are duly
placed at your control, before I can take any steps for procuring and
sending out the required Policemen.



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No. 37

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No.
44, of the 13th of July last, enclosing a Copy of your address on
proroguing the Legislature of Vancouver Island on the 8th of that month.



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FILE: 1864-09-08_Farrer_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TA03.txt
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Farrer to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council
for Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th
August accompanied by a copy of a despatch from the Governor of
British Columbia enclosing an ordinance of the Colonial Legislature
for the regulation of the inland navigation of British Columbia
together with the observations of the local Attorney General upon
it and requesting to be informed whether this Board see any
objection to confirming the ordinance in question.

In reply I am to acquaint you that this Board see no reason
on account of the circumstances stated in the letter of the
Governor which should induce them to advise the Secretary of
State to disallow the ordinance. That ordinance appears to be
in conformity with the legislation of the United Kingdom and
the objections of the Governor on the grounds of policy seem to
this Board to be of a kind which can be appreciated by the
Secretary of State alone.

As regards the details I am to observe

1st That "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854," which the
ordinance adopts, has been altered in various respects by
amendment Acts—copies of which are sent herewith for the
Governor's information. His attention should be especially
called to the last Amendment Act; viz: that of 1862.

2ndly As regard Clause 6 of the ordinance I am to
call attention to the new rules, copy of which is sent herewith,
for preventing collisions and to state that it is important
that these rules should be uniform and that in issuing rules
under section 6 of this ordinance these rules should be adopted.

My Lords consider this to be a point of great importance
since the rules have been adopted by all maritime nations
and since in the case of North America we have agreed with
the Government of the United States to apply them to the
inland waters as well as to the sea. If any special rules
are required for any particular river which is within the
colony they should be strictly confined to that river.

3rdly As regards clause IV taken in connection with
clauses XVI & XVII I am to draw attention to the fact that
Clause IV empowers the Governor to enable aliens to own
certain British ships. This appears to be contrary to the
letter of section 18 of the Imperial Act, which requires
that British ships shall be British owned.

I am also to point out that if it is intended that the
ordinance shall operate to repeal the Imperial Act as regards
certain vessels registered in the colony by virtue of the
powers contained in Section 547 of that Act the repeal ought
to be confined to vessels which by no possibility can go
beyond the limits of the rivers or lakes contained within
the colony and which therefore cannot come in contact with
foreign vessels or have anything to do with foreign laws or
jurisdiction. But it seems doubtful whether if this is
intended it should not be more clearly expressed.



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No. 35

I have the honor to forward herewith a Requisition from the
Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for certain Stores required
for his Department, and to request you will be good enough to
instruct the Crown Agents to procure the Articles in question and
to ship them to this Colony with all convenient speed.

2. As the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, Mr J.W.
Trutch is now on his way to England he has asked permission
to purchase certain Drawings and Works on Engineering which are
required for his Department, I have therefore the honor to request
you will at the same time authorize the Crown Agents to advance
Mr Trutch a sum of Two hundred pounds (£200) for this purpose.



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No. 36

I have had the honor to receive your circular despatch
No. 2 of the 30th of June directing me to take care that
when any Chief Justice or other Judge holding a direct
Commission from the Admiralty may relinquish his Colonial
Judicial Appointment, he should also surrender his Commission
as Judge of the Vice Admiralty Court. The same rule is to apply to
Officers holding appointments from the Admiralty as Registrars
and Marshals of that Court.

2. Your orders shall of course be obeyed, but your despatch
reminds me that my predecessor, Sir James Douglas, holds the
only Commission issued for a Vice Admiral of this Colony. I
have received none.



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FILE: 1864-09-08_Walcott_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645LN04.txt
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Walcott to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge your Letter of the 29th ultimo, with
copies of two Despatches from the Governor of Van Couvers Island and
of a Letter from Mr Richards the Hydrographer to the Admiralty, on
the subject of the ownership of Fisgard Island on which stands the
Lighthouse at the entrance of Esquimalt Harbor.

2. It appears that there are no records in the Light House Board or
in the Colonial Secretary's Office of the Ownership of Fisguard

Island, or of its purchase by the Government; but Mr Richards in his
Letter states that previous to the transfer of Van Couvers Island
from the Hudsons Bay Company to the Crown, the whole or nearly the
whole of the shores of Esquimalt Harbor with the numerous small
Islands in it were owned by the Puget Sound Company, or by private
individuals—and that Fisgard Island (a rock in the Harbor of between
100 and 200 yards in extent) formed part of a property called Belmont
belonging to Mrs Young before her marriage, or to her Father. From the
other papers it appears that on the 20th December 1829 the Surveyor
General, by order of the Colonial Secretary Mr Young, paid to him Mr Young £150 as the purchase money of the Island, but that no deed of
conveyance was then executed of the property. The attention of
Governor Kennedy having recently been drawn to the subject, enquiries
were set on foot, but beyond the fact of payment of the purchase
money, none of the Officers of the Government through whom such a
transaction would in the ordinary course have passed, knew anything
at all about it. Eventually however the purchase deed executed by Mr
& Mrs Young, before they left the Colony, to Mr Pemberton in his
capacity of Surveyor General of the Colony was discovered in the
hands of a Solicitor unconnected with the Government, who delivered
it up to the Attorney General on the 17th of June last. This deed
is dated the 14th of May last, and although purporting to be made
between Mr & Mrs Young on the one part, and Mr Pemberton as Surveyor
General of the Colony on the other part, is executed by Mr & Mrs
Young only. In consequence of the absence of Mr Pembertons
signature the Governor raises a question as to the validity of the
Deed. On this point Mr Cardwell is desirous of having our report, as
well as whether any and what communication on the subject should be
made to Mr Young who is now in this Country.

3. The mere circumstances that the Deed was not signed by the
Grantee Mr Pemberton, would not affect its validity as regards the
Grantors. Mr & Mrs Young are equally bound by their execution of
the Deed. If therefore no other question arose on the Instrument, it
would not be necessary to call on them for a fresh conveyance.
Another important question however does arise on the face of the
Deed. It conveys the property to Mr Pemberton in his official
capacity as Surveyor General
"and his successors in office." But as the office of Surveyor
General is not a corporate one, the Conveyance does not I apprehend
carry the legal estate in fee as is the intention—but by reason of
the particular terms used, operates as a conveyance to Mr Pemberton
for his life only. I think therefore that Mr Young and his wife
should at once be called upon, under his covenant for further
assurance, to execute a fresh conveyance so as to vest the fee simple
of the Island in some official body in the Colony having a corporate
capacity to be held in trust for the public—such for instance as
the Lighthouse Board, if it be a corporation. As Mr Young is now in
England, Mr Cardwell will I presume desire to have this Deed prepared
by the Solicitor of the Treasury on behalf of the Crown.

4. I would further submit that Mr Young should at the same time be
afforded an opportunity of clearing up what appears to have been a
great irregularity in the conduct of public business—and what,
looking at the official position he held at the time, certainly needs
explanation. The whole transaction seems to have centered in him.
It does not appear how the purchase originated—who sanctioned it,
what means were taken to ascertain that he and his wife had a good
title to the property they sold—or who approved of the purchase deed
on behalf of the Crown. 
5. The Governor thinks that the intrinsic value
of the rock is merely nominal. Mr Richards on the other hand thinks
that the price paid was not under the circumstances unreasonable. On
this point it would probably not now be deemed advisable to raise any
question, if the rest of the transaction is unimpeachable.

6. As the most convenient mode of showing the nature of the
communication which I would suggest should be addressed to Mr Young I
annex the draft of a Letter to him for the consideration of Mr Cardwell.



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FILE: 1864-09-09_Ring_to_Cardwell_V646R01.txt
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Ring to Cardwell

The Governor has forwarded to you the originals of the enclosed with
his own despatch.

As in the administration of affairs in this colony circumstances
similar to those therein mentioned can hardly occur during my life
the best part of which is long spent already and the great injustice,
unintentionally done me, and which is felt by the whole Profession
here and the Public
if not rectified by you must be lasting,
I feel the more sure that you will give your best attention to those
circumstances.



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No. 37

As surmised in the 17th paragraph of my despatch, No 7
of 20th of May, which reported the massacre of Mr Waddington's
road party at Bute Inlet by the Chilicoten Indians, the murderers
without delay, crossed the mountains and took to the plains of the
interior.

2. The Volunteers I despatched under Mr Brew were unable to
follow them. Even to reach the spot where Brewster, the foreman
of the Road gang, was killed, the men had to be lowered down a
precipice by ropes and those who had the nerve reached the place
where the body lay by crossing a ravine several hundreds of feet
deep on a single log. Where Indians could pass most of the New
Westminster Volunteers could follow, but the former had no need to
carry food as they entered a friendly country, the latter must
either bring with them the means of subsistence or starve. I
satisfied myself that our men ought not to be allowed to penetrate
to the interior by way of Bute Inlet. I never saw so difficult
a country. The mountains in many cases rise simply at right
angles to the plains. Glaciers are poised over narrow valleys
of almost tropical heat, and the cascades fall from the summit
of the precipice scarcely wetting the perpendicular wall of rock.
Mr Brew's party buried the remains of the Road Makers and returned
to New
Westminster.

3. Within the great barrier of the Cascade Range lies the
Chilicoten Country to which the Murderers retired. It was almost
unknown to white men until recent events have caused it to be
ransacked by armed bands of volunteers in its remotest corners.
I enclose a map drawn by the Royal Engineers of the supposed
features of the Country and also one of the Bute Inlet Country
compiled from Indian information and recent research to show
how complete our ignorance has hitherto been.

4. The Country occupied by the Chilicotens extends probably
two hundred miles North and South. From the summit of the Bute Inlet Mountains to the West Road River, East and West the tribe
roamed from the Cascade Range to the Fraser, a distance of three
hundred Miles. Most of the land is of high elevation, the vegetation
stunted and the plains of greater extent than generally found in
British Columbia. But there are many valleys of the greatest
fertility, and the rivers and lakes are innumerable. The Indian
trails which traverse the country concentre at Benshee Lake, and
that therefore was the point which any expedition sent against
the Indian Murderers would try to reach. On the failure to pass
the Bute Mountains there remained only two reasonably practicable
ways of reaching Benshee with provisions, the one by Alexandria,
the other by Bentinck Arm. Before sending Mr Brew to Bute Inlet
orders had been given for Mr Cox and a party of Volunteers to
advance on Benshee from the former point. The want of a transport,
as stated in my despatch No 8 of 20th May, prevented an
expedition from the latter.

5. Little was known of the Chilicoten Country and not much
more of its inhabitants. It was supposed that the tribe, even
after the ravages of small pox, could muster several hundred
warriors. It was seen, from the few who occasionally visited
the coast, that they were a tall, athletic race, well provided
with horses, and well supplied with Arms. They had ocasionally
made war upon the tribes near the Sea and always with success.
Three or four mule trains had passed from West to East carrying
goods to the Gold mines of Cariboo, and the drivers had become
 acquainted with Anaheim, the principal Chief of the Western
 division of the Tribe, whose seat is at Nacoontloon, and Alexis,
who resides about a hundred miles from Alexandria. The last named
had however frequent intercourse with the Whites at the Hudson
Bay fort on the Fraser, and has been occasionally visited by the
Roman Catholic priests. We had vaguely heard that a large force
 under a subordinate to Alexis occupied the lodges on Benshee,
 and that a detachment of Anaheim's men was in possession of a
palisaded fort at Sutleth. All these places lie in the trail
by which the mule trains passed. To the Southward, in the great
indentation formed by the sweep of the Cascade range, it was
believed that many of the Chilicotens had their hunting and fishing
grounds, but the country had escaped the visit of even the most
adventurous white men. Such was the extent of the knowledge of this
vast territory we possessed when it became necessary to invade it.

6. The Murderers having reached the plains to the Northward
of Bute Inlet, marched with great rapidity to Benshee Lake. They
appear to have picked up recruits on the way for the force numbered
nearly 30 Men when it approached the farm of a white settler,
William Manning. The Chief, Klatssassin, who had presided over
the massacre at Bute Inlet sent an Indian Woman to this man with
the message that he was going to kill him without delay. Manning
made no answer, but went and sat on a log outside his house. In
a few minutes the Chilicotens came down, despatched him with a
tomahawk, mangled the body brutally and threw it into a small
stream close by the house. They plundered the stores of everything,
burnt down the buildings, hay stacks, all that could thus be
destroyed, and even went to the trouble of breaking up the
ploughs and other agricultural implements.

7. Manning was the only fixed settler in this Country, but
unfortunately a train of 42 horses with eight drivers, was
approaching from Bentinck Arm, the party alluded to in my previous
 despatch. Klatsassin went to meet them, and as in the case of
Manning, at once told Macdonald, the head of the party, that he
was come to put them all to death. But the eight white men were
well armed and showed that they were likely to sell their lives
dearly, the Indians hesitated and then apparently retired. But
Macdonald knew that they were not far off and threw up some
earthworks on the summit of a small hill and remained in safety
for some days. Then he determined on retreating as fast as he
could in the Bella Coola Country. As his party left their shelter
the Chilicotens appeared in force and galloped towards them. The
white men were however first to reach a long narrow Indian bridge
over a swamp which they were able to hold against the natives,
who again retired, but only to form an ambush on the trail. A
volley was then fired at the train as it passed. Two of the men
were dismounted, a horse killed, and then an open attack made by
an overwhelming force. In it Macdonald and two of his party were
killed. The fortunate accident of the horses rushing between the
packers and the Indians enabled five of the former to escape
though they were badly wounded.

acts of violence as isolated massacres, but there is no objection
to our now avowing that an Indian Insurrection existed, extremely
formidable from the inaccessible nature of the country over which
it raged. It seemed that the whole Chilicoten tribe was involved
in it, as Benshee, where Manning was murdered is under the
 jurisdiction of Alexis; Sutleth, where Macdonald and his two
 comrades fell, is under that of Anaheim. They must have had the
 sympathy, at least, of the Bella Coolas also, for Anaheim descended
to their lands to finish the extermination of the Whites and it
was only by mere chance that a Mr Hamilton, his wife, and daughter,
escaped with their lives just as the Chilicotens arrived. The Country
had been so thinly settled by Europeans that with the departure of
the Hamiltons, the white occupation ceased from the Sea to the
Fraser. The Bella Coola Indians exposed to the visit of a Ship of
War, did not openly join in the insurrection but they made no protest
against the violation of their territory which they had heretofore so
jealously guarded.

9. Great excitement prevailed in this and the neighbouring
Colony while the extermination of our fellow countrymen proceeded
and beyond our own limits no allowance was made for my inability
to procure the Services of a ship of war, nor for the ruggedness
of the Cascade Mountains which seemed to close the access to the
interior to beasts of burden or loaded men. True, Mr Cox's party
had started from Alexandria but in numbers insufficient to suppress 
so large an insurrection. Great therefore was my satisfaction when
at last Vice Admiral Kingcome arrived on the Station and consented
to convey an Expedition to Bentinck Arm from which point we were
determined to reach if possible, the hunting grounds of the
Chilicotens. Not an hour was wilfully lost in raising a party of
volunteers, forty in number, in New Westminster. I gave the command
to Mr Brew, Police Magistrate of New Westminster, and determined on
accompanying him, at all events as far as Bella Coola, where I could
judge whether it was possible for the party to proceed.

10. On the failure of the attempt to reach the interior by
way of Bute Inlet I had written to Mr Cox to say that I had only
him to depend on, and that he must make his force sufficiently
strong to stand alone. He had some difficulty in procuring
volunteers in the Upper Country, but finally he succeeded in
enrolling a force of thirty, which he subsequently increased
to fifty and finally to sixty five men; most of them natives of
the United States and not much disposed to relish the restraint
which I put upon them in carrying on operations against the
Indians. Mr Cox left Alexandria on the 8th of June, and
reached Benshee Lake, a distance of 112 Miles by the Indian
trail on the 12th. Thirty seven horses accompanied the expedition.

11. The path on which he travelled passes over a bare hill,
within a mile of Mannings farm. From its summit Mr Cox's party
descried the Chilicotens in full occupation of their lodges. As
his advanced guard rose into sight the natives appeared to think
that another luckless pack train had fallen into their hands and
prepared to meet it; and here I think Mr Cox missed a good
opportunity of securing the persons of the murderers, as a valley
immediately on his right would have led his men unseen to the
rear of the Indian position. They however showed themselves in
force with their long train of pack horses, and the natives with
every demonstration of rage and hatred, abandoned their village
and retired to the forest. In the afternoon Mr Cox sent six men
to reconnoitre. They were fired on by the Indians, who drove them
back on the main body, reloading and firing as they advanced,
& wounding one man. On the following day the white men set fire
to the Indian lodges, when the owners again appeared with loud
yells on the top of a hill and fired off their muskets, though
without inflicting damage. Mr Cox then constructed a log fort
on the summit of a hill and waited with a flag of truce flying
for the arrival of any friendly Indians who might be in the
Country. None came, and on my arrival at Benshee on the 6th
July, I found Mr Cox and his force within the log walls of his
fortress. They were virtually besieged by an invisible enemy.

12. Meanwhile the New Westminster expedition was coming to his
assistance. When entering Bentinck Arm, the flag ship was boarded
by three wounded men from Macdonald's party. They told us of the
 rising of Anaheim, the fortunate escape of the Hamiltons, and
gave generally so gloomy an account of the state of the country
that I thought it right either to withhold Mr Brew's party, or
to go through with it myself. I selected the latter alternative.

13. Feeling that the presence of a powerful ship like the
"Sutlej" would overawe the Coast Indians, Mr Brew, with my
concurrence, took thirty of them, under the young fighting Chief,
into his pay. With thirty eight Volunteers from New Westminster,
our Indian band, and nineteen pack horses, we started from Rascal's
Village on the 20th June for Benshee Lake, in the centre of the
Chilicoten Country 250 Miles from our base of operations. As we
advanced the communications closed behind us and I had but rare
opportunities of communicating with your department.

14. The few pack trains which have passed through the Chilicoten
territory, came from Alexandria, to the head of boat navigation
on the Bella Coola River 53 miles from its Mouth. The goods are
conveyed in Canoes to the spot where land transport commences.
We therefore, as pioneers in one sense of the Bella Coola Country, the
first men to bring horses from the Sea, had to cut a trail and
build bridges for them along the whole extent of the rich Alluvial
Valley. The streams running into the river—itself a mere torrent—fed
from the glaciers immediately above us were innumerable and
our progress consequently slow. We however reached the summit of
the Cascade Mountains on 30th June and found ourselves at last
in the Chilicoten Country, having suffered the comparatively
trifling loss, in our difficult march, of three horses, twenty
Indians by desertion, and one Volunteer accidentally wounded
near Rascal's Village.

15. We had met native tribes but twice in our passage up the
Bella Coola. The Tsantonies had taken possession of Mr Hamilton's
house at the ferry and seemed disposed to dispute our passage
of the river. Our Indian allies however stood by us manfully
and by a display of force accompanied by kind words and small
presents we secured the wavering allegiance of this tribe, who
had heard of many murders of white men, but never of retribution
following. The Kishkatts, whom we subsequently fell in with in
the woods, threw away their furs and food and made off towards
the mountains. They were pursued by the Bella Coolas with a
rapidity which damped my hope of our success in catching the
tall and powerful Chilicotens. The Kishkatts were brought back
and appeared wild but docile.

16. While still engaged in the precipices of the "Great Slide,"
where the Indian trail runs up the almost perpendicular side of
a mountain of disintegrated trap rock, shouts were heard in the
back and our Indians captured one Chilicoten. We learnt subsequently
 that it was Anaheim and his followers who filled the woods. Perhaps
the resolute bearing of the Volunteers, perhaps the presence among
us of friendly Indians, prevented the attack which appears to have
been meditated; an attack which would have taken our party at a
great disadvantage, and might have had the success which was
already boasted of, as will be seen from the extract from a
Vancouver Island Paper which I enclose.

LATEST FROM BUTE INLET
ANOTHER MASSACRE

A Mr. Sampore, Mr. Waddington's store keeper, arrived from Bute
Inlet, in company with another white man, in a canoe this morning to
bring the following information of the massacre of the whole or part
of the Bentinck Arm expedition.

A report was brought down by coast Indians, and communicated by
them to the Eucletaws at Bute Inlet to the effect that the whole
expedition (Mr. Waddington thinks perhaps only a provision party with
escort) has been surprised half way up while mounting the "Original
Slide" on the Bentinck Arm Trail, the bare side of a precipitous
mountain 2000 feet high. The Indians had prepared at the top of the
mountain a number of large rocks and logs of wood which they
precipitated on the men below, and swept them down into the torrent
1000 feet beneath.

Such is the version which Mr. Sampore has brought down, and
which he found to be corroborated by accounts brought to Nanaimo,
where it was fully accredited last Sunday.

Two of the Chilcoaten murderers, before Mr. Sampore left, came
down to the head of the Inlet to reconnoitre, but immediately
disappeared when they found that they were observed. This occurrence
had so frightened the friendly Indians that they had left the town
site immediately, and encamped upon an impregnable position at the
head of the Inlet.

Nothing had been heard by the Indians of the reported disaster
to Mr. Cox's party.

We are indebted to Mr. Waddington for the above information.

17. Beyond the watchfulness necessarily incident to the march
through a country where every bush might conceal an ambush there
was but little to relieve the monotony of the travel in the
stunted forest of the high plains. Silence was generally observed,
and no shot permitted at the many grouse which would have varied
our plain food.

18. It was known that Anaheim had a palisaded fort at Nacoontloon,
and Mr Brew hoped that he and his whole branch of the Chilicotens
would make a stand there, if even in vastly superior numbers,
and bring matters to a crisis, and the long wearying marches to
a termination. But the fort was vacant, the village deserted.
Then came some variety, in the passing the scene of the last
massacre, and the painful task of burying the bodies of our
countrymen, multilated by the Indians, mangled by the wolves
and rendered ghastly by decay. Dead horses lay on the trail,
gutted pack saddles, boxes of wax candles, broken agricultural
implements, a musket shattered by a bullet. An Indian Chief
had been shot by Macdonald after he himself had received his
death wound. Him, his comrades had buried pompously, adorning
his grave with flags, but the exigencies of the war with the
whites were too great for them to sacrifice, in the usual
manner, his horse and musket for his future use.

19. To prevent the further, lengthening out of this inevitably
long despatch I enclose copy of a letter written by my direction
from Benshee Lake, by Lieutenant Cooper R.M., who acted as my
aide de camp. I should however do more full justice, than
could be done in a letter signed by himself, to the conduct
of the flying party despatched under him in pursuit of the
Indians to Lake Capana. They started off at an hours notice,
with but one horse to carry food for the whole party, the rain
coming down in torrents, and with orders not to light a fire.
The country had never been previously seen by a white man. The
principal guide was the Chilicoten prisoner. For many days they
followed in the tracks of the flying Indians and only ceased
their pursuit when all trace of the fugitives disappeared
on the smooth rock on the snow margin of the Cascade Mountains.
They were deserted by their guide, who very nearly succeeded
in taking with him the one horse attached to the expedition.

20. On the departure of Mr Cooper, the remainder of Mr Brew's
party, including myself, pushed on with great rapidity towards
Benshee. I had directed Mr Cox to meet me in person, or send
someone in whom, he had confidence, to do so, 15 miles along
the Bentinck Arm trail, but no one appeared at the spot appointed
for the conference. I had several important reasons in view in
giving this direction. I apprehended some danger to discipline
in the having so large a force of Volunteers under two distinct
commanders encamped together. I wished to be nearer to the flying
party in case disaster should have happened, but no alternative
under the circumstances was left but for us to proceed. On the
6th of July our small party marched rapidly into Mr Cox's
fortress five days earlier than we were expected.

21. There was naturally great satisfaction on both sides in
this successful junction. I was received with many cheers and
"tigers" by the Alexandria party. But the first excitement
over, I could not but enquire of Mr Cox why so large a force as sixty five men had been kept inactive for so long! They had
actually reached Benshee two days before we left New Westminster!
It appeared, that they had marched through a deserted country,
indifferent, if not hostile, to them. Alexis, the ruler, had
 not openly declared against the whites like Anaheim, but no
reliance could be placed in him. At first he was reported to be
ill. Then he was stated to be hunting Cariboo (Reindeer) in the
Mountains. However it was soon arranged that he should be waited
for no longer but that the Alexandria party should proceed on
the following morning towards Lake Takla and the Bute Inlet
Mountains. Accordingly the whole force marched out at daylight,
presenting a very fine and formidable appearance.

22. The few hours that the two parties had passed together,
sufficed to show the difference in their character. The men
raised in the Gold districts, mostly Americans, passed the
greater part of the night in dancing or playing cards to an
accompaniment of war whoops and the beating of tin pots. The
New Westminster expedition, almost exclusively English, and
comprising many discharged Sappers, spent the evening in their
usual quiet soldier-like manner. No spirituous liquor was in
either camp, yet the amusements were kept up in the one long
after total silence prevailed in the other, and a slight
estrangement commenced between the occupiers of the fort and
those encamped on the plain below which was never entirely healed.

23. The provisions had begun to run short in Mr Brew's camp,
and small as our numbers were, he had to despatch a pack train
with escort for supplies to the summit of the great Slide as
soon as Mr Cox's force had departed.

24. For three days and nights the small residue of the New Westminster party remained unable to separate, and obliged
to be vigilant at night. The fort had been left in so repulsive
a condition that Mr Brew preferred extra watchfulness outside
to the comparative security within.

The Indian scouts prowled about. The barking of the dogs at
night was frequent and angry, and fresh tracks of moccassined or bare
feet would be visible in the morning. Several of the party watched
till dawn and slept by day.

25. On the 10th the party detached on the 2nd to Capana
Lake joined us and we were sufficiently strong to venture out
in small numbers fishing or shooting.

26. A Chilicoten woman, who formerly lived with Manning, had
remained near the ruins of his farm. Mr Brew addressed himself
 to, and urged her to go to Alexis and explain how matters stood.
That this was no war with the Tribe, but merely the pursuit of
certain bad men who had, without provocation, murdered a large
number of whites. That the Governor himself had come to see
justice done, and that he promised protection to him, and all
those who accompanied him, if he would visit our camp. She was
by no means imbued with the hatred to the white man which prevailed
among the warriors of her tribe, and left on the afternoon of
7th to look for her chief. She came backwards and forwards
once or twice, brought in some children; then one man, who seemed
to be sent to test the sincerity of our professions of moderation.
When he had returned unharmed, a considerable number of squaws
formed a fishing station six miles off and entered the camp almost
daily, with growing confidence to barter trout for sugar. Fully
satisfied at last of our good faith, the women promised that
Alexis should come in if the Governor remained, and broke up their
encampment to go finally in search of him.

27. The supply of food was very low. The river had been twisted
and turned out of its course so often by the Bella Coola Indians
attached to the camp, that the fish had all been caught or driven
away. Dysentery, too, began to shew itself under a diet composed
principally of fish, (till they failed) unripe gooseberries, and a small
allowance of flour, but the pack train was now over due, and Mr Brew
determined to wait until starvation approached, and then make a
forced march for food, 112 miles into Alexandria.

28. On the 20th of July Mr Cox's party returned to Benshee,
though they had still six day's provisions left, and had no
knowledge that the New Westminster force had not received any
supplies. Mr Cox had penetrated far into the country to the
Southward, among the richest fishing, and fallen in with many
Indians. He had not even the moderate share of good luck in
native assistance which Mr Brew possessed, his men had stated
before leaving the Fraser that they would exterminate every
Chilicoten. Perhaps this boast was the cause of the absence of
Alexis and of Mr Cox's fort having been left unvisited during
the many days in which the white flag flew over it. Whatever
the cause, the Indians kept aloof, and the Northern Volunteers
marched towards Bute Inlet without much knowledge of the
reception they would meet with. It was one of deadly hostility.
The Indians kept close to them, unseen generally, but ever
present. Scouts dogged the white men's steps. Indians on
horseback kept just beyond rifle range. Endless perplexing trails,
running in circles or lost in water were prepared for their
special embarrassment. The trees about the Indian camps had
figures of white men cut in them which had been used as targets
for musket practice. One chief carried his boldness to the
point of causing to warm himself at the camp fire before
Mr Cox had gone two hundred yards from it. Shots were repeatedly
exchanged, with what effect on the enemy we know not, but Mr
McLean, the second in command on our side received a rifle
bullet through the heart. On the day on which he fell Mr Cox turned back, and retraced his steps towards Benshee.

29. The state of affairs in camp was not pleasant. The return
of the Northern Volunteers after the death of Mr Mclean would
spread the notion throughout the Indians of the whole Colony
that we had been beaten; and in point of fact, this was not
far from being the case. Mr Cox and his surviving officers
looked upon the success of the expedition as hopeless until
winter. Mr Brew concurred, and I found myself advised, after
reaching the heart of the Chilicoten country, to direct the
two bands of Volunteers who had cost so much money, and
created such great interest in the Colony, to return home,
leaving matters worse than we had found them. I already saw,
on our retreat, the insurrection spread from the sea to the
Rocky Mountains. A further effort must be made, so I at once
gave orders for the New Westminster Volunteers to take up the
work abandoned by Mr Cox's party.

30. In the afternoon a large party of Indians on horseback
appeared on the hill from which the Alexandria forces had first
become visible to the Chilicotens. The Indians halted and
dismounted. We sent to invite them into the camp, hoping that
the party consisted of Alexis and his followers. Such proved to
be the case. Having received positive assurance that the Governor
was still in camp he agreed to come in. Forming his followers
into some sort of order Alexis and his men came on at the best
pace of the horses, holding their muskets over their heads to
show that they came in peace. Having ascertained which was the
Governor, the Chief threw himself from his horse, and at once
approached me. He was dressed in a french uniform such as one
sees in the pictures of Montcalm.

30. Our

conversation was not satisfactory. I had to complain
of the murder of Manning, and enquire how he, the Chief of the
country, would think it right to go Cariboo hunting when his
men were killing every white person they saw. He said, that
is true, that the great chiefs have lost much of their authority
since the Indians hear every Englishman assume the distinction.
 That the men under Klatsassin and Teloot have renounced all
connexion with him, and have a right to make war on us without
its being any affair of his. I asked what our countrymen had
done to provoke hostilities which had been carried on against
them in such a barbarous manner. His answer was interpreted to
me in Canadian french that Klatsassin's men were "des mauvais
sauvages, qui ne connaissant pas les bon Dieu." I took the utmost
pains to make him understand that we were not at war with the
Chilicotens generally, but only with those on the Bute Inlet
trail, and these we were determined to catch or shoot down.
He enquired with something approaching to a sneer, how long
then I meant to remain on his hunting ground. I said "three
 years."

31. The night which soon closed in was an anxious one. Mr
Cox's party, which was a sort of deliberative assembly, was
dissatisfied with my having doubted the fact that where they
failed no man could succeed. Somehow when the New Westminster
men cheerfully obeyed the orders to replace them, the Alexandria
Volunteers began to think the capture of the Indians by no means
the impossibility it had been represented to be in the morning.
Then, to have assigned to them the duty of holding, with their
65 men the position recently occupied by 10 appeared offensive,
and the whole force agreed to insist on being allowed to march
again against the Indians or to retire. To make matters worse
Alexis's right hand man was recognized as having been at Bute
Inlet during the massacre, and Mr
Cox's party were anxious to
hang him at once or burn him alive, in spite of the promise
that Alexis's followers should be allowed to depart unharmed.
Already the Indians began to uncase their muskets for resistance
 and Ulnas had to be arrested for his own protection. Then
as a further trouble, Mr Brew, as Acting Treasurer, pointed
out the frightful expense of the two months supplies I was
ordering at Cariboo prices from Alexandria. Fears for the safety
of the pack train were general, and over this atmosphere of
discontent hung the dread of famine. We who had barely the
means of feeding ourselves had invited some twenty guests with
whom to share the little that remained.

32. Alexis was able to understand our position, and in the
morning ordered his horses to be saddled. It was of the utmost
importance not to allow of his departure in his present humour
and when discord seemed likely to leave the camp. Mr Brew's
knowledge of the Indians suggested probably the only way in
which the Chief could be detained. He advised me to ask him
to escort me to Alexandria. Surprised but flattered by this
mark of confidence, he agreed to remain.

33. We had started off Mr Cox's best horses to Alexandria
to bring in food when Mr Brew's pack train at length arrived.
It had been obliged to remain for additional escort. With food,
discipline and good humour—which had never deserted the Westminster
 Camp—became general, and Alexis finally agreed to accompany
the expedition to the Bute Inlet Mountains with a considerable force.

34. Mr Cox's men shortly afterwards placed themselves
unconditionally at my disposal if I would take personal command
of the whole of the Colonial forces in the field.

35. A fortnight at least must elapse in idleness
before the supplies and means of transport for the Southern
march would arrive. I had been for many weeks totally severed
from the ordinary duties of my office, and matters of great
importance required my presence in Cariboo, so I determined
on proceeding to Alexandria. My great object in joining the
expedition was to secure moderation from the white men in their
treatment of the Indians. I was determined to show, what had
not previously been seen, in this part of the world, a Government
calm and just under circumstances calculated to create exasperation.
But there was no use shutting my eyes to the fact that this was
a War—merciless on their side—in which we were engaged with
the Chilicoten nation and must be carried on as a war by us.
Happily, for the occasion, our Constables knew the use of the
rifle and revolver at least as well as the more peaceful instruments
generally used in support of the law. To the last however I did
not abandon all hopes of having justice done legally as well as
faithfully, and I left with Mr Brew, an experienced Magistrate
and man of admirable temper and discretion full powers for holding
a Court of Justice in the Chilicoten country.

36. My despatch No 25 of the 30th ultimo will have
informed you of the partial success which has already attended
the second expedition to the Bute Mountains. Klatsassin, Teloot
and all the Chiefs of the insurrection have given themselves up.
Hunted from their fishing grounds having eaten their last
horses they found themselves obliged to surrender or starve.
They have given themselves up, with the solitary condition
imposed by Klatsassin that he shall be allowed to ascend the
scaffold with his arms free, adjust the rope himself, and take
the final leap of his own accord. The prisoners have been
brought to Alexandria and they will be tried by the Chief Justice
& a Jury. If mercy can possibly be extended to some of these
"mauvais sauvages qui ne connaissant pas le bon Dieu" the opportunity
shall not be lost.

37. One of the New Westminster party has come to me from Mr
Brew with despatches. He was escorted to Alexandria by Mr Cox's
men. Mr
Brew's force, in the recesses of the Bute Mountains,
gaunt haggard, scarcely recognizable, are pursuing the Indians,
sometimes at the rate of forty miles a day. The latter driven
from their fishing grounds are burning their lodges behind them
and abandoning everything but their horses, which, like their
pursuers, they eat. If Mr
Brew's means of existence shall have
held out a few days from the date on which he wrote the last
of the Indian rebels in the Bute country will have fought him
 or surrendered. He will still however have to meet Anaheim.

38. That Europeans should thus run down wild Indians in their
own hunting grounds in summer and drive them to suicide or
surrender appears to me, I confess, little short of marvellous.
Mr
Brew has nearly completed that which he believed to be
impossible, and which—to give all their due—would have been
impossible without the assistance of the Bella Coola Chief in
tracking the Chilicotens. Whether his success be complete or not
I shall always look back with satisfaction to the time when I had
the honor to serve under him as one of the New Westminster Volunteers.



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No. 38

The ordinary passenger Steamer on the Upper Fraser called
at Alexandria a few hours after I emerged from the Chilicoten
Country, but my appearance was such, that I did not think it
proper for me to go on board. The following day she was specially
sent down to convey me to Quesnel Mouth. I mention this circumstance
as this unavoidably egotistical despatch will be confined to the
manifestations of loyalty which were bestowed on me as the
representative of the Imperial Government during my recent visit
to the Gold Mines. It was the first time that a Governor had been
seen in the Upper Country.

2. Not satisfied with gratuitously furnishing me with a special
conveyance, the Directors of the Company invited the principal
inhabitants of Quesnel Mouth to accompany me in the Voyage. A
public dinner followed by the usual loyal toasts, was served on
board, and according to an American Custom, "free drinks" to the
number of the guns in the Salute I was to receive on landing,
were bestowed at the Bar. That is to say, the quests were at
liberty to call for seventeen glasses of any thing they pleased,
free of charge.

3. At Quesnel Mouth I was met by, I believe, the whole population
with much cheering and a Royal Salute of twenty one guns. On the
following morning the principal inhabitants called on me. The
enclosed address was presented and replied to. I was then invited
to name the first white child born in the town.

4. I started in the afternoon of the 30th of July for Williams
Creek, Cariboo. At Captain Evans' claim, the first gold mine in
active operation, the miners turned out and gave me a Royal Salute.
On arrival at Williams
Creek, though it was raining hard, a salute
was fired, and several hundred persons cheered me so loud at the
Magistrate's residence, that I had to come into the Street to
thank them.

5. On Tuesday the 2nd August an invitation was given to me
to see the Aurora claim "wash up." I was too late to see this
operation, but the pan of gold just washed, weighing 450 ounces,
was placed before me and I was invited to take any lumps I
pleased. Being lowered down the shaft I found a good "lead"
kept open for me, and I washed a pan I filled, and got upwards
of three ounces of Gold. The miners insisted that I should carry
away the proceeds of my pan, and I was told by the Magistrate that
any offer of payment would be badly received. The high price of
Wines and Spirits in Richfield, however enabled me without
difficulty to return, without hurting the Miners' feelings,
nearly an equivalent for the Gold I accepted.

6. At night a serenade was given to me by about fifteen,
gentlemen, headed by the Member of Council for Cariboo West.

7. On the 4th I accepted similar invitations to wash pans of
"pay dirt" in the Ericson and Caledonia claims and with even
greater success than in the Aurora. I had to retain the Gold
procured by myself, but declined the many other valuable specimens
offered to me during the course of the day.

8. In the Evening I was entertained at dinner by the Miners
at the New French Hotel. The Member for Cariboo West presided,
the Judge, Magistrates, and Clergy, were invited. The dinner,
which must have cost an enormous sum where ordinary Champagne
sells at fifty shillings a bottle, was excellent. The hosts
though indulging in every latitude of costume were perfectly
well bred, and I was glad to find that my presence was no
restraint upon the hilarity of the Evening. The toast of my
health was received with a greater amount of warmth than I
have anywhere else been honored with.

9. I enclose copy of an Address presented to me by the
Mining Board of Cariboo and of my reply. On the 5th I left
Richfield. On the 6th I received a public dinner from the
inhabitants of Quesnel Mouth. On the 7th I was escorted
to the Steamer by most of the gentlemen of the town and embarked
under a Salute.

10. There is no place of importance on the Road to New Westminster,
until Clinton is reached. The inhabitants of that pretty village
fired a salute on my arrival. At Lytton the usual number of guns
were given and fireworks let off during the greater part of the
night. The same at Boston Bar, and I left Yale under two salutes
from the North and South ends of the town. The same marks of
respect attended my departure from Hope and arrival in New Westminster.

11. If the white people were loyal in their demonstrations, Her
Majesty's Indian Subjects were by no means behind them. The
Salmon Season had attracted thousands of them to the Fraser, but
the fishing was neglected for the opportunity of making acquaintance
with, or seeing again, the Supreme Chief. It might be that the
Chilicolten
War, as it is considered by all the native tribes,
made them the more anxious to show that all Indians are not disloyal.
Be that as it may there was the utmost respect shown to me by all
the Natives and the few kind words and trifling presents of tobacco
which I bestowed in return seemed full compensation for the loss
of time and of fish caused by visiting the Chief. I have invited
all to meet me at New Westminster on Her Majesty's next birthday.

12. I shall in other despatches notice several matters of
importance with which I became acquainted on my late travels through
the interior.



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No. 39

I have the honor to forward copy of a Statement given on
the Authority of Mr Duncan respecting the murder of one Indian
Constable and the wounding of others by the Master and crew of
the Sloop "Random." Mr Duncan has had as a Missionary more
success than anyone else on this coast in civilizing the Indians,
and this affair is extremely to be regretted. It will, I fear,
create a strong feeling against the Whites.

Admiral Denman has
despatched a gun boat in pursuit of the "Random" and I have sent
a surgeon to attend on the wounded men. I made an application
to the Governor of Vancouver's Island to assist in the apprehension
of Jackson, and the other murderers, should they visit the Colony
under his Government. I have likewise made a formal demand on
the Governor of Washington Territory for the surrender of the murderers.

The Governor of the Russian possessions has also been
written to and I have formal applications ready to be sent to
the Governors of Oregon, Idaho and California.



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No. 41

I have the honor to inform you that some rich Gold fields
have recently been discovered on the Cootenais River in this
Colony. I enclose copy of a Report just made to me on the
subject but beg leave to say that I am not prepared to guarantee
it as absolutely free from exaggeration.

2. It will be seen from Colonel Hawkins' report on the
Boundary Survey, transmitted in the Duke of Newcastle's despatch
No. 130 of the 15th of June 1864, that the access to the
Cootenais River is very difficult from the Fraser. The successive
chains of Mountains which intervene run nearly North and South,
and the distance is about 500 miles. The only trail at present in
use is that crossing the Cascade Mountains at Hope and passing by
Osoyoos Lake and Fort Shepherd. Already several pack trains have
gone through that way. The diggings however are easy of approach
from Washington Territory, and the whole of the emigration has
come from thence, it will therefore be my duty, shortly, I believe,
to establish a Custom House on the Boundary Line and appoint a
Gold Commissioner at the diggings.

3. I am happy to say that Mr Birch, the Colonial Secretary,
has gone to the Cootenais Country, and that correct information
will soon be in my possession.

4. A portion of the Loan we are about to receive from England
could scarcely be more profitably invested than in opening the
communication with our new diggings.



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No. 42

I have the honor to forward copy of a correspondence which
has passed between Vice Admiral Kingcome and myself respecting
the Naval requirements of this Colony.

2. It is almost impossible to overrate the value of the
Services rendered to British Columbia by Admiral Kingcome in
placing H.M.S. "Sutlej" at my disposal for the conveyance to
Bentinck Arm of the Volunteer force enrolled in New Westminster.
My despatch No. 37 of the 9th Instant will have informed you
of the extent which the Indian Insurrection had taken, and shown
that it was rapidly spreading. You will also have learnt that
the party of Volunteers under Mr Cox, the only one we had the
means of despatching, having reached the enemy's country, found
itself unequal to the work which had to be performed. With the
Assistance furnished by Admiral Kingcome, however, a second armed
party was enabled unexpectedly to penetrate to the interior from
the Sea, strike terror into the minds of the Indians, and form a
junction with the Expedition from Alexandria in the heart of the
Chilicoten Country.

3. Had Admiral Kingcome been earlier in this part of his
Station, the lives of Macdonald's party would probably have been
saved, and the rising of that portion of the Chilicoten people
 which obeys Anaheim averted.

4. I have no doubt that the Legislative Council when in
Session will join me in tendering the thanks of the Colony, if
not a more substancial evidence of gratitude to Admiral Kingcome.



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No. 43

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch
No. 10 of 10th June, informing me that Mr Charles Franks had
been appointed Treasurer of British Columbia, and forwarding
fresh instructions as to the proper Auditing of the Public Accounts.

2. In obedience to these instructions I have to make the
following Statements;

1st The Public Monies arising from the
Colonial Revenues are daily handed over by the Treasurer to the
Bank of British Columbia, formed under Royal Charter. The current
Public business is transacted through the Bank.

2ndly The Treasurer will keep under his own immediate charge
a sum not exceeding fifty pounds (£50) to meet the current expenses of
his Department.

3. The Treasurer will furnish the Monthly Abstract of his cash
receipts and payments in the manner prescribed. I presume that copies
of these Returns are to be transmitted to your Department.

4. In like manner a Return of the Government transactions with
the Bank of British Columbia will be required from the Agent of the
Bank in New Westminster.

5. All cheques drawn by the Treasurer on the Bank shall be
countersigned by the Chief Clerk in his Department.

6. The Maximum sum for which the Treasurer's Draft, countersigned
by his principal Assistant, will be honored has been fixed at five
hundred pounds (£500). Above that amount my own warrant will be
required in addition.

7. The quarterly Returns shall be regularly transmitted together
with my Certificate of their correctness.

8. An Application has been made to the bank to know what interest
will be allowed on Deposits. The Agent in this Colony has applied to
his Superior Officer in Victoria for instructions.

9. Your despatch was received by the Colonial Secretary, in
my absence, on the 12th of August. It was handed over to me on the
20th Ultimo. The new arrangements came into operation on the
7th Instant.



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No. 44

With reference to my despatch No. 31 of the 5th Instant
on the subject of the expected arrival of Dr Rae in this Colony
I have now the honor to announce that he has reached Cariboo.

2. I enclose a copy of an interesting letter which I have
just received from him.



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No. 73, Miscellaneous

I deem it my duty to transmit through you for the information of the
Crown Agents for the Colonies the copy of a communication addressed
 to the Surveyor General of this Colony in reference to the Ship "John Stephenson" on board of which goods were shipped by the Agents
General for this Colony. It is only necessary for me to add that the
"John Stephenson" has not yet arrived here having left the Thames on
the 16th January 1864.



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No. 74

I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter addressed to the
Acting Colonial Secretary by Mr Thomas L. Wood, Acting Attorney
General, of this Colony which explains itself.

It does not appear necessary that I should at this time discuss the
questions raised by Mr Wood as to the duties properly belonging to
the Office of Attorney General or the mode and scale of remuneration
for those services. I will only add that I have on a former occasion
stated my opinion that it is in every point of view advisable that
appointments to the offices of Chief Justice and Attorney General
should be made from England, and daily experience confirms me in that
opinion—any other course will but increase the complications which
at present exist.

In considering this question it may assist you to know that the late
Attorney General, Mr Cary, informed me that he was in receipt of an
income of £1,600 a year from his professional practice in this
Colony, a statement of which I do not doubt the accuracy.



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No. 75, Financial

I have the honor to inform you that I have this day drawn on the
Crown Agents for the Colonies to the amount of £4000 in two Bills (in
triplicate) of £2000 each at thirty days sight with which I beg to
request the Crown Agents may be instructed to honour.

The letter of the Colonial Treasurer of which I enclose a copy will
explain the circumstances of the case.



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Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to send you herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, a Copy of a Letter from Vice Admiral Kingcome, dated
the 12th July last, No 74, reporting his return to
Esquimalt from Bentinck Arm, and relating to the proceedings
of Mr Seymour, Governor of British Columbia, and the
expedition for the capture of the Bute Inlet Murderers.



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No. 76, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit papers relative to fines imposed upon a
British Steamer, the "Alexandra" in the course of her trading to Port
Angelos in the Washington Territory, United States.

I lean to the belief that these fines have been improperly imposed,
and I have reason to believe that the Collector at Port Angelos
(United States) holds the same opinion.

It would appear that the law has been put in motion by the owner of
the "Eliza Anderson" a rival American Steamer on the same line to
enable her to monopolize the trade.

I feel sure that the matter only needs to be brought under the notice
of the proper authorities at Washington to rectify any
misunderstanding which exists, and I would feel obliged if this were
done without unnecessary delay.



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No. 38

I have had under my consideration your Despatch No. 45 of the 13th
of July, transmitting copies of the communcations which have passed
between yourself and the two branches of the Legislature repecting the
Civil List, and the payment of Salaries to the Public Officers. You
report that, acting upon the assurances which you received from the
Legislature, you have paid the Salaries of the principal Officers out of
the Crown Revenue.

I understand that the Assembly undertakes to replace the money out
of ordinary Revenue, if it shall be necessary for you under your
Instructions from me to require them to do so.

My Instructions must for the present be suspended, inasmuch as they
are contingent upon circumstances upon which I am still in want of
sufficient information. I instructed you to pay the salaries of the
Governor and of the Colonial Secretary, which amounted to £3,600, and
having before me a statement that the fund only amounted in the last
year to £4,500 and would probably not equal that amount in the next
year, I hesitated to burden it with any further charge. I have written
to you for full particulars which I have not yet received: and in the
meantime I have declined to sanction any charge, however just and
reasonable in itself, from fear of exceeding the amount which the Crown
Revenue would be able to meet.

I understand that when you were requested by the Assembly to make
the present payments the only fund immediately available was a balance
of Crown Revenue: and that if you had refused to advance out of that
balance the sums to which the engagement of the Assembly applied, the
greatest public inconvenience must have resulted.

I entirely approve the course which you have taken under these
circumstances.

I learn with great satisfaction that a good understanding is likely
to prevail, and that you expect that the Legislature, when it again
assembles, will proceed to make a suitable provision for all the public
wants of the Colony.

I shall rejoice in the termination of a state of things which has
compelled me, in fulfilment of absolute engagements, to deal with the
Crown Revenue as with as separate fund, and I shall witness with sincere
pleasure the harmonious action of the various branches of the
government. When this shall have been happily accomplished and the
Crown Revenues merged in the General Revenue of the Colony and subject
to the control of the Assembly, the necessity will have been obviated
which otherwise have arisen for me to consider the propriety of giving
you the Instructions which for the present remain in suspense.



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Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches,
of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-09-19_Lugard_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645WA04.txt
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Lugard to Under-Secretary of State

With reference to the letter from this Office of the 17th Ultimo,
relative to Maps of British Columbia;

I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to request that you
will move Mr Secretary Cardwell to favor Lord de Grey with a reply
to the above communication.



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FILE: 1864-09-19_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64240.txt
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No. 40

I have had the honor to receive Your despatch No. 21 of
the 16th of July, informing me how unfavorable is the present
state of the money market in England for the success of the British
Columbian Loan.

2. I extremely regret that the present exigencies of the
Colony render it indispensable that we should borrow money in
England or here. If here the lowest rate at which money can
be procured from the Bank of British Columbia is 12 per cent.
The lending money at that rate is considered a favor, and we are
more in the power of the Bank already than I think right.

3. Enormous disbursements will have soon to be made on
account of the two Expeditions against the Indians, and under
these circumstances I trust you will not think that I am acting
improperly in drawing upon the Crown Agents for twenty thousand pounds
(£20,000).

4. The bills will be dated about the 1st of October and
will be at sixty days' sight.



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FILE: 1864-09-21_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64177.txt
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No. 77, Miscellaneous

Referring to my Despatch No 76 dated 15th September 1864
transmitting a statement of Mr W. Moore the Captain of the steamer
"Alexandra" trading from this Colony I have now the honor to forward
copies of letters from Mr L.C. Gunn, the Collector of Customs at
Port Townsend together with a newspaper article which more fully
explains the circumstances of the case.

It is a matter very materially affecting the interests of this Colony
and as such I bring it under the notice of Her Majesty's Government.



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FILE: 1864-09-23_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64245.txt
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No. 45

I have the honor to forward, herewith, a design for a Postage
Stamp required for this Colony, and to request that the Crown Agents may be instructed to procure and send out, viâ Panama,
so soon as they conveniently can, a supply of the stamps in question.



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FILE: 1864-09-23_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64246.txt
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No. 46

With reference to my despatch No. 30 of the 31st of
August, respecting the large gathering of Indians which took
place in New Westminster on the 24th of May, I beg leave
to state that I expect a still more numerous meeting on Her
Majesty's next birthday should no war of races intervene.

2. In replying to the address of the Chiefs I stated
that I gave them but small presents this year, but that the
next time we all met, I would bestow gifts of greater value.
I have therefore the honor to request that you will instruct
the Agents General to forward as early as possible to this
Colony one hundred canes with silver gilt tops of an
inexpensive kind, also one hundred small and cheap English
flags suitable to Canoes about 20 or 30 feet long.

3. I wish to introduce into this Colony the practice
which worked very successfully in Honduras, of presenting a
Staff of Office to the Chief of each friendly tribe. I have
consulted the Roman Catholic Missionaries on the subject and
they entirely approve of my intention.

4. I think it would be well to have the Crown engraved
upon the head of each cane.



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FILE: 1864-09-23_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64247.txt
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No. 47

I had the honor to receive in London a despatch marked
"Separate" of the 15th of January 1864, from the Duke of
Newcastle, forwarding to me, amongst other enclosures, a letter
from Sir Edmund Head complaining that the Government of this
Colony did not issue the grants to the Hudson's Bay Company
of the lands assigned to them under the Agreement of the 11th
of October 1861. His Grace directed me to give my early [attention] to
the matter.

2. I do not find that my predecessor is to be blamed for
the delay which has occurred. Under the Land Act now in force
no grant can be issued for a piece of land until the "Government
Survey shall extend to the land claimed." This general Government
Survey has reached some of the lands claimed by the Hudson's Bay
Company, and in such cases the grants have been issued to them.
There are many persons aggrieved by the non receipt of their
grants, and as the "Government Survey" will not probably for
very many years be extended over the Colony, I propose making some
changes in the Law at the next Session.

3. Even, however, if the Law be amended so as to allow of
isolated surveys, I presume that there are many of the blocks
of land claimed by the Company, which are not worth the expense
which the survey would entail.

4. The Hudson's Bay Company will always find in me a desire
to meet their wishes.



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FILE: 1864-09-23_Young_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V646Y03.txt
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Young to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 21st
Instant, acquainting me, by direction of Mr Secretary Cardwell, that
the Governor of Vancouver's Island has recently brought to his notice
certain circumstances connected with the sale and transfer to the
Colonial Government of Fisgard Island, and requesting, in view of the
official position I held in the Colony at the time the transaction
took place, that I will afford for the information of the Secretary
of State such explanation in regard to such sale and transfer as may
be in my power.

2. In accordance, therefore, with this desire of the Secretary of
State I have much pleasure in communicating to you the following
particulars.

3. During the year 1859, an Island called Fisgard Island, lying at
the entrance of the Harbour of Esquimalt, was selected by a Board of
Naval Officers for the site of a Lighthouse. That Island formed a
portion of an Estate called Belmont, then and now the property of my
Wife. This portion being thus selected and needed for public
purposes, Mr Pemberton, the Surveyor General, applied to me to name
the amount of purchase money asked for its transfer to the Colonial
Government. I informed him that owing to the particular official
position I held, I declined to place any price upon it, but would be
prepared to accept upon behalf of my wife, whatever sum might be
settled by competent authority as a fair compensation for the loss we
should sustain by the alienation of the Island: and I suggested that
he, as Surveyor General, should consult with the Governor directly
upon the subject, instead of making reference through me as Colonial
Secretary. I assume that he did so, for shortly afterwards he
informed me that the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Pounds (£150) had
been named as Compensation, and he asked whether I was satisfied with
that sum. I told him that I considered it was very much under the
value of the Island, but, after what I had previously said, and in
view of my position as a public officer, I felt constrained to take
the amount offered. Within a few days Mr Pemberton brought and paid
to me the amount in question, for which I gave such receipt as he
required. Shortly afterwards, but I do not now remember within what
precise time, either Mr Pemberton, or his Assistant, Mr Pearse,
presented to me the Deed to be executed by my wife and myself for the
conveyance of the land to the Colonial Government. I personally
submitted this Deed to the Attorney General, to ascertain whether it
was in order, and what were the precise formalities in relation to
its execution. The Attorney General acquainted me that it must be
executed by my wife in the presence of the Chief Justice. I
applied to the Chief Justice, and obtained the appointment of a day
for his attestation of her signature of the Deed. On that day I
brought my wife from Esquimalt, where we then resided, and she and I
punctually appeared before the Chief Justice. He examined the Deed,
and informed me that it was imperfect, inasmuch as it lacked certain
Certificates which should be attached to it prior to its Execution,
and which it was the duty of the Attorney General to supply. I
instantly repaired to the office of the Attorney General—which was
in the same Building with the Judge's Chambers—in order to get the
omission at once supplied; but he was either absent, or else
specially engaged, so that I did not succeed in my object. As by
this time it was drawing towards dusk, and Esquimalt a considerable
distance off, I was obliged—much to my vexation and annoyance—of
which I have now the most vivid recollection—to abandon for that day
the attempt I had then made formally to complete the final conveyance
of the property. As soon as practicable afterwards, I again handed
the Deed to the Attorney General, and stated what the Chief Justice
had said. He replied—to the best of my recollection—that he could
not then attach the required Certificates, as he had not by him the
necessary Book of reference. I then again sought the Chief Justice,
to ascertain whether I could procure from him the form of the
Certificates, as I was most anxious that the matter should be settled
and done with, and the trouble of it off my mind; but I failed to
accomplish my purpose, as I did also upon several occasions
subsequently, when I specially obtained the attendance of my wife to
complete the transaction. In these proceedings I had lost much
valuable time, and in the multiplicity of duties I had to attend to,
I then allowed the matter to stand over, as one—both parties being
upon the spot and always accessible—that could be concluded at any
moment; and thus time rolled on; but before leaving the Colony not
forgetting that the Conveyance was still unexecuted, and determined
to avoid the delays I had previously encountered, I employed my own
Solicitor, Mr Drake, to complete the Draft Deed, and at some trouble
got the parties together and the Deed formally executed. Mr Drake
was present and took the Deed into his custody, and I requested him
to forward it without loss of time to the Surveyor General, he being
the officer in whom the trust was vested, and in whose custody the
Deed should remain. I did not take the Deed and do this myself, for
the reason that being within a few hours of quitting the Colony, I
was nearly overwhelmed with the multitude of matters I had to arrange
and settle, and I knew that the Deed was quite safe in Mr Drake's
hands. I can now only express my great regret that Mr Drake should
have delayed to carry out my wishes until a period of more than a
month after my departure from the Colony.

4. I have related these circumstances in detail, although in as
brief a manner as the subject would permit, in order to describe the
formalities that occurred, and to shew that both my wife and myself
were not only prepared but were really anxious to execute and
complete the conveyance of the property, concurrently with the
payment of the purchase money, and that the delay which ensued was
more attributable to others, than to us as individuals. I believe
this statement furnishes all the information more especially
required by the Secretary of State, with the exception of one
point—the non-execution of the Deed by Mr Pemberton, the Surveyor
General, the party to whom the property was conveyed. With respect
to this I can only add that I am unable to reply to the query further
than to say that I do not think such a proceeding is
customary—certainly not in Vancouver's Island—and I am not aware
that the absence of Mr Pembertons signature in any way affects the
validity of the transfer. I would also remark in regard to the
non-delivery of the deed concurrently with the payment of the
purchase money, that although in this particular case there was no
studied or intentional delay, yet that it is not a remarkable or
solitary instance in Vancouver's Island of such non-delivery. I am
aware of many instances—Some so far back as 1858, in which year the
purchase of certain lands from the Hudson's Bay Company was
completed—and yet up to the period of my leaving the Colony no Deeds
had been delivered. I could also cite other instances, if it were
necessary, but I merely allude to the circumstances to shew that this
particular case, in which I happen to be concerned, is not
unprecedented.

5. I further, cannot conclude without expressing my regret that the
Governor, as appears by your letter, should have failed in obtaining
any information from the Officers of the Government in Vancouver's
Island in respect of this transaction, beyond, apparently, the
solitary fact that money was paid
to me for the land, and as is alleged by my order. There was
no mystery connected with the acquisition of the land by the
Government. It was well known that Fisgard Island was private
property for years antecedent to that acquisition. The particulars I
have narrated in respect of the execution of the Deed cannot have
escaped the memory of the Chief Justice. The Attorney General must
remember my repeated applications to him upon the subject. The
original Draft Deed was actually prepared in the Surveyor Generals
Office. The map attached to it was likewise prepared in the Surveyor
Generals Office; and I believe that the map now attached to the
executed Deed was actually only completed a few days prior to my
departure from the Colony, for it was found that the map first
prepared had become soiled. I am, however, not perfectly sure upon
this latter point, and I have not my papers with me to refer to, but
it is my firm impression that a second sketch map was made by the
Surveyor General, and that at a period immediately preceding my
departure.

6. With respect to the statement of the Surveyor General, of which
you make mention, that the purchase money was paid
to me, upon my order as Colonial Secretary, by the Surveyor
General, I beg most distinctly to deny ever having given such an
order to the Surveyor General. The amount I received, upon behalf of
my wife, was named by him, and paid by him under the circumstances I
have already described. The fact of my name as Colonial Secretary
appearing upon the Requisition authorizing the expenditure, only
applies to this expenditure in common with other items. It conveys
no authority from
me individually, but merely certifies, according to established
custom, after the Document had been laid before the Governor, that
the Governor approves the outlay and authorizes the Treasurer to pass
it. All the accounts and documents connected with the Light House
Expenditure were sent home from time to time to the Board of Trade,
and a reference to that Department will no doubt produce the
Documents I refer to and confirm what I state.

7. In regard to the assumption of the Secretary of State that I will
be prepared to execute such Deeds and to do all other such acts as
the Crown may be advised are necessary to make the transaction herein
referred to complete and effectual, I trust that what I have related
will serve to shew that the Secretary of State is not wrong in so
judging me. Both my wife and myself are fully prepared—if the
existing conveyance be held to be defective—to do all that may be in
our power to repair the omission. I must, however, disclaim being
responsible for such omission if really existing. The draft Deed was
delivered to me from the office of the Surveyor General, and—issuing
from such a source—I, not unnaturally, assumed that it had been
prepared with due regard to saving the rights of the Government.

8. In conclusion I would desire further to remark that after
placing myself in the hands of the Colonial Government to determine
the value of the land, I should, naturally, have been reluctant to
originate my appeal against the decision arrived at; but as the
subject is now before the Secretary of State, I trust I may be
pardoned in further trespassing upon his attention by alluding to the
loss I conceive my family to have sustained through what was really
to me—considering the view I took of the official position I
held—mistaken though it might be—the compulsory alienation of a
piece of valuable land, although I am, at the same time, free to
confess that I have only myself to blame for having allowed a sense
of delicacy to blind me to the duty which I owed to my wife and
children. The Secretary of State is well aware that land in a new
Country, and more especially in an auriferous one, is not held at its
actually existing or intrinsic value, as in the case with property
in old and settled countries where calculations can be pretty
accurately made of what return an investment will yield for years to
come. No such standard of value can be applied in a new country.
What may be considered a piece of almost worthless land to day, may
tomorrow be worth a fortune. Vancouver's Island itself is every day
affording striking instances of this—much to the benefit of the
far-seeing. The spot herin referred to—Fisgard Island—is situated
immediately at the entrance of the most accessible Harbour in the
whole Northern Pacific, and one that I firmly believe will within a
few years be crowded with shipping, as San Francisco is now; for, so
long as the Port is maintained Free, I have a perfect faith in the
future of the Colony, and of its becoming the great British Emporium
for the northern Pacific. The value of such a position as Fisgard
Island, under such circumstances, is evident, and the inadequacy of
the compensation paid for it apparent. At the time the Island was
taken possession of by the Government, I consulted the largest Real
Estate Agent in the place as to its value, and judging from his
opinion, any my own knowledge of the prices that land at Esquimalt
had brought, I feel confident that had the Island been then put up
for Sale at public auction it would have realized a sum not less than
Five Thousand Dollars ($5000); and if I—instead of remaining
passive—had insisted upon the matter being referred to arbitration,
I am convinced a sum very much larger than that I received would have
been awarded.



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FILE: 1864-09-24_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64248.txt
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No. 48

I have had the honor to receive your despatch No. 5 of
the 11th of May respecting certain arms and accoutrements
left by Colonel Moody R.E. in charge of the Colonial Militia
and Volunteers. It has not been reported to you that any such
force exists in British Columbia, and I am directed to report
on the best manner of turning the arms to the public advantage.

2. I can hardly imagine the reason why my predecessor
should not have reported that a respectable and well organized
body of Volunteers numbering sixty three exists in New Westminster.
They are armed with the rifles and revolvers left by Colonel Moody.
I would however mention that in addition to this force, we have
now upwards of one hundred men fully armed engaged in suppressing
the rebellion of the Chilicoten Indians. Under these circumstances
perhaps you will permit me to defer reporting on the disposal of
these arms. I may, however, at once state my opinion that they
ought not to be withdrawn from the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-09-24_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64249.txt
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No. 49

I trust that I may be permitted, with reference to my
despatch No. 37 of the 9th instant, stating how we have
dealt with the insurrection of the Chilicoten Indians, to
forward copy of a proclamation issued by the Governor of
Colorado Territory under somewhat similar circumstances.

2. You will allow me to state that in doing so, it is
not my wish to draw any comparison or contrast, but merely to
point out the difficulties that white men may have to encounter
in this part of the world.



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FILE: 1864-09-24_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64250.txt
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No. 50

At the earnest prayer of Mr Thomas James Skinner I have
the honor to forward a petition which he has addressed to the
Secretary for War, praying for compensation for loss he states
himself to have sustained by the sudden withdrawal of the
detachment of Royal Engineers from this Colony.

2. I am informed that in April 1863 Messrs Skinner and
Clark entered into an agreement to supply the Engineers at New
Westminster with meat and vegetables for one year. At the
expiration of eight months however Colonel Moody gave notice to
the contractors that the Engineers were ordered home, and that
the contract would have to be terminated in a fortnight.

3. The contractors complain that they were deprived of four
months privilege of supplying the troops during the winter months,
when their principal profits would have been made, the Engineers
being all in Camp at that Season. Also, that they were compelled
at great expense to open butchers' shops at New
Westminster: That,
shortly before the notice given to them by Colonel Moody, an embargo
had been placed on the exportation of cattle from the United States,
which compelled them to purchase cattle at a great price to enable
them to fulfil their contract, and that, on the sudden termination
thereof by Colonel Moody, these cattle were left on their hands to
be disposed of at a loss, the embargo having been as suddenly
removed. I am disposed to think that on these grounds they are
entitled to some compensation.

4. The contractors further urge as a matter of complaint, that,
having memorialized Colonel Moody they received no reply.



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FILE: 1864-09-25_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64251.txt
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No. 51

I would very respectfully beg to call your attention to
the eighth Clause of the Instructions under date of the 11th
of January 1864, with which I have been honored by Her Majesty.
That Clause commands me to bring every matter of importance under
the consideration of the Executive Council unless Her Majesty's
Service "would sustain material prejudice by consulting the said
Council thereon." This command it appears to me tends to diminish
the unity of the Government more than you may probably consider
desirable. In urgent cases where he has to act at once, the
Governor's position in regard to the Council is still more embarrassing
as he must "at the earliest practicable period, communicate to the
said Executive Council the measures" the Governor "may have so
adopted, with the reasons thereof," thus inviting the criticism
of his own public officers on the Governor's Acts.

2. In the ninth Clause it is ordered that nothing shall be
taken into consideration in the Council unless proposed by the
Governor, "Provided, that if any Member shall, by application in
writing, request you so to propose any question, it shall be
competent for any such member to record upon the said minutes such
his written application together with the answer which may be
returned by you to the same." The fourth Clause commands me

*

to communicate the Instructions which I receive to the Executive Council.

3. The Executive Council of this Colony, being, with the
exception of the Colonial Secretary, new to business have taken
these Instructions as giving them a right to interfere even in
questions of patronage, and to bring forward for discussion matters
which I choose to reserve from them. I am perfectly willing to place
on the Minutes their applications and my reasons for declining to
comply with them, but my officers shrink from this apparent
antagonism with the local head of the Government.

4. I apprehend no difficulty from the Gentleman to whom this
despatch refers but I have thought it proper to mention to you, that
I propose, unless ordered to the contrary by you to give a wide
interpretation to the command to reserve from the Council matters
the consideration of which with that body would "materially prejudice"
Her Majesty's Service. I am of opinion that until more liberal
Legislative Institutions are given, the Officer Administering
should in most cases act with promptitude, on his own responsibility,
and that it would "materially prejudice" Her Majesty's Service, were
he on the contrary, to bring forward every matter of moment for
discussion.

5. I may mention in support of this view, that I received
several despatches in Honduras directing me in matters of importance,
such as the deporting persons on suspicion, under a law peculiar
to that Colony, not to consult the Council but to act alone.

6. In each of the cases to which I allude the Colonial Secretary
concurred with me that it was not a proper one to bring before the
Council.



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FILE: 1864-09-26_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64252.txt
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No. 52

I have the honor to transmit copy of an Account in connection
with advances made to the late Chief Commissioner of Lands and
Works during the year 1863. It exhibits a balance against that
Officer at the close of the year of forty four pounds four shillings
and ten pence (£44.4.10).

2. Upon enquiry into this matter I am informed that Colonel
Moody declined to repay this sum, claiming as a set off against it,
a like amount, in two sums, which had been disallowed in Military
Requisitions by my Predecessor in 1858 and 1860. The first, three
pounds seventeen shillings (£3.17.0) for Captain Grant's R.E. Mess
expenses on board ship from Southampton to Colon in 1858, the other,
forty pounds seven shillings and ten pence (£40.7.10),
claimed, as Colonial pay, by
Captain Lempriere R.E. from 19th of April to 31st of May 1860.
As these are military disallowances and have no bearing or claim
on Civil Advances I would beg to suggest that Colonel Moody be
called upon to pay the balance named into the hands of the Crown
Agents on account of this Colony.



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FILE: 1864-09-27_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647436.txt
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No. 36

I referred, for the consideration of the Lords of the Committee of
Privy Council for Trade, the Ordinance enclosed in your Despatch No. 17
of the 6th of June entitled No. 13, "An Ordinance for the regulation of
the Inland Navigation of British Columbia," and I have the honor to
transmit to you, for your information and guidance, the enclosed copy of
a letter which has been received from the Board of Trade in reply.

I cannot submit this Ordinance for Her Majesty's confirmation until
the Legislature of British Columbia shall have made the alterations
indicated by the Board of Trade as necessary to bring the Act into
conformity with Imperial Law.
You will therefore cause a Bill to be
submitted to the Legislature making these Amendments.

You will of course take care that the Members of the Legislature
are fully aware that you consider the rules which they propose to adopt
from the Merchant Shipping Act are inapplicable to the Navigation of the
Inland Waters of British Columbia. But in case the Council should
continue to consider the Rules advisable for the public safety, it will
not, in my opinion, be judicious, on the grounds which you allege, to
refuse the Royal Assent to the Law embodying their decision.



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FILE: 1864-09-27_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64253.txt
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No. 53

I have the honor to state that on arrival at New Westminster
I learnt that my Predecessor, Sir James Douglas, had drawn the
full salary of Governor up to the date of my arrival. It was
stated that he had done so under instructions from the Duke of Newcastle.

2. I applied to His Grace to be allowed to defer my departure
from England until the 17th of March offering to surrender all
claim to half Salary during the voyage to British Columbia if the
indulgence was granted to me. Reasons of importance however compelled
His Grace to direct my early departure, and I considered myself,
therefore, entitled to half pay from the time I left Southampton,
the 17th of February.

3. I have drawn that allowance subject of course to your
instructions, and I should have reported the matter earlier had
I not been engaged in public duties of great importance in the
interior of the Colony.



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FILE: 1864-09-28_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64254.txt
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No. 54

With reference to my despatch No. 31 of the 5th instant,
I have the honor to state that Dr Rae, having crossed the American
Continent, has visited New Westminster.

2. I am happy to say that he reports having discovered a pass
in the Rocky Mountains, through which a Waggon Road might with ease
be made. The only really great difficulty between the Red River
Settlement and the Pacific has been already overcome by the Construction
of the Wonderful road along the Fraser in its passage through the
Cascade Range.

3. Dr Rae is about to furnish me with an Official Report
of his proceedings. I shall forward a copy of it to you. In the
mean time I submit a Newspaper Report of a Speech which has recently
been made by him at a public dinner in Victoria.

4. I am happy to say that Dr Rae gives an excellent account of
the New Waggon Road I am constructing from the Fraser at Quesnel Mouth,
into Camerontown, Cariboo.



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FILE: 1864-09-29_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647239.txt
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No. 39

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch of the 30th of
July, No. 48, in answer to mine pointing out the objections of Her
Majesty's Government to granting exclusive privileges to Telegraph
Companies; and I have to inform you that you will act quite rightly in
taking the steps you propose with a view to the amendment of the Act
passed by the Legislature of Vancouver Island which conferred a monopoly on the Californian State Telegraph Company.

The second Act mentioned in your Despatch for regulating Electric
Telegraphs &c &c in Vancouver Island is not transmitted in the proper
authenticated form or accompanied by the Report of the Attorney General.
I presume I shall receive it shortly in the required form and I shall
then proceed to its consideration.



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No. 40

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 49
of the 1st of August last, on the subject of the alleged defalcations of
Mr. Jeremiah Nagle who was formerly Harbour Master at Victoria and who
was dismissed from that Office in 1861.

You state that you had with the advice of your Executive Council
directed the amount of these alleged defalcations vizt $308 to
be written off the public Accounts, without pronouncing any opinion as
to Mr. Nagle's guilt or innocence.

I see no reason for doubting the propriety of the course which you
have adopted in this matter.



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FILE: 1864-09-29_Lugard_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645WA05.txt
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Lugard to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have laid before the Secretary of State for War your letter of the
13th Ultimo together with its enclosure from the Governor of
Vancouvers Island in which he requests to be furnished with the Copy
of any Colonial Volunteer Act which may be deemed most applicable to
that Island.

In reply I am to request that you will acquaint Mr Secretary
Cardwell that the Imperial Act, a copy of which will be found at the
commencement of the Book
 of Regulations for the Volunteer Force, is
the best model for legislation on this subject which Earl de Grey can
suggest, subject of course to such modifications as the local
circumstances of the Colony may require.

It would be well however that the Governor should be informed that a
Colonial Act should contain no provision defining the relative rank
of Volunteer Officers and Officers of the Regular Army—this being
fixed by the recent General Order of the Field Marshal Commanding in
Chief.

In compliance with your request I am to annex a copy of the
Regulations of 1863 together with a set of the Volunteer Circulars
which have been issued since the publication of that Volume. The
works which are recommended to be used in the instruction of
Volunteers are specified in Article 245 of the Regulations.



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FILE: 1864-09-29_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD07.txt
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Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to send you herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell, an Extract from a Letter of Vice Admiral Kingcome,
dated at Esquimalt 5 Augt, No 90, relative to the
expedition of the Governor of British Columbia into the
Interior with the view of punishing the Perpetrators of
the Murders at Bute Inlet.



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No. 55

I see that the Duke of Newcastle's despatch No. 41 of the
31st of July 1860, directs an Annual Report of the working
of the Assay Office in this Colony to be furnished in order that
it may be ascertained whether it be desirable to keep up the
Establishment or not.

2. I shall of course obey His Grace's instructions at the
end of the year, but I may mention that now, with its reduced
staff, the Assay Office is working most satisfactorily. It
commands more confidence than the similar establishments opened
by the Banks in Victoria, and is a source of Revenue to this Colony.

3. I enclose a copy of the Return last furnished me of the
current expenses and receipts of the Department, the weight and
value of the Gold dust assayed.



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No. 78, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit a Requisition for a set of standard
weights and measures, with which I beg to request the Crown Agents
for the Colonies may be instructed to comply.



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No. 79, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit copies of the Minutes of the Executive
and Legislative Councils for the periods ended respectively 30th
June 1864 and 8th July 1864.



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No. 80, Miscellaneous

1. Having brought the present condition and future management of the
Indian population of this Colony under the consideration of the local
Legislature, I deem it my duty also to bring the subject under your
notice.

2. For the present I will merely submit the papers named in the
margin

*

as affording some indication of the degraded and drunken
habits of the Indians in the immediate neighbourhood of Victoria, and
to justify the Measures which I trust the local Legislature will
enable me hereafter to adopt.

3. The policy heretofore pursued in dealing with the Indian Tribes
in this and the neighbouring Colony, may have been at one time
expedient, but is certainly no longer necessary or possible having
regard to their own welfare or the safety of the settlers and traders
brought in contact with them.

4. I am not without experience in dealing with savages, and have
been much in contact with the Indians in our North American Possessions.

5. The measures necessary to their successful government are simple,
and not difficult of adoption, if the local Legislature afford me the
means of carrying them out.

6. They must be secured in the possession of their lands, and
prohibited from alienating them except for a fair consideration, and
through the intervention of the Government.

7. They must be treated with scrupulous truth, justice, and
unflinching firmness. Magistrates, or Protectors, to whom they may
look with confidence for punishment or redress must be appointed and
stationed where necessary. Whiskey selling by which unprincipled
traders realize a profit of five or six hundred per cent must be
suppressed. All Indian crimes and troubles may be traced to this source.

8. Murder
inter se must be taken cognizance of and dealt with according
to law.

9. I think a great mistake has been made in permitting an Indian
settlement to grow up and continue in juxta-position with a city like
Victoria, and a still greater error has been committed in leasing a
portion of their Reserve, thus mixing the two Races together to the
great degradation of the one, and the demoralization of both.

10. The present Indian Settlement at Victoria, is a disgrace to
humanity, and I cannot learn that any effective measures have been
taken to prevent the shameless prostitution of the women and
drunkenness of the men who live mainly by their prostitution.

11. The Indians must be removed from this locality, and the proceeds
of the Reserve judiciously managed will more than suffice to supply
them with all necessaries in a more suitable locality. Most of these
matters will require legislative assistance and sanction and I will
from time to time keep you informed of what has been done.

12. The Indians are fully competent to appreciate justice and
humanity, but while they are managed like wild beasts they will not
cease to be ferocious and dangerous.

13. Protestant and Roman Catholic Missionaries are making zealous
efforts to improve the condition of the Indians, and in many cases
with success, but their good intentions and teaching are neutralized
by unprincipled whiskey sellers, and the want of local Magistrates
and Police to put a stop to these breaches of the law.



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No. 41

I referred, for the consideration of the Secretary of State for
War, your Despatch No. 34 of the 14th of June last, stating that you
had succeeded in organizing a small Volunteer Force in Vancouver Island,
and requesting to be furnished with a copy of any colonial Volunteer Act
which might be deemed applicable to Vancouver Island.

I transmit to you, for your information and guidance, the
enclosed copy of the reply which has been received from the War Office,
enclosing copy of the Volunteer Regulations of 1863, in which you will
find an Imperial Act which Earl de Grey considers as the best
model for legislation in Vancouver Island, subject to such
modifications as the local circumstances of the Colony may require.



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No. 56

I have had the honor to receive your Despatch No. 30 of
the 1st of August, respecting the insurrection of the
Chilicoten Indians in this Colony. I am highly gratified to
perceive that you approve of the determination I expressed of
dealing with the matter as far as lay in my power as a series
of offences against the Law.

2. I am reluctant to make any observations upon a despatch
so indulgent in tone as the one I have now the honor of acknowledging,
but I would observe, with reference to your second paragraph that
it was not so much the high rate of pay assigned to the Volunteers
of the two Expeditions I regretted, as the heavy miscellaneous
charges. For instance, the first that came under my notice, two
hundred pounds (£200) for the conveyance of fifty rifles and ammunition
to Alexandria. During three Months a force of upwards of a hundred
men has been maintained upon supplies obtained mainly from the Gold
regions, with their bases of supply, Alexandria or Quesnel Mouth,
upwards of five hundred miles from the Sea. That these supplies
were difficult to obtain, even at exorbitant prices, can hardly
be considered as evidencing the prosperity of the Colony.

3. The Indian insurrection is merely referred to by you as
a question of Colonial importance. I would, however, beg most
respectfully to point out that should a real war take place between
the Indian population and the Whites, the former numbering about
60,000, the latter about 7,000 I may find myself compelled to
follow in the footsteps of the Governor of Colorado, whose
proclamation I forwarded in my despatch No. 49 of the 24th
of September and invite every white man to shoot each Indian he may
meet. Such a proclamation would not be badly received here in a
case of emergency.

4. The final paragraph of your despatch directs me to maintain
a cordial cooperation with the Admiral on this Station. I can
assure you that your wishes will be fully carried out on my part.
Indeed, they have been forstalled. I have no copy of the hurried
semi-official letter to your department in which I stated that I
had "despatched" a gun boat somewhere. But my official despatch
No. 8 of the 20th of May was, I understand, before the Lords
of the Admiralty at the same time as the note referred to, and in
it their Lordships may have seen stated that, "the Senior Naval
Officer after some hesitation, complied with my application for
assistance to the extent of supplying the Gunboat "Forward,"
coupled with the request that she should be detained in the Colony
as short a time as possible." When so lent, I may have carelessly
stated—improperly, possibly—that I had "despatched" her to Bute Inlet.

5. My correspondence with Lord Gilford created no bad feeling
between us, but after it had closed when he was on a visit to me,
I learnt that he was annoyed by something which had been published
in the Victoria Papers, and I, quite unsolicited by him, wrote
the letter, copy of which I enclose. I do not and have not
complained of Lord Gilford, and I shall be always happy to
cooperate in the most friendly manner with him, but at the same
time I reserve to myself the right of thinking that earlier
assistance ought to have been afforded me. We might have saved
the lives of Macdonald's party and prevented the rising of the
 Western branch of the Chilicoten tribe under Anaheim.

6. Sir Edward Lytton's despatch No. 30 of the 10th March
1859, and the Duke of Newcastle's, No. 31 of the 21st October 1859
*

certainly led me to believe that the two Gunboats would
be generally available for the Service of British Columbia when
our fellow Countrymen were being butchered therein.



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No. 57

In obedience to the instructions conveyed to me in your
despatch No. 16

*

of the 10th of June 1864, I have the
honor to forward a Certificate of Survey of the funds in the
Colonial Treasury at the commencement of the first day of
October 1864. I submit also, as ordered, the monthly Bank
Statement for the quarter just expired.



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Archbishop of Canterbury to Cardwell

I herewith forward to you an application from the Bishop of
Columbia, for a division of his vast Diocese. He has explained to me
all the circumstances of his case; and I have come to the conclusion
that it is very desirable such a measure should be carried out. I
trust that you may be able to take the same view with myself; and
that you will feel yourself justified in accomplishing this object.

I am told that this is a case in which the Colonial Secretary
accepts (unless good case be shewn to the contrary) the recommendation
of Canterbury. Should it be so, there is a Clergyman whom I have
known for many years as a very devoted man, eminently qualified for
the Post, and whom I would strongly recommend to your notice for the
Appointment to the new See. I speak of the Revd John Postlethwaite
of Trinity College, Cambridge, and at present Incumbent of Coatham in
the North Riding of Yorkshire.



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No. 37

I have received your Despatch of the 6th of June No. 16, forwarding
an authenticated copy of an Ordinance passed by the Legislature of
British Columbia entitled "An Ordinance to amend Customs Duties."

As I collect from your statement that it is possible I may receive
from Vancouver Island some Representation adverse to the 4th Clause of
this Act I think it proper to wait a short time before expressing any
opinion upon it.



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No. 58

It is with great satisfaction that I announce to you the
safe return of Mr Brew and the party of Volunteers despatched
under him from New Westminster to act against the Chilicoten Indians.

2. He is at present too much engaged to funish me with full
particulars of his proceedings subsequent to my departure from
his Camp. As mentioned in my despatch No. 37 of the 9th of
September, he pursued the Indians among the Bute Inlet Mountains
until his supplies failed. The snow began then to fall and he
proceeded to Nacoontloon to receive the submission of Anaheim
and his portion of the tribe. The Chief restored unreservedly
all his share of the plunder but seemed to expect little mercy.
As, however, his hands had not been stained in white men's blood,
Mr Brew very properly gave him his pardon. Anaheim then promised
to capture the murderers still at large and immediately proceed
in pursuit, but as Mr Brew had limited him as to time, returned
in six days without them. He says, however, that he will take
them in the spring.

3. Mr Brew expresses his conviction that safety for life
and property is now fully restored to the Chilicoten Country.

4. Mr Cox's party has been disbanded at Alexandria. The
Indian prisoners are undergoing their trial before Judge Begbie
at Quesnel Mouth.



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No. 59

It will probably have appeared to you, as it did to me, that
the discovery of Gold fields on the Kootenay River near the
American frontier, and five hundred Miles from New Westminster,
was one of doubtful benefit to the Colony, and would probably be a
source of anxiety to the Government.

2. In my despatch, No. 41 of the 10th of September, I stated
that I should probably have to establish a Custom House on the
American frontier at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. If the
"rush" continues it may be rather difficult, without a numerous
staff, to collect our import duties in so wild a country. In
every way it seems desirable that we should, if possible, divert
the traffic to the Kootenay Mines from Washington Territory to
the Fraser. With this view the Hudson Bay Company have, with the
promise of Government support, opened a trail from Fort Shepherd
on the Columbia River to the diggings. Already several packtrains
have passed over it, and I trust that the Colonial Secretary Mr
Birch is returning by it at this moment.

3. There is, however it is believed another mode of access
to the diggings from New Westminster. We have steam communication
up the Fraser to Yale, from thence an admirable carriage road takes
the course of the Thompson as far as the Bonaparte river where it
proceeds to the Northward. It is believed that twenty miles above
the mouth of the Bonaparte, the Thompson becomes navigable for
steamers. The two great Lakes, Kamloops and Shushwap through which
the Thompson runs, have a sufficient depth of water, and thus we
hope that steam navigation may be obtained for 110 miles almost
due east, the direction of the Kootenay. From the head waters of
Thompson River a road of from 35 to 40 miles will have to be made
to the Columbia. The south branch of this river it is reported
may be made available for steam navigation up to its source in the
Columbia Lakes, which are close to the Kootenay diggings.

4. I have sent an exploring party to ascertain the practicability
of establishing the communication in the mode I now suggest. It
is not improbable that we shall have, before the close of next year,
steamers and four horse coaches running regularly twice a week to
the foot of the Rocky Mountains as they now do to Cariboo. The
"British Kootenay Pass" affords a passage to the Eastward of
perfect ease compared with the natural difficulties already
overcome on the road through the Cascade Mountains in the Valley
of the Fraser. Therefore if the mines fulfil the promises
anticipated from them, there can be but little doubt that Gold
diggers will be attracted to them from Canada and the Red River
Settlements, and a communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific
established through British Territory.

5. From among the many different spellings of the word
"Kootenay" I have selected that used by Colonel Hawkins, the
Boundary Commissioner, and I mean, subject to your approval, to
make use of it in all official documents.



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FILE: 1864-10-07_Walcott_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645LN05.txt
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Walcott to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of the 3rd inst with a copy of one
from Mr W.A.G. Young, the late Colonial Secretary of Vancouvers
Island, on the subject of his Conveyance to the Surveyor General of
Fisguard Island.

2. Mr Youngs letter is in reply to a communication addressed to him
by direction of Mr Cardwell for the purpose of obtaining an
explanation of the circumstances under which the sale and conveyance
of Fisguard Island took place.

3. It will be remembered that Governor Kennedy in his despatch of
the 21st June last mentioned that he had made enquiries on the
subject, of the Treasurer, the Acting Colonial Secretary, the
Attorney General, and the Surveyor General, that they had
respectively disclaimed all knowledge of the execution or existence
of the Deed—and that there was no record of it in the Colonial
Secretary's Office. The only circumstance which appeared to be known
was that £150 had been paid to Mr Young nearly four years and a half
before the execution of the conveyance.

4. Mr Young's present explanation gives a different complexion to
the case. He states in effect that in 1859 Fishguard

Island, then the property of his wife, having been selected by a
Board of Naval Officers as a site for a Lighthouse, Mr Pemberton the
Surveyor General applied to him to name a sum for its purchase by the
Colonial Government—that looking at his official position he
declined to give a price, but stated his willingness to accept such
sum as might be settled by competent authority—and suggested to the
Surveyor General to consult with the Governor on the subject—that
shortly afterwards the Surveyor General named £150 which Mr Young
accepted although at the time he considered it under the value of the
property—that Mr Pemberton or his Assistant Mr Pearse shortly
afterwards presented to him a Purchase Deed to be executed by himself
and his Wife—that he personally submitted this Deed to the Attorney
General—that he attended with his wife before the Chief Justice in
order to go through the formalities necessary for passing a married
woman's Estate—that for the lack of certain Certificates the
transaction could not then be completed—that he instantly applied,
but without success, to the Attorney General for the required
Certificates—that on failing in several subsequent applications both
to the Attorney General and Chief Justice to get the matter
completed, he allowed it to stand over, and did not in fact execute
the Deed until the eve of his departure from the Colony. Mr Young
adds that the Draft of the deed and the plan of the property attached
to it was actually prepared in the Surveyor General's Office—and he
denies that the purchase money was paid to him by the Surveyor General
upon his order as Colonial Secretary. He explains however that
although his name appeared on the requisition authorizing the
expenditure, in common with other items, this conveyed no authority
from him individually, but merely certified according to established
custom, that the Documents having been laid before the Governor, the
outlay had been by him approved and the Treasurer authorized to pass
it. Mr Young concludes by stating the readiness of himself and his
Wife to do what may be necessary for perfecting the Conveyance; and
without making a direct claim he appeals to the Secretary of State
against the inadequacy of the price he received for Fisguard Island,
which, had it been sold by auction would, he considers, have realized
not less than $5000 or about £1000.

5. In justice to Mr Young I would suggest that a copy of his letter
should be forwarded for the information of the Governor as it is
difficult to reconcile its statements with those of some of the
officers he consulted.

6. The practical step which remains to be taken is to obtain from
Mr Young and his Wife a fresh conveyance of the fee simple of
Fisguard Island as suggested in my report of the 8th ultimo. The
form of this Conveyance—to whom it should me made—and whether Mr
Pemberton should be a party to it are matters which Mr Cardwell will
doubtless wish to have referred for the consideration of the
Solicitor of the Treasury.

7. With regard to Mr Young's implied claim for additional
compensation for parting with the Property, I may remark that
Governor Kennedy considers that the intrinsic value of Fisguard Island is "merely nominal" and that Mr Richards, the Hydrographer to
the Admiralty, who was consulted on this matter, states in his letter
to Mr Elliot of the 20th August last, that although the Island is
very small and of no intrinsic value, yet looking to parallel cases
he did not conceive that the remuneration paid to Mr Young was
unreasonable. I should presume that Mr Young's appeal on this point
will not be entertained.



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No. 81

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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No. 82

I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter from Mr J.D.
Pemberton tendering the resignation of his office as Surveyor
General, which I have accepted subject to your approval.

I do not at present propose to offer any remark upon this letter
though it may become necessary that I should do so at a future time.

I think there are numerous and sufficient reasons for accepting this
officer's resignation.

I have subject to your approval appointed Mr B.W. Pearse, the
Assistant Surveyor General to perform the duties of Surveyor General
with an addition to his salary to make it up to £500 per annum.

I am unable without some trial to form an opinion of Mr Pearse's
capacity to fill the office of Surveyor General and I would suggest
that the present arrangement should continue till I obtain a further
insight into the mode of conducting the business of this office.



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No. 83, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter received from the
President of the California State Telegraph Company.

This letter being handed to me by Mr Gamble, an Officer of that
Company I informed him verbally that as Mr Carpentier proposed to
communicate directly with you on the subject of his letter I would
simply acknowledge its contents.



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No. 84, Miscellaneous

1. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No
29 of the 1st August 1864 in reference to former Despatches on the
subject of the Bute Inlet and Bentinck Arm massacres, and requesting
to know what steps if any were taken by the Government of this Colony
or by Mr Waddington or his Agents to provide either directly or
through Governor Seymour for the safety of the second party who were
murdered on the Bentinck Arm route.

2. I will shortly state the facts as far as I know them.

3. On Wednesday 11th May a coasting steamer arrived from Nanaimo
bringing intelligence of the massacre at Bute Inlet, together with
the three survivors two of whom were wounded.

4. The wounded men were immediately removed to the Hospital and the
particulars of the murders elicited by the Police.

5. On reviewing their Report I immediately directed Mr Wood, a
barrister then acting for the Stipendiary Magistrate (who was
confined to his bed) to proceed to the Hospital and take the
depositions of the wounded men which occupied the remainder of that
day (the 11th) and a great part of the night in completing.

6. I enclosed the Depositions so taken without delay to Governor
Seymour, and sent them for transmission to New Westminster by a
steamer which was advertised to sail on the following morning,
Thursday 12th May.

7. My letter was returned to me on the same afternoon with an
intimation that the sailing of the steamer was unavoidably postponed
till Friday morning the 13th May when it was sent.

8. On that day Mr Waddington at my request proceeded in the same
steamer to afford Governor Seymour any additional information in his
power.

9. I at the same time cordially tendered my services to Governor
Seymour and suggested that parties of volunteers (the only force at
my disposal) should be sent simultaneously from New Westminster to
Alexandria, and from Vancouver Island to Bute Inlet and Bentinck Arm,
and offering to find volunteers for the two latter expeditions.

10. I received a private note from Governor Seymour in reply which I
enclose dated the 17th and 18th May which explains itself. You
will observe from this letter, that Governor Seymour was in
communication with
Sir James Douglas who was residing here but did not
*

communicate with me, and also that Mr Waddington at Governor
Seymour's request proceeded to Bute Inlet where his presence was
useless to save life instead of proceeding to Bentinck Arm where
there were lives still (as far as we then knew) which might by
possibility have been saved.

11. You will thus observe that I sent forward the information I
received to Governor Seymour at the earliest moment in my power and
sent Mr Waddington also by the same opportunity.

12. The accompanying letter from Mr Waddington in reply to my
inquiries explains his own conduct, and is I believe strictly in
accordance with truth.

13. I will not conceal from you (what your Despatch confirms) that
some unworthy attempts were at the time made to attach blame to me in
this matter, and some vituperative articles (attributed to an officer
lately connected with this Government in a double sense) were
published in a violent partizan newspaper having that tendency. It
will be for you to judge from the foregoing statement how far they
were well founded.

14. The statements adverted to being wholly devoid of truth I did
not see it expedient to contradict them and thereby raise a
discussion which could only result in an increase of the ill-feeling
which unhappily existed between the two Colonies.

15. It was my duty as well as desire to render Governor Seymour and
Mr Waddington all the aid in my power and this I did cordially and
earnestly as far as my authority and the means at my disposal would
permit.

16. With the information now before me I do not believe it would
have been possible to avert the unhappy fate of the Bentinck Arm
party after the receipt of the intelligence of the Bute Inlet
murders. The distance, time, and insufficient means at the disposal
of either Government I think prove this. But if such possibility
did exist, the case of these unhappy men is only one of the
miscarriages which have arisen, and will arise from a divided
authority in dealing with Indians who migrate between both Colonies.

17. I enclose herewith two local newspapers of the 12th and 29th
May which contain particulars and comments upon these melancholy
occurrences. I also enclose a copy of Mr Waddington's depositions
which I sent to Governor Seymour together with those of the survivors
of the Bute Inlet party, which you will observe discouraged the hope
of saving the Bentinck Arm party at the time those depositions were
taken, namely, the 11th May.



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No. 60

My despatch No. 3 of the 26th April, begging that the
order issued by the Duke of Newcastle for the payment of ten
thousand seven hundred and four pounds 16s/7d (£10,704.16.7)
for the buildings
erected by the Royal Engineers in this Colony, might not be
enforced was crossed by His Grace's despatch, No. 6 of the 4th
April, stating that the money must be paid.

2. I presume that the payment is for the general services
rendered to the Colony, not for the value of the buildings.
Erected of the slightest materials without regard to appearances
and being essentially a Camp, the Engineer quarters
are but of little value to the Colony. Sir Edward Lytton's
despatch No. 61 of the 10th December 1858, gives as one of
the reasons for sending out a detachment of Engineers, "these
being the soldiers who could with the most ease and rapidity
cover themselves, and I thus enabled you to postpone costly
buildings for the accommodation of troops until you could raise
from Colonial Resources the means by which such improved
accommodation might be provided." The Engineers have "with
rapidity covered themselves," and it appears to me that the
Colonial resources have to pay for "improved accommodation."
The Camp was erected without any view to the buildings being
ultimately converted to Civil purposes.

3. I must however state that I am at present in the
occupation of Colonel Moody's house, which, I have made at the
expense of the Colony, tolerably habitable and which will
obviate for a few years, if the Colony continues to languish,
the necessity of building a Government House. Here the Colony
has clearly profited by the Engineers buildings. Colonel Moody
laid out, I am told, one thousand pounds (£1,000) on this house. Could
not this sum be fairly accepted by Her Majesty's Treasury as a
settlement in full?

4. I have seen in the West Indies the Imperial Troops
Marched out of magnificent barracks, which were at once handed
over to the Colonial Authorities without charge. The Military
stores were given with the buildings and soon afterwards sold
for the benefit of the Colony. If we could become possessed
of buildings like those at the Ridge, Antigua or Brimstone
Hill St. Kitts, I would most willingly pay double the amount
claimed for the perishable huts on the Fraser.

5. The enforcement of this claim will fall with peculiar
severity on the Colony just now when we have to pay the expenses
of the late Chilicoten insurrection but should you still desire
the ten thousand seven hundred and four pounds 16s/7d,
(£10,704.16.7) to be repaid to the Treasury, you might perhaps instruct
the Colonial Agents to pay it out of the proceeds of the New Loan.



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FILE: 1864-10-08_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64261.txt
================================================================================

No. 61

With reference to your despatch No. 4 of the 30th April
1864, respecting the suggested Union of British Columbia and
Vancouver Island, I have the honor to forward Copies of letters
which have passed between Mr Kennedy and myself on the subject.



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FILE: 1864-10-13_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647242.txt
================================================================================

No. 42

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches noted in the
margin,

*

and to transmit to you the enclosed copies of a correspondence which has
taken place relative to the sale and transfer to the Government of
Vancouver Island of Fisgard Island situated in Esquimalt Harbour.

It will be seen from these papers that no properly executed
conveyance of this island has yet been made although the purchase money
for it was paid by the Surveyor General (Mr. Pemberton) to the owners in
1859.

I concur in the views expressed in Mr. Walcott's Report, and as Mr.
and Mrs. Young are ready to execute any such conveyance of the Island as
the Local Government may think necessary, I should wish you to consult
with your law Adviser as to the form of this conveyance to whom the land
should be conveyed, and by whom it should be executed; and to prepare
the requisite Deeds for the execution of Mr. and Mrs. Young, when they
return to the colony.

Possibly the simplest course may be that Mr. and Mrs. Young and Mr.
Pemberton should convey their interest to the Crown.



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FILE: 1864-10-13_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64262.txt
================================================================================

No. 62

Your despatch No. 7 of the 1st of June was opened in
my absence by the Colonial Secretary and he at once made the
communication, copy of which I enclose, to the California State
Telegraph informing the Company that the exclusive privileges
conferred on them by the 5th Clause of the Ordinance No. 9
of 1864, could not be allowed by Her Majesty's Government. I
enclose a copy of the reply.

2. I would however mention that Mr James Gamble, the
General Superintendent of the Company, has been on a visit to
me in New Westminster and that I have settled matters satisfactorily
with him. He is convinced that the disallowance of the special
and exclusive privileges was only consistent with the general
policy of Her Majesty's Government in these matters and will
proceed with his undertaking. As compensation however for his
disappointment I am going to give him considerable assistance
in laying the line of wire between New Westminster and the frontier.

3. It is not impossible that in two months I shall be able
to communicate to you by telegraph, at least as far as Newfoundland,
and under these circumstances I would beg for instructions as to
the cipher or otherwise. Mr Gamble has been good enough to
promise to have a branch wire carried into my office at the
Camp, a mile from New Westminster.

4. I will have Ordinance No. 9 amended at the next meeting
of the Legislative Council.



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FILE: 1864-10-14_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64185.txt
================================================================================

No. 85, Separate

1. I have the honor to transmit the papers named in the margin

*

relating to two separate Indian outrages upon white men. I will
confine myself to an outline of these cases, the particulars and
details of which are disclosed in the accompanying documents.

2. In the early part of 1862 information reached Victoria that a
Mr Bamfield, who had been appointed by my Predecessor in 1859 as an
Indian Agent at Barclay Sound, had lost his life by drowning, and
though there was a strong popular belief that he had been murdered I
cannot learn that any steps were taken to ascertain the truth.

3. Shortly after my arrival in this Colony circumstances came to my
knowledge that left no doubt in my mind that Bamfield had been murdered.

4. I instituted inquiries both here and in the neighbouring
American Territory which established the identity of the murderers.
After a conference with Admiral the Honorable J. Denman he sent H.M.
Steam vessel "Devastation" with the Superintendent of Police and
succeeded in capturing some of the murderers who are now awaiting trial.

5. The second case is more serious and more lamentable. The
"Kingfisher," a small trading vessel of 16 tons left this harbour on
a coasting voyage about the 8th June last. The owners, Messrs
Stevenson and Wilson were highly intelligent and respectable
Englishmen who with a Fort Rupert Indian formed the Crew.

6. Rumours reached Victoria that this vessel had been seized and
plundered, and the crew murdered by the Ahouset tribe of Indians at
Clayoquot Sound on the north west coast of this Island.

7. I consulted with the Admiral on the subject and the result was
the expedition of which I now transmit the report dated 10th October
1864.

8. The last communication from Admiral Denman dated 14th October
brings the narrative up to that date, from which you will observe
that three of the Indians implicated in the murder of the Crew of the
"Kingfisher" are now in custody.

9. I feel confident that the forbearing yet firm and effective
proceedings taken by the Admiral in the latter case will be productive
of the best results.

10. The natives on this coast will require constant and regular
supervision till they are impressed with the danger of breaking the
law, and the certainty of punishment. It is all the more necessary
as several cases of white men being attacked or murdered have
unhappily been allowed to pass by unredressed and which has
encouraged the Indians in bolder courses.

11. Mr Hankin who is so well spoken of by Admiral Denman in his
report dated 10th October is a Gentleman to whom I have lately
given temporary employment in the Colonial Secretary's Office and
knowing his experience on the coast I offered his services to the
Admiral. Mr Hankin was recommended to me by Captain Richards under
whom he served in the Royal Navy. I hope to put Mr Hankin in a
better position when a suitable opportunity offers.

12. I cannot conclude without expressing my obligations to Admiral
Denman and those under his command for the cordial manner in which
they have aided me in this matter.



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FILE: 1864-10-14_Ransom_to_Cardwell_B645MI07.txt
================================================================================

Ransom to Cardwell

I beg to enclose, as required by our Deed of Settlement,
the half-yearly statement of this Bank for the six months
ending 30th June last.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-14_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64263.txt
================================================================================

No. 63

In obedience to the commands conveyed in your despatch
No. 27 of the 28th of July, I have the honor to forward
copies of the latest and most authentic maps of British Columbia.
Captain Holmes, Acting Surveyor General, whose letter I enclose,
will endeavour before his departure for Belize, to prepare a
general map of the Colony, which will exhibit the recent discoveries
made by the armed parties of Volunteers in the pursuit of the
Chilicoten Indians. The only tolerably correct account of the
Country which was the scene of the late insurrection is the report
of Lieutenant Palmer R.E. of a journey from Victoria to Alexandria.

*

The distances are however generally understated,
and the trail by which we travelled runs by Nacoontloon. A
copy of Lieutenant Palmer's report, which is now out of print, was
forwarded in Sir James Douglas's despatch, No. 31 of 21st May 1863.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-15_Romaine_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645AD08.txt
================================================================================

Romaine to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
to transmit herewith for the information of Mr Secretary
Cardwell Copy of a letter, dated the 16th August last,
No 97 from Vice Admiral Kingcome, reporting the movements
of Governor Seymour.



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FILE: 1864-10-15_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64264.txt
================================================================================

No. 64

In obedience to the instructions conveyed in your despatch
No. 25 of the 19th of July 1864, I have the honor to forward
the explanations furnished by the Acting Auditor of the excess
of Actual over estimated expenditure in the Year 1862. I was
not in the Colony at the time.

2. I will use my best endeavour to bring the accounts of
the Colony into a satisfactory condition and in furtherance of
this object, I will submit to the Legislative Council an Ordinance
Authorizing the appropriation of the amount required to cover
the excess of expenditure this year over the original estimates.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-15_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64264SQ.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to forward Copy of a Correspondence
which has passed between Mr Justice Begbie and myself relative
to an article which appeared in the "British Columbian" of the
9th July 1864.

2. A Copy of the article in question is likewise enclosed.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-19_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64186.txt
================================================================================

No. 86

I have the honor to transmit a copy of Resolutions passed by the
Legislative Assembly of this Colony relative to the appointment of a
Chief Justice together with a copy of my Message in reply thereto.

A Bill to make permanent provision for the salary of this officer has
been introduced and will doubtless pass the Legislative Assembly, but
I am unable to say whether it will be adopted in its present form by
the Legislative Council.

It is proper for me to remark that though the Legislative Assembly
has been in Session for days the subject of a Civil List or Crown
Lands has not been yet taken up though prominently brought under the
notice of the Legislature in my opening speech as communicated to you
in my Despatch No 54 dated 16th August 1864.

The course adopted by the Legislative Assembly in dealing with a part
of the Civil List question only is in my opinion inconvenient and
unsatisfactory but as much importance is attached by the Assembly to
the transmission of these Resolutions I send them accordingly.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-19_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64187.txt
================================================================================

No. 87, Miscellaneous

Referring to my Despatch No 69 dated 5th September 1864, I have the
honor to inform you that gold has been discovered over a still more
extended area in the District of Sooke River and that mining and
digging are still pursued with profit and with good prospects.

The total amount received for mining licences to 8th October 1864 is
three thousand six hundred dollars ($3600), leaving a handsome
balance to the credit of Crown Revenue after paying all expenses.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-19_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64188.txt
================================================================================

No. 88

I have the honor to transmit copies of letters named in the margin

*

having reference to the bonds of the Treasurer of this Colony.

You will observe that Mr Watson applied on the 31st August 1864 to
have certain bonds which were supposed to exist cancelled and others
substituted therefor. After a careful search and inquiry I failed to
discover any bonds entered into by the Treasurer or his sureties, nor
could I satisfactorily ascertain into whose custody they had been
given.

Having made careful inquiry regarding Mr Kenneth McKenzie's
solvency and respectability I am quite satisfied on both points—I
have therefore accepted him as Mr Watson's sole surety subject to
your approval.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647243.txt
================================================================================

No. 43

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 59
of the 22nd of August, enclosing a copy of the Address with which you
opened the Legislature of Vancouver Island on the 10th of August.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647244.txt
================================================================================

No. 44

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 55
of the 20th of August reporting that you had appointed Major Foster to
be Magistrate for the Sooke District at a salary of $1,750, in the room,
I presume, of Mr. Hughes, deceased.

Assuming that you have the means at your disposal for paying this
salary, I have to convey to you my sanction for the appointment.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647245.txt
================================================================================

No. 45

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 54
of the 16th of August and I approve of your determination to convene the
Legislature of Vancouver Island immediately for the purpose which you
mention.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647246.txt
================================================================================

No. 46

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 53
of the 16th of August, and to convey to you my approval of the
appointments you made to the offices of Acting Gold Commissioner for the
Sooke District, and Acting Stipendiary Magistrate at Sooke Harbour.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647247.txt
================================================================================

No. 47

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 58
of the 22nd of August reporting that Mr. G. H. Cary had resigned the
appointment of Attorney General of Vancouver Island, and that you had
accepted his resignation.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Layard_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645FO06.txt
================================================================================

Layard to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you, for the information
of Mr Secretary Cardwell the accompanying copy of a despatch which
has been received from Her Majesty's Consul at San Francisco,
reporting that a telegraph line has been completed to Olympia.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-20_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64264SR.txt
================================================================================

Separate

With reference to my despatch No. 37 of the 9th September,
I would venture to bring under the notice of Her Majesty's
Government the Services rendered to this Colony by Lieutenant
Hugh Stewart of Her Majesty's Ship "Sutlej," and Lieutenant
Henry Towry Cooper of the Royal Marines. These Gentlemen
accompanied me through the whole of the arduous expedition against the
Chilicoten Indians and shared in all its dangers and privations.

2. Lieutenant Stewart has recently been favorably brought
under the notice of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
by Rear Admiral Denman on account of his good conduct in the
fight with the Indians at Clayoquet Sound, and has, I am
happy to see, received, at least temporary promotion. Under
these circumstances I would more especially direct attention
to the great merits of Lieutenant Cooper. He was employed
generally as an Officer of the Volunteer party, and had generally
the roughest work assigned to him, such as the command of the
advanced guard when marching through the forests of the Chilicoten
Country, where every shrub might conceal an Ambush, or else in
difficult duties such as that of following the Indians to the
shores of Lake Capano, where the Volunteers had to subsist
for eight days upon six days rations. Though it rained during
the greater part of the time and the party were under orders
not to light a fire which might have revealed their presence
to the Indians, Lieutenant Cooper evinced the utmost cheerfulness
throughout, and obtained the full confidence and regard of the
men who served with him.

3. If a step in promotion could be given to Mr Cooper it
would afford great satisfaction to myself and to the inhabitants
of this Colony with whom he is extremely popular.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-21_Collier_to_Cardwell_V645LW01.txt
================================================================================

Collier and Attorney General to Cardwell

We are honored with Your commands, signified in Sir Frederic Rogers's
letter of the 5th of October, instant, stating that he was directed
by you to transmit to us the accompanying copy of a Despatch from
the Governor of Vancouver Island, enclosing a correspondence relative
to the power of the Government of the Colony to collect arrears of
the Tax on Real Estate in the Colony under the Act passed by the
Legislature in December 1862, entitled "An Act to amend the Real
Estate Tax Act 1860."

Sir Frederic Rogers was also pleased to state that he was desired to
call our attention to the 42nd, 45th, 47th, and 53rd Sections
of this Act, and to the opinion expressed in the letter from the
Chief Justice dated the 26th of July, 1864, to the effect that the
Legislature of Vancouver Island had not authority to make Real
Property in the Colony alienable for a charge which is only a
personal one in this Country.

Sir Frederic Rogers was further pleased to enclose copy of an
Imperial Act passed 28th of July 1849 "To provide for the
administration of Justice in Vancouver Island," and also an extract
from the Commission appointing James Douglas Esquire to be Governor
and Commander in Chief of Vancouver Island, and empowering the
Legislature of the Colony to make Laws; and to request that we would
take these papers into our consideration, and inform you whether we
consider that there is any reason for doubting the validity of the
above cited clauses of the "Act to amend the Real Estate Tax Act
1860."

In obedience to Your commands we have taken this matter into
consideration, and have the honor to
Report

That we are of opinion that it was competent to the Legislature
of the Colony to pass the "Act to amend the real Estate Act 1860" in
its present shape; and that having been assented to by the Governor,
and not disallowed by Her Majesty that Act ought to be enforced.
Whatever may have been the opinion of the Chief Justice on the
subject of its policy he would be highly culpable if he were to allow
that opinion to influence him in the discharge of the plain duty now
cast upon him to give effect to its provisions in any case which may
come before him: and if he conceives that, (as a matter of law), this
Act is "repugnant," and not "as near as may be agreeable" to the Law
and Statutes of the United Kingdom in the sense of the words of
limitation contained in the Governor's Commission of the 16th May
1851, we are but repeating (in a much clearer case) what we have
already advised upon similar questions arising in the Australian
Colonies, when we express our very decided dissent from such a view.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-21_Young_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V646Y02.txt
================================================================================

Young to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have had the honor of receiving your letter of yesterday's date,
apprizing me, by direction of Mr Secretary Cardwell, of a
representation made by the Governor of Vancouver's Island, to the
effect that it is reported I am seeking employment in this Country,
which will cause my relinquishment of the Office I hold in the
Colony; and, therefore, requesting me, at my earliest convenience, to
inform the Secretary of State of my intentions on this point.

2. In reference thereto I beg to express my thanks to Mr Secretary
Cardwell, for thus affording me the opportunity of stating, in
contradiction of such reports, that I am not seeking, and that I have
not sought, any employment which would cause me to relinquish the
Office that I have the honor to hold in the Colony: and in support
of this I would mention that, since my arrival in England, I was
offered an appointment, equal if not superior, so far as mere
emolument is concerned, to that of Colonial Secretary of Vancouver's
Island, and that I declined the same, preferring to identify my
fortunes with the prospective advantages which, I believe, may,
without presumption, be contemplated by those who faithfully fulfil
their trust while employed in the Civil Service of the Colonies.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-22_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64189.txt
================================================================================

No. 89

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-23_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64189A.txt
================================================================================

No. 89[a]

I have the honor to transmit a copy of a letter received from the
Crown Agents for the Colonies making application for authority for
the payment of £1710.7.2 in connection with the supply of certain
dredging machinery to the Government of this Colony being in addition
to the sum of £6000 previously authorized for that service and to
request that the authority sought may be conveyed to the Crown Agents.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-23_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64190.txt
================================================================================

No. 90, Separate

With reference to my Despatches named in the margin

*

I have the honor to transmit a letter from Mr Henry Wakeford, Acting
Colonial Secretary for this Colony, which explains itself.

I have only to add that Mr Wakeford here as elsewhere has been most
diligent and zealous in the performance of his duties and has never
to my knowledge had leave of absence even for the short period
recognized as annual vacation.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-23_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64264SP.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
despatches, of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-24_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647248.txt
================================================================================

No. 48

With reference to your Confidential Despatch of the 22nd of August
last, I have the honor to acquaint you that I am informed by Mr. Young
that he has not accepted, and is not seeking, any employment which would
oblige him to relinquish his appointment in Vancouver Island.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-24_Head_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645MI07.txt
================================================================================

Head to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have the honour to enclose for the information of the Secretary of
State a copy of a document transmitted from Vancouver's Island, being
an information & interrogatives filed against the Hudson's Bay Company
in Chancery by the Attorney General of the Colony.

It appears to me that these proceedings are entirely at variance with
the purport of the agreement entered into on February 3d 1862 by
which it was stipulated that the sales made by the Company previous
to January 13 1862 were to be held valid & effectual as against the
Crown.

It is true that the alleged relator is not the Crown but Mr John
Despard Pemberton the Surveyor General of the Colony, but of the
character & object of the proceedings there can be no doubt. We
trust that the Right Honble. The Secretary of State will give
instructions to stop all proceedings on the part of the Crown
Officers contrary to the tenor of the Indenture of February 1862,
which we on the part of the Company are prepared at once to carry out
by the best means which can be derived. For this purpose Mr Dallas &
myself last week had an interview with Mr Murdoch & the course to be
pursued was in the main agreed upon.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-24_Palmer_to_Cardwell_V645LW02.txt
================================================================================

Palmer and Collier to Cardwell

We are honoured with your commands signified in Sir Frederic Rogers'
letter of the 5th Instant, stating, that he was directed by you to
transmit to us the copy enclosed of a Despatch from the Governor of
Vancouver Island, accompanied by an Act passed by the Legislature of
Vancouver Island, (to which the Governor has reserved his Assent)
entitled "An Act respecting Barristers and Attorneys at Law."

Sir Frederic Rogers was also pleased to state that he was directed by
you likewise to enclose a copy of the observations of the local
Attorney General upon the Act, and to request, that we would take
these papers into our consideration, and favour you with our opinion,
whether this Act may properly receive Her Majesty's Confirmation.

Sir Frederic Rogers was also pleased to state, that he enclosed
copies of part of a correspondence, which, probably, gave occasion to
the passing of this Law.

In obedience to your commands, we have taken these papers into our
consideration, and have the honour to
Report

That we are of opinion, that there is no sufficient objection to
this Act, to call for the withholding of Her Majesty's sanction
therefrom.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-26_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647249.txt
================================================================================

No. 49

I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a proposal
from the Bishop of British Columbia for the division of the Diocese of
British Columbia into two, and the endowment of a new Bishoprick. I
have received this proposal from the Archbishop of Canterbury who has
intimated to me his approval of it.

I enclose a copy of the answer which I have returned to His Grace
and I have to request that you will take an early opportunity of
acquainting me with your views on the subject.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-26_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647438.txt
================================================================================

No. 38

I have the honour to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a
proposal from the bishop of British Columbia for the division of the
Diocese of British Columbia into two and the endowment of a new
Bishopric: I have received this proposal from the Archbishop of Canterbury who had intimated to me his approval of it.

I enclose a copy of the answer which I have returned to His Grace
and I have to request that you will take an early opportunity of
acquainting me with your views on the subject.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-27_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647249A.txt
================================================================================

No. 50

With reference to your despatch No. 50 of the 1st of August I have
the honour to transmit to you the enclosed copy of an Opinion of the Law
Officers of the Crown pronouncing in favor of the efficacy of the Act
passed by the Legislature of Vancouver Island in 1862 "to amend the real
estate tax Act 1860."

Although the opinion of the law Officers of the Crown is not
binding upon the judgment of the Chief Justice, I cannot but believe
that he will probably attach much weight to the decided opinion upon a
purely legal point of two lawyers so eminent as Sir R. Palmer and Sir
R.P. Collier and I have to request that you will give Mr. Cameron, if he
wish it, an opportunity of reading this despatch and the opinion
privately, but that you will not make any public use of the opinion.

I enclose two copies of a Parliamentary Paper containing the
opinion referred to by the Law Officers at the conclusion of their
present Report.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-27_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647251.txt
================================================================================

No. 51

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No.
70 of the 5th of September, enclosing a Report from Mr. Brown of his
explorations in Vancouver Island.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-28_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647252.txt
================================================================================

No. 52

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 62
of the 31st of August 1864, reporting certain circumstances connected
with the resignation by Mr. G. H. Cary of the office of Attorney
General.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-28_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647253.txt
================================================================================

No. 53

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 61
of the 24th of August, and to convey to you my approval of the
provisional appointment which you have made of Mr. Thomas L. Wood to be
Acting Attorney General in the room of Mr. Cary resigned.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-29_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647254.txt
================================================================================

No. 54

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 46
of the 14th of July accompanied by the transcript of an Act recently
passed by the Legislative Council and Assembly of Vancouver Island
"respecting Barristers and Attorneys at Law," from which you had
withheld your assent in consequence of the report of the Colonial
Attorney General.

I am informed by the Law Officers of the Crown that there is no
sufficient reason for not assenting to this Act. You will therefore be
at liberty to assent to it and to send it home in an Authenticated form
for the purpose of being left to its operation.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-29_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647255.txt
================================================================================

No. 55

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 60
of the 23rd of August, reporting the grant of a free pardon to an Indian
named How-a-Matcha, who had been convicted of the murder of another
Indian.

Feeling that the importance of giving the Indians to understand
the necessity of conforming to Christian Laws must not for a moment be
lost sight of, I should wish some further explanation of the reasons
which induced you to set this prisoner at liberty.

I have great confidence in your judgment and in your experience of
the management of Criminals, but in the absence of fuller information I
should have thought that, if you had felt it was right so far to defer
to the Judge and Jury as not to carry the extreme penalty into
execution, you would have inflicted some punishment exemplary in itself
and likely to be regarded as an earnest of the more complete execution
of our Law in future cases.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-29_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647256.txt
================================================================================

No. 56

With reference to your Despatch No. 71 of the 6th Ultimo, I have
the honor to request that you will inform Mr. D. B. Ring that I have
received his letter of the 30th of August relative to the appointment of
Attorney General of Vancouver I, together with the original
documents by which it was accompanied and which I now return.

You will state to Mr. Ring that I consider it the duty of the
governor, in appointing to a vacant Public Office, to make the selection
which he conscientiously believes to be best for the public Service, and
that as I feel no doubt that you pursued that course on the present
occasion, I have found no reason to interfere with your discretion.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-29_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647439.txt
================================================================================

No. 39

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 25
of the 30th of August, reporting the progress of the Expeditions for the
discovery of the perpetrators of the Bute Inlet massacre.

I await your fuller Report on the subject, but in the meantime I
have to express my great satisfaction that you have safely returned to
the duties of your government, and that so much discipline and good
order was maintained, and so little loss of life incurred.

I hope that in the result security will be reestablished and
friendly relations with the Indians generally not disturbed.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-10-29_Head_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645MI08.txt
================================================================================

Head to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

For the information of Her Majestys Secretary of State for the
Colonies I have the honour herewith to transmit—

1. Extract of a letter from Roderick Finlayson Esquire to the
Secretary of the Hudsons Bay Company dated Victoria 7th September
1864.

2. Copy of a letter from P. Medana Chairman of a Public Meeting
of the inhabitants of Victoria held on the 27th July 1864 to
Roderick Finlayson Esquire and the Agents of the Hudsons Bay Company
dated September 5th 1864.

3. Copies of Resolutions adopted by the said
Meeting—Presentment by the Grand Jury—Correspondence with the
Colonial Government and other documents enclosed in Mr Medana's
letter to Mr Finlayson.

The whole of these documents have reference to a measure adopted by
Governor Kennedy in causing barriers to be placed across several
of the streets leading to the piece of land granted to the Community
by this Company.

Resolutions were passed at the Meeting to the effect that great
inconvenience and injustice to the public as well as injury to
property would result from the closing of those streets and the Grand
Jury take the same view of the case. By the last Mail we learn that
considerable excitement existed on the subject and that, on the
refusal of the Governor to remove the barricades, the people had
themselves pulled them down.



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No. 57

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 63
of the 31st of August, and to express my approval of the steps which you
have taken in order to inquire into the disposal of the fees received by
the late Attorney General for registering Joint Stock Companies and to
ensure their prompt and correct payment into the public Treasury.



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FILE: 1864-11-01_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647258.txt
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No. 58

In answer to your Despatch No. 75 of the 14th of September, I have
the honor to acquaint you that I have authorized the Crown Agents to
accept and pay your Bills for £4,000 out of the proceeds of the
Vancouver Loan. The Treasurer states in his letter to you of the 12th
of September that he proposes to draw these Bills, because the balance
in the treasure is insufficient to defray current expenditure. I am not
sure what may be meant by these words, but you will of course take care
that the proceeds of your Bills drawn against the Loan are only expended
on the objects for which that Loan is raised.

I am informed by the Crown Agents that after paying the present
Bills for £4000, the remaining balance of the Loan will be about £3,300
to which amount therefore any further Bills on this account must be
limited.



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No. 59

I transmit to you, herewith, the copy of a letter addressed to me
by the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, with numerous enclosures,
on the subject of steps which appear to have been recently taken by you
for enclosing the Public Park in Victoria. It is complained that these
steps interfere with the rights and convenience of residents in the
neighbourhood of the Park. In the absence of a Report from yourself, I
can of course form no opinion upon these complaints. I feel satisfied
that you would not have adopted the measures complained of except under
a sense of public duty. I shall be glad to receive from you an
explanation of this matter, and in the meantime I rely that you will
take care that no facility or convenience which the public have
heretofore enjoyed in this respect shall be unnecessarily withdrawn.



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No. 60

I have received from the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company the
copy of an Information filed by the Attorney General of Vancouver's
Island against the Company, praying that certain sales alleged by the
Company to have been made by them prior to the Agreement with Her
Majesty's Government of February 1862 may be set aside.

I shall be glad to receive an explanation from you on this subject.

You will of course understand that I should not wish any steps to
be taken without a clear conviction on your part that they are strictly
warranted in Law and in Justice, and unless you are clear on this point
you had better suspend proceedings until your answer to this
communication shall have been received and replied to by me.



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No. 40

I have the honor to convey to you my sanction for the separation of
the Offices of Colonial Secretary and Auditor of British Columbia as
reported in your Despatch No. 23 of the 30th of August, as well as my
approval of the appointment for the present of Mr. Ker as Auditor.



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FILE: 1864-11-01_Julyan_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645AG01.txt
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Julyan to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

In compliance with the directions contained in your letter of this
date I have the honor to inform you for the information of Mr
Secretary Cardwell that the balance remaining in the hands of The
Crown Agents for the Colonies belonging to the Vancouver Island
Government is at present £7308:14:7, and that after paying the Bills
referred to in your letter there will remain a sum of £3308:14:7
applicable to the General purposes of that Colony.



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No. 65

Agreeably to the instructions conveyed to my Predecessor
in the Duke of Newcastle's despatch No. 22 of 5th of May
1860, I have the honor to forward, herewith, an Abstract of
Receipts and Disbursements on Account of the Detachment of
Royal Engineers serving in British Columbia between the 1st January
and the 31st December 1863, accompanied by the proper Vouchers.



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FILE: 1864-11-02_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64191.txt
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No. 91, Miscellaneous

Referring to my Predecessor's Despatches No 1 dated 10th February
1864 and No 2 dated 10th February 1864, and to your Despatch No 1
dated 15th April 1864, I have the honor to state that I have not
hitherto received advices of any steps being taken for the shipment
of any of the lighthouse stores therein applied for.

I am under the necessity of troubling you with this communication
inasmuch as some of these stores are very urgently required.



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Columbia to Cardwell

May I be allowed to have copies of your answer to the
Archbishop of Canterbury respecting the subdivision of the
diocese of B Columbia, and of your despatch to Governor
Seymour upon the same subject.



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No. 66

In accordance with regulations, I have the honor to forward:

1st A Return of all Changes in the holders of
existing Offices and Appointments arising from promotion or
otherwise, during the three quarters ended 30th September
1864, as also of all additions to established Salaries under
settled regulations for length of Service.

2nd A Return
for the same period of all new Offices and Appointments created
and of all additions to established Salaries and Allowances not
provided for by settled regulations.

2. These returns shall be forwarded more regularly in future.



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FILE: 1864-11-08_Julyan_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645AG02.txt
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Julyan to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

In reply to the enquiries contained in your letter of the 2nd
instant I now enclose for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell
copy of a letter from our Shipping Agents by which it would appear
that the missing Ship "John Stephenson" has arrived at Vancouver
Island.

You will probably remember that Mr Pemberton, the Surveyor General
of Vancouver, was sent to this country to superintendent the
construction and despatch of the Machinery forwarded by this Ship,
and that the Crown Agents were requested to aid him in the matter.

He was so importuned here with regard to freight by persons connected
with the Colony that The Crown Agents undertook to invite tenders for
transport, by public advertisement, and they took every precaution to
secure, what was considered by the Marine Insurance Companies, a good
vessel for the purpose, as will be evident on reference to the
enclosed copy of the schedule of tenders received on that occasion, a
copy of which was sent to the Colonial Secretary of Vancouver at the
time.



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FILE: 1864-11-10_Murray_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V645FO07.txt
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Murray to Under-Secretary of State

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you herewith—for the
information of Mr Secretary Cardwell—a copy of a Despatch from Mr
Synge, Her Majesty's Consul General in the Sandwich Islands,
enclosing a report on the prospects of Vancouvers Island and British
Columbia.



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FILE: 1864-11-12_Bishop_of_Columbia_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B646C03.txt
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Columbia to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I acknowledge with my thanks the receipt of copies of a letter to
the Archbishop of Canterbury and of a Despatch to the Governor of B
 Columbia on the subject of Division of the Diocese of Columbia kindly
furnished me from the Colonial Office.



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Separate

With reference to your Despatch No. 56 of the 20th August last,
reporting the provisional appointment of Mr. Henry Rhodes, to be a
Member of the Legislative Council of the Island of Vancouver, I have to
acquaint you that, having submitted the name of Mr. Henry Rhodes to the
Queen in Council, Her Majesty has been pleased to approve his
appointment.

I transmit to you herewith a Warrant, under the Royal Sign Manual,
authorizing you to appoint Mr. H. Rhodes to a seat in the Legislative
Council accordingly.



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No. 61

With reference to your Despatch, No. 73, of the 14th of September,
I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed Copy of a letter from
the Crown Agents for the Colonies, containing an explanation of the
circumstances under which they engaged the "John Stephenson" for the
conveyance of Stores to Vancouver. I am glad to learn from this letter
that since the date of your Despatch she has arrived.



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Confidential

In consequence of Governor Austin's despatch I have felt it to be
my imperative, though very painful duty to suspend, with a view to
cancel, the appointment of Captain Holmes.

I use the word "suspend" because you have intimated to me that it
is his intention to make another appeal to me, and though I do not wish
to encourage him to incur any expense or trouble in making an appeal
which is not very likely to succeed, yet I leave it to himself to decide
whether it is worth his while to do so.

Under any circumstances I feel it my duty to state to you that the
facts admitted in your letter ought not to have been withheld from the
Secretary of State by a Governor recommending a candidate for an
appointment to an Office the Colony which he was leaving: You must upon
reflection feel how serious this omission was in it's bearing upon the
Colony, and in it's tendency to affect the whole Colonial Service. The
Secretary of State cannot distribute patronage properly unless he can
rely with complete confidence upon the recommendations which he receives
from those who hold the high and responsible Office of Governor.



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FILE: 1864-11-17_Hill_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645MI08.txt
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Hill to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

The Postmaster General directs me to return the Ordinance
passed by the Legislature of British Columbia, entitled
"An Ordinance for regulating the Postal Service," which
accompanied your letter of the  27thAugust last, and to
acquaint you, for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell,
that, so far as this Department is concerned, there is no
objection to this Ordinance receiving the sanction of Her Majesty.



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No. 67

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch
No. 35 of 7th September, transmitting Statement from the War
Department relative to the advances made from the Colonial Treasury
to Colonel Moody on account of the Pay and Subsistence of the
Detachment of the Royal Engineers recently employed in this Colony.

2. I regret much that Earl de Grey's letter of the 29th
January last, addressed to the Governor of British Columbia, should
have remained unanswered. It must have been received by my
Predecessor previous to my arrival, and has never been brought
under my notice.

3. As regards the differences between the claims and credits
as shown in the account enclosed in Your despatch, I would observe,
that the statement in question does not include the disbursements
of Colonel Moody subsequent to March 1863, nor are the entire
charges made to that Officer charged against him on the other
side of the Account.

4. The enclosed statement prepared in the Audit Office of
this Colony exhibits, I believe, the true position of the
Regimental Pay Account, down to the time when the Detachment
departed for England. A balance of two thousand nine hundred
and sixty seven pounds 10s/6d (£2,967.10.6) is there shown to be
due to the Colony. Perhaps you would be good enough to direct that
amount to be paid to the Agents General of Crown Colonies to the Credit
of British Columbia.



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No. 92

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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No. 93, Legislative

I have the honor to submit for consideration the Acts detailed in the
margin

*

passed during the last Session of the local Legislature, together
with the report of the Attorney General thereon.

The time occupied in the printing of these Acts has delayed their
transmission.



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No. 94, Separate

I have the honor to transmit a copy of the Minutes of the Legislative
Assembly for the Half year ended 30th June 1864.



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No. 95, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit the Government Gazette and Newspapers
named in the margin

*

for the Quarter ended September 30th 1864.



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No. 96, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to inform you that having various matters of
business to transact with the Governor of British Columbia I
proceeded to New Westminster on a visit to Governor Seymour for a few
days and visited several Ports on the North East coast of this Colony
returning.

I transmit the copies of some addresses presented to me on that
occasion.



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No. 97, Financial

Adverting to your Despatch No 32 dated 15th August 1864, I have the
honor to state that the question of acceptance of the Crown Lands is
now under the consideration of the local Legislature, and pending a
definite decision on that subject, I would only cause you trouble and
create confusion by entering upon the subject of your Despatch.

I will transmit the required information at the earliest possible
period and will for the present only state that I will take care that
no charges are made upon the Crown Revenues of the Colony which that
fund is not fully adequate to bear.



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No. 98, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to inform you that the gold diggings at Sooke River
have been partially suspended in consequence of the rise of water.

All concerned are still sanguine of success and numerous parties are
now occupied prospecting the neighbouring hills and gullies for
quartz reefs.

The total amount paid into the Treasury for mining licences to this
date is $4000 20/100.

The discovery of these diggings has given employment to a number of
people and a wholesome impetus to trade.

I still entertain a well grounded hope that more valuable discoveries
will be made ere spring.



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FILE: 1864-11-22_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64268.txt
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No. 68

With reference to Mr Birch's despatch No. 21 of 12th
August, addressed in my absence, to the Duke of Newcastle, I
have the honor to inform you that Captain Holmes, R.A. left
New Westminster on the 19th instant to assume the duties of
Colonial Secretary of British Honduras, to which Office he was
appointed by His Grace.



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No. 41

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 33
of the 5th of September relative to the removal from the Office of
Stipendiary Magistrate at Douglas of Mr. J.B. Gaggin, and I approve of
the course which you propose to take in reinstating Mr. Gaggin in the
Office which he formerly held.



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No. 69

With reference to my despatches noted in the Margin

*

I have the honor to state that the Chilicoten Chiefs Klatsassin and
Telloot, with three of their followers, who had taken an active
part in the late massacres of white men, were executed in the
village of Quesnel Mouth on Wednesday the 26th of October,
at 7th o'clock in the Morning. The High Sheriff informs me
that there were "about 250 present, all of whom were well conducted
and the whole proceeding was marked by a proper sense of order
and decorum."

2. The Murderers had been tried in the most formal manner
and the Judge's minutes considered by me in Council. The Evidence
against the prisoners was conclusive. Though defended by Counsel
they acknowledged their guilt. The Judge asked what their law
was against Murderers. They said, "Death." I directed that
Klatsassin should be allowed to hang himself, in accordance with
the wishes he had expressed when giving himself up, but at the
last moment he preferred to die like the others. A Minister of
religion attended the Murderer's during the last few days of
their life. They admitted the justice of the sentence passed
on them and died with the utmost calmness.

3. On the scaffold Telloot, an old man, addressed the
Alexandria Indians who were present. He said his last prayer
was that they would make peace with the Chilicotens and urge them
to cease fighting with their native neighbours and the whites.

4. I had requested Mr Justice Begbie to enquire of
Klatsassin why he gave himself up. The Judge visited the
prisoners after sentence had been pronounced and put the question.
It appears that Klatsassin had some hope that I was still with
the Volunteer forces, and probably the protection I afforded
Ulnas led him to hope for some mercy. But he admitted that his
case was desperate. He had no flour. He could not hunt. He
had no fish. He could not light a fire.

5. Two of the prisoners though stated by Klatsassin to be
murderers were acquitted. Another effected his escape while on
his way to New Westminster for trial.

6. The calamities growing out of the massacre at Bute
Inlet and the subsequent rebellion are not over yet. Unfortunately
 for himself and people Anaheim, the Chief who commands the
Chilicotens from the summit of the Cascade Range to near Benshee
Lake, did not give in his submission until the fish and fruit
season was over. Our Volunteers did their work well, and now
Anaheim's followers, men, women, and Children are reported to
be starving. I enclose a correspondence which has passed between
Rear Admiral Denman and myself on the subject. You will observe
that I am sending up flour to feed our late enemies.

7. Mr Ogilvy the Gentleman I am despatching on this mission
possesses an intimate knowledge of Indian Character, and has,
I believe, Indian blood in his veins. He was second in command
of Mr Cox's force after the death of Mr McLean. He thinks
the step I am now taking will have a most beneficial effect on the
mind of the natives.

8. I may mention in this, the closing despatch I sincerely
trust, on the subject of the massacres that I am, on the advice
of the Executive Council, presenting to Mr Brew and Mr Cox
respectively, handsome pieces of plate, of considerable intrinsic
worth, as a recognition of their Services in the suppression of
the late insurrection.



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Separate

I have received your Despatch No. 36 of the 8th September last, in
which you point out that you Predecessor in the Government of British
Columbia, Sir J. Douglas, holds the only Commission issued for a Vice
Admiral of that Colony, and that you have received none.

In reply I have to direct your attention to the 3rd Section of the
Vice Admiralty Courts Act, which was transmitted with the Circular
Despatch from this Department of the 30th of June 1863, and which
provides that in any British Possession where the Office of Vice Admiral
may become vacant, the Governor of such Possession shall be ex officio
Vice Admiral thereof until a formal appointment shall have been made by
the Admiralty. That provision was intended in ordinary cases to
supersede the necessity of such appointments being made otherwise than
under the authority of the Act.

In order to prevent any confusion which might possibly arise if the
prior authority of the Commission should remain outstanding after the
passing of the Act, Sir J. Douglas was requested to resign his
Commission as Vice Admiral of British Columbia, which he formally did,
and intimated that he would obtain from the Colony the Instrument of his
appointment, it having been left there. If however, it should be in
your possession it will be desirable that you should return it to this
Department.



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No. 70

My predecessor appointed a Legislative Council to last for
one year; from the 1st of January to the 31st of December
1864. The Indian rebellion and many other causes have compelled
me to depart considerably in the expenditure of the Revenue from
the Appropriation made by Ordinance in the beginning of the year.
I purpose calling the Legislature together in December to pass
the Supplementary Estimates and an Auxiliary Appropriation Act.
I found myself therefore in the dilemma of having the December
Session carried on by a Council which would be replaced in January
unless I reappointed the Board as constituted by Sir James Douglas.
The Council I found in existence did not I believe command the
full confidence of the people, I therefore relieved myself of all
further embarrassment by dissolving it.

2. I have made the following appointments, subject to your
pleasure.

The Colonial Secretary

The Treasurer

The Attorney General

The Collector of Customs

I should have added, The Acting
Surveyor General, but that Captain Holmes has departed for
Honduras. The Office is now in abeyance.

3. I have appointed the undermentioned Magistrates

Mr Chartres Brew of New Westminster

Mr Peter O'Reilly of Cariboo

Mr Henry Maynard Ball of Lytton

to represent the interests of
the People on the Yale-Lytton line of road. I have chosen Mr
Andrew Charles Elliott, of Lillooet, in the place of Mr Nind
of Douglas, as Official representative of the Douglas-Lillooet
District. Mr Nind so little satisfied my predecessor that he
was ordered to remain at his post during the last Session. Mr
Elliott is a lawyer of considerable acquirements and, I believe,
will be an acquisition to the New Council. He is at present
personally unknown to me. The management of the new Gold mines
recently discovered near the Kootenay River in the Rocky Mountains
and the facilitating of access to them will be among the most
important measures which I shall bring before the Council in
January. I have, therefore, gladly availed myself of the Services
in the Council of Mr John Carmichael Haynes, who, you will
observe in Mr Birch's report enclosed in my despatch No. 71 of
the 25th instant, has managed admirably in the establishment
of law and order among the miners. Mr Haynes supersedes Mr
Sanders of Yale. The last named Gentleman is an excellent public
Officer, but the interests of Yale and Lytton are so nearly
identical that they can safely be left to the management of Mr
Ball. Mr Haynes is, like Mr Elliott, at present unknown to me.

4. The people of New Westminster have recommended me to
reappoint Mr Joshua Attwood Reynolds Homer, and Douglas and
Lillooet, by a large majority replace Mr Henry Holbrook's name
before me. The district of Cariboo East, has chosen Mr George
Anthony Walkem, a Canadian Barrister, to represent them in
the place of Mr Orr. Yale and Lytton have selected Mr Clement
Francis Cornwall, an English barrister, in the place of Mr Smith.
These four Gentlemen recommended by the people

*

have been appointed by me.

5. In Cariboo West, Mr Walter Moberley has been chosen
in preference to the former Member of Council, Dr Black, but the
latter Gentleman has just sent me in a petition, praying that I
will not appoint Mr Moberley on the ground of his having been
adjudicated a Bankrupt in Vancouver Island in 1863. The matter
is under my consideration. I have asked for information respecting
Mr Moberley's bankruptcy, but if, as I believe, he was an honest
but unfortunate speculator, in a Country where all speculate, I
shall appoint him during your pleasure.

6. The Appointments I have made are to continue in force, unless
disallowed by the Secretary of State, until the 1st of May 1866.

7. I have summoned the Council to meet on the 12th of
December for the despatch of business.



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No. 42

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 14
of the 4th of June, accompanied by an Ordinance passed by the
Legislature of British Columbia in the month of May last, and entitled
No. 14 "An Ordinance for regulating the Postal Service."

I have laid this Ordinance before the Queen, and I am commanded to
acquaint you that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the Inhabitants of
the Colony in the usual manner.



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Palmer and Collier to Cardwell

We are honored with your commands, signified in Mr Elliot's letter
of the 29th of October, ultimo, requesting that we would favor you
with our opinion on the following point.

Mr Elliot was pleased to enclose the Copy of a Despatch received
from the Governor of Vancouver's Island, enclosing with other papers
the Copy of an Act passed by the Legislature of that Colony.

Mr Elliot was also pleased to state that the 24th clause of that
Act appeared to be intended, subject to certain restrictions, to
enable the City of Victoria to tax the inhabitants of that City of
which the limits are defined in the first clause.

That the Council would appear to have imposed some license duties in
virtue of this law, and inter alia to have imposed a tax on
"Barristers at Law." That the legality of this tax had been
disputed, and the Chief Justice, in a Judgment of which a copy was
enclosed in the Governor's Despatch, decided it to be illegal.

Mr Elliot was further pleased to add, that the Chief Justice is a
Gentleman of ability who has not received a legal Education; and
further stated, that he was directed to ask, whether in our opinion
the 24th clause of the "Act to incorporate the City of Victoria"
confers on the City Council any power of taxing the Inhabitants of
that City.

Whether that power is subject to any limits, by construction of law,
or otherwise, besides those expressed in the provisoes to the Clause;
and, if so, what those limits are—whether, in particular, that power
extends to imposing a tax on the profession of Barristers?

In obedience to Your commands, we have taken this matter into
consideration, and have the honor to
Report

That, owing to the peculiar manner in which the 24th section of
the Act in question is expressed, it is by no means easy to define
the extent of the power thereby conferred.

But, according to the best judgment which we have been able to form,
we think, that a limited power to tax the inhabitants of the City of
Victoria is conferred, by that section, upon the City Council.

The words do not define, either the persons liable to be taxed, or
the subjects of taxation: but they refer to the power of making
byelaws, given by a former (the 20th) section, for certain purposes;
and they declare that, by a byelaw, to be passed and confirmed as is
mentioned in that section, "the Council
may direct in what manner the funds required for the municipal
purposes may be raised."

Postponing the question, how far the interpretation of this power is
aided by the provisoes which follow, we think, that these words, if
they stood alone, would confer upon the City Council, not a general
and unlimited power of taxation, but a power incidental to, and
limited by, the other powers and authorities previously vested in
them for "the municipal purposes," and capable of being exercised
with respect to those persons, and those subjects only, which were
thereby placed under their control, administration, and Government.
In other words, we think, that any byelaw for taxation, under the
24th Section, ought to be confined, in its operation, to matters
within the scope of the general power of making byelaws, contained in
Section 20.

So interpreted, the Council might lawfully pass any byelaw for
levying street tolls, market tolls, highway rates, drainage and
sewage rates, rates on houses and land within the municipal limits &c
&c. But it could not lawfully impose a personal poll-tax, or a tax
upon trades or professions, because the 20th section does not invest
it with any power over persons generally, nor enable it to create
monopolies, or to make the exercise of trades and professions subject
to exclusive licences.

We think, that this is the true principle of interpretation by which
the limits of the power must be ascertained: and we are confirmed in
that view by the promises which follow. It was evidently considered,
that freehold and leasehold property within the city, (which
constitutes the qualification for voting at Municipal elections)
would be taxable under the power; as, according to our view, it would
be; because such property receives direct benefit from the charter
and from all the powers to be exercised by the council under the
20th section; more especially those, which relate to highways, &c,
to drainage and sewerage, to precautions against fires, and to
landmarks in the City. On the other hand, the exclusion of a power
to impose "any tax in the nature of a tax upon personal estate,"
(which was not superfluous, as it might have been contended, that
personal as well as real property within the City derived direct
benefit from some of the powers conferred by section 20), seems to us
altogether inconsistent with the supposition, that it was intended to
give a power large enough to authorize a capitation tax, or a tax
upon trades and professions. The exclusion of "ships, shipping, or
passengers," is not according to our view, unnecessary: because "the
Regulation of the traffic within the City" (section 20) might well be
construed to include the regulation, not only of the traffic by land,
but also of the water-traffic within the municipal boundaries.

We think, therefore, that the power in question is subject, by
construction of law, to other limits, (the nature of which we have
endeavoured to explain,) besides those expressed in the provisoes to
the clause: and we think, that it does not enable the City Council to
impose any tax on the profession of Barrister.



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No. 71

With reference to my despatches mentioned in the Margin,

*

I have now much pleasure in laying before you the very interesting
Account furnished by Mr Arthur Birch, the Colonial Secretary, of
his visit to the Kootenay Gold Mines.

2. It is with particular satisfaction that I call your
attention to Mr Birch's account of the Admirable manner in which
Mr Haynes has performed the very difficult duties imposed upon
him. As but little work is performed in our Gold mines during
the winter I have, as stated in my despatch No. 70 of the 24th
Instant, appointed Mr Haynes to be a member of the Legislative
Council. His knowledge of the new diggings will prove very
valuable to us. Mr Young who acted with Mr Haynes at Osooyos
will take his place on the Kootenay until relieved by Mr Cox,
whom I have appointed, subject to your pleasure, to be police
Magistrate and Assistant Gold Commissioner of the District.

3. The Mining Laws of this Colony have been framed mainly
on the recommendation of a Board sitting in Cariboo. Our
Ordinances have been enacted to meet the particular circumstances
growing out of each successive discovery of Gold in that district,
and are now a crude mass which I propose to reduce into shape
during the next Legislative Session. Adapted to the peculiar
wants of Cariboo, they will probably be found to require little
change as regards that district, but Kootenay will require special
legislation of its own. In Cariboo the richest "leads" are found
at an average of from 70 to 90 feet below the surface of the
ground and thus a large capital is required to work them. At
Kootenay both the rich leads on the Bed rock and the lighter
ores are found to be but little buried. The whole question
shall engage my earnest attention.

4. We have set on foot four exploring expeditions to discover
the best way of connecting the newly discovered mines with New
Westminster, so as to get a fair portion of the trade into
English hands. Mr Jenkins, late of the Royal Engineers, was
despatched by Mr Birch from the Kootenay to reach the Fraser
at Lytton by way of the Upper Columbia, Arrow Lakes and the
Shushwap. He descended the river from its parent Lakes and
found it navigable for 180 miles for Steamers of a moderate
draught of water. At the great bend where the stream passes
round the Northern extremity of the Selkirk Range, I regret to
find that a Series of rapids of a total length of nearly 66
miles occurs in which no Steamer could live. Mr Jenkins however
discovered a pass in the Selkirk Mountains where a road of 36
miles might be made by which the falls and rapids of the Columbia
would be avoided.

5. The exploring party I sent out under Mr Turner, as
reported in the 4th paragraph of my despatch No. 59 of 7th
of October, had reached the Columbia by way of Thompson River and
Kamloops and Shushwap Lakes. They found these two large bodies
of water and the connecting river, perfectly adapted to steam
navigation. When last I heard from Mr Turner he was constructing
Canoes to ascend the Columbia, but we are now aware that unfortunately
the loop in the river is not navigable. The party finding that
resource fail them will probably explore more thoroughly the pass
already discovered by Mr Jenkins.

6. The certainty that steam navigation can be established
for 120 miles between the Thompson and the Columbia, and that
the latter river fails to be any Service to us for 60 miles, has
induced me to accept the services of Captain Houghton, late of
the 20th Regiment, and a small party to explore the Southern
bend of the river connecting the two great Lakes to the head of
Lake Okanagan. From this latter point he will proceed nearly
due East towards the Kootenay, through a pass which he has
observed in the Gold Range. Finally Mr Jenkins has been sent back
to examine a line of Country from Statapoosten across the Grande
Prairie; spoken highly of in Mr Birch's report. You will see
that we are using every means of making the new discoveries
profitable to the Colony. The trail opened by the Hudson's Bay
Company is, in Mr Birch's opinion likely to remain unserviceable.

7. In addition to his having performed the objects of his
mission perfectly satisfactorily and furnished a most useful
report, Mr Birch has done a service to the Colony at considerable
personal risk in bringing about seventy five pounds weight (75 lbs) of
Gold, received as Taxes on the Kootenay, from the Rocky Mountains
to New Westminster.



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No. 62

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No.
80, of the 1st of October, enclosing Copies of Reports of the
Commissioners for the Management of the Indian Reserves.

I learn with much satisfaction that you are directing your
attention to the state of the Indian Population, with a view to the
adoption of measures for ameliorating and improving their present
condition.



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No. 43

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches No.
31 of the 5th of September, and No. 44 of the 13th September relative to
Dr. Rae's Expedition.



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No. 44

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 38
of the 9th of September, and I have read with pleasure your account of
the gratifying reception you met with in the Districts which you
visited.



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No. 45

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 30
of the 31st of August enclosing an Address presented to you by the
Fraser River Indians whom you invited to meet you on the occasion of the
Queen's Birthday.

I appreciate the kind disposition shewn by you towards these
Indians, and your endeavour to make them receive with satisfaction your
accession to the Government.



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No. 46

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 42
of the 10th of September and to acquaint you that I have communicated
copies of this Despatch and of the correspondence with Vice Admiral
Kingcome to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.



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No. 47

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 27
of the 8th of June, enclosing copies of an Address which was presented
to you by the Inhabitants of Nanaimo and of your reply.



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No. 48

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 26
of the 7th of June forwarding copies of Addresses presented to you from
the Town and District of Douglas, from the New Westminster Fire
Department and from the inhabitants of Yale.

I have read with satisfaction these further evidences of the
welcome which you have received in British Columbia.



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No. 72

I have, the honor to report that I have, subject to your
pleasure, appointed Mr William George Cox to be Police Magistrate
and Assistant Gold Commissioner at the Kootenay Gold Mines
recently discovered in the Rocky Mountains.

2. Mr Cox has gradually risen in the service till he
has reached the Magistracy and Assistant Gold Commissionership
at Van Winkle in the district of Cariboo. I showed my confidence
in him when I selected him to be the leader of the party of
Volunteers whom I despatched from Alexandria recently to operate
against the insurgent Chilicoten Indians. Mr Cox is a person
of great tact in the management of Indians and the rougher classes
of American miners and has acquired very great popularity in Cariboo.

3. The Salaries of the Assistant Gold Commissioners as
reported in the Colonial Office List, give but a very imperfect
idea of the emoluments attached to the situations. The Cariboo
Magistrates receive in addition to their fixed pay, allowances
of nearly £500 a year. I propose to recommend in Council the
substitution of an increase of Salary for these irregular payments,
which were
 given for a particular and special purpose at first
but have now acquired somewhat of the character of vested rights.
I have not yet determined on the amount of pay which Mr Cox
will receive, but I think viewing the importance of the situation
and its remoteness from the seat of Government, the Salary should
be a liberal one. The political duties of keeping on good terms
with the Authorities of the Neighbouring United States Territories
will I think be well performed by Mr Cox.

*

4. Mr Cox's transfer creates no opportunity for making
a new appointment. As stated in my despatch No. 33 of 5th of
September, I have Mr Gaggin on my hands, with a claim to Salary
but no fixed sphere of duties. I place him now in Cariboo West
to succeed Mr Cox. Van Winkle is however almost abandoned by
the Miners, so Mr Gaggin will be stationed at the rising town
of Quesnel Mouth on the Upper Fraser.

5. I may mention incidentally, having referred to my
despatch No. 33 that Mr Gaggin was gratified by my offer to
restore him to Douglas, but that he begged I would keep him in
the Cariboo district if possible.



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No. 73

The schools supported mainly at the Public expense in
this Colony, are supplied at present with American School
Books, of rather an objectionable kind. The spelling is that
adopted by some classes in the United States. The sentiments
are violently republican. The United States are lauded at the
expense of England and finally, fables about alleged natural
phenomena are gravely stated as truth.

2. It would be conferring a favour on the Colony if you
would direct the Agents General to send out a well assorted
collection of school books for about one hundred children. The
books should, to secure universal confidence, not be in any way
of a sectarian character. I hardly know how more distinctly
to describe our wants, but you, Sir, will have no difficulty in
ordering the most suitable and attractive books.

3. I should also be very glad to obtain for our schools
some maps and instructive pictures.



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No. 63

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No.
65, of the 31st of August, forwarding certain papers relative to the
powers of taxation conferred upon the Corporation of the City of
Victoria by "the Victoria Incorporation Act 1862." I referred these
papers for the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown in compliance
with your request, and I transmit to you herewith a Copy of the answer
which has been received from them.

It does not very clearly appear from your Despatch what are the
precise questions which you wished to be submitted to the Law Officers,
and it is therefore possible that the information which you now receive
is not exactly what you desire.

In future cases in which you may find it advisable to seek the
opinion of the Law Officers in this country your request should be
accompanied by a clear statement of the specific questions to which you
require an answer and of the facts on which that answer would depend
with copies of all material documents, as for instance, in the present
case, of the bye Laws of the Corporation to which allusion is made in
the enclosure to your Despatch.

In the Parliamentary Papers noted in the Margin,

*

Copies of which accompanied my
Despatch No. 50, of the 27th of October, you will find much that is
valuable with reference to the present case.



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Julyan to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to request that the Crown Agents for the
Colonies may be furnished with Mr Secretary Cardwell's
authority for accepting the Bills referred to in the enclosed
copy of a letter received from the Colonial Secretary of
British Columbia.

The improved state of the Money Market will enable the
Crown Agents to borrow £20,000 on the credit of the Colony
to meet these Bills at maturity, even if it should not before
that time have sufficiently recovered to justify them attempting
to raise the money by the negotiation of the loan authorized
by the British Columbia Loan Act of 1864.



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FILE: 1864-11-29_Paget_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645AD04.txt
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Paget to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to send
you, herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell, a Copy
of a Letter of the 30th Ultimo, No 21, from Rear Admiral the
Honourable Joseph Denman, and also a Copy of its Enclosure, reporting
his proceedings, and the steps taken by him to discover the captors
of the Sloop "Kingfisher," and the Murderers of her Crew—reporting,
also, that a portion of the murderers of Mr Bamfield, and of the
Bute Inlet Murderers, had been captured.



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No. 74

I have the honor to transmit a letter addressed to you by
Mr Greville Mathew, Registrar of the Supreme Court of this Colony,
praying under the circumstances stated, that you will transfer
him to some appointment requiring less physical exertion than
the one he at present holds.

2. Mr Mathew's statement is quite correct. By his accident
he is incapacitated for a long time, probably for life, from
fulfilling properly the duties of his present situation. I
enclose letters addressed to him by the Judge of the Supreme
Court and the Attorney General showing the high estimation in
which he is held by the Bench and Bar.

3. I would most willingly provide for Mr Mathew myself
if I saw any probability of my being able to do so. I have not
however had a single situation to give away since my arrival and
I do not see the most remote prospect of any patronage falling
into my hands. As stated in my despatch No. 33 of 5th September,
my Predecessor has left me some unattached public officers for
whom it is my duty to find employment in any situation which may
fall vacant. Even the creation of a new Staff of Officers at
the Kootenay Gold Mines does not exhaust the superabundant supply
I have on hand.

3. [4.] It

gives me great pleasure to be able to state that
Mr Mathew is a gentleman of good education and conduct. He has
I am told shown great ability in the performance of his duties,
which come more under the notice of the Judge than of mine. Mr
Mathew would much prefer an appointment in the West Indies to
one in British Columbia. His father is Her Majesty's Minister
Plenipotentiary in Central America.



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No. 99

1. I have the honor to transmit a copy of correspondence and Minutes
of Council having reference to the suspension of Mr Richard
Golledge, Acting Gold Commissioner.

2. I will shortly state the facts of this case.

3. On the discovery of gold at Sooke in the month of July last I
found it necessary to despatch an officer without delay to act as
Gold Commissioner. The limited staff of officers left me little
choice, and I preferred selecting a gentleman already in the public
service rather than trust an unknown and untried one.

4. Mr Richard Golledge, Chief Clerk in the Treasury was quite
competent as an accountant, had been for some years in the employment
of the Hudson Bay Company, and I was informed had acted as Private
Secretary to my Predecessor by whom he was appointed to the Clerkship
in the Treasury. With these qualifications I offered Mr Golledge
the acting appointment of Gold Commissioner.

5. Mr Golledge continued to hold this appointment till rumours
reached me that he was leading an intemperate and disreputable life,
addicted to drink and prostitutes.

6. I directed inquiries to be made, and ascertained that Mr
Golledge's loose living was a matter of public notoriety.

7. I caused Mr Golledge to be informed that charges of drunkenness
and immorality were alleged against him in the letter herewith dated
21st November 1864. Mr Golledge's reply will be found dated 21st
November 1864. I thereupon called Mr Golledge before the Executive
Council, and the evidence herewith was given and recorded in his
presence on the 23rd November.

8. The Acting Attorney General and the Treasurer being of opinion
that it was not sufficient to justify Mr Golledge's suspension, Mr
Golledge was again summoned to attend before the Council on the 29th
November 1864 when the further evidence herewith was given in his
presence.

9. Mr Golledge had been duly summoned to attend the Council at 11
o'clock A.M. but did not arrive till 11.30.

10. The evidence being completed and Mr Golledge directed to
withdraw, I put the question to the Council whether Mr Golledge was
then sober, and you will observe from the Minutes (page 55) that
they unanimously decided that
he was not.

11. This decision, the correctness of which cannot be doubted, of
course rendered further proceeding unnecessary, and I have therefore
suspended Mr Golledge from pay and duty pending your decision.

12. I have made careful inquiries regarding Mr Golledge's
antecedents, which leave little doubt in my mind that he has been for
a long time addicted to drunken and dissolute habits of life, and
that his want of personal respectability wholly disqualifies him for
any place in the public service.

13. In conclusion I may add that each and all of those who have
given evidence against Mr Golledge are highly respectable persons
and above any suspicion of untruth or bad animus against him.

14. I have invited Mr Golledge to make any statement or defence he
sees necessary in writing which I will transmit in a separate
Despatch if received in time for the next Mail.



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No. 75

I had the honor to receive when in London a despatch from
the Duke of Newcastle dated the 16th of January 1864, directing
me, when I had been sufficiently long in the Colony to form an
opinion, to report upon the present arrangement by which the
Colonial Secretary succeeds to the Administration of the Government
in the event of the death or absence of the Governor.

2. Having now been eight months in the Colony, I have the
honor to report that not only do I consider the Colonial Secretary
to be the proper officer to succeed to such administration, but
that I likewise think Mr Arthur Birch to be the best man for
the succession.



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No. 64

I have duly received the several Despatches from you enumerated in
the margin.

*

In these Despatches you report the steps which you took to encourage
exploration, and the subsequent discoveries of Gold in the Sooke River
District.

You acted very properly in promoting an endeavor to enlarge the
Knowledge of the resources of the Colony, and it is very satisfactory
that this endeavor has been rewarded by a discovery which promises to
increase the wealth and prosperity of the Colony.

I enclose, for your information, two Parliamentary Papers on
Australia, containing some documents which may be of use to you in
dealing with this important subject. And if you should require further
information, I think that you might derive advantage from communicating
on the subject with the Governor of British Columbia, in which Colony a
considerable amount of experience on the best treatment of Gold Fields
has already been accumulated. Indeed unless there would be a marked
difference in the conditions of the case in the two Colonies, it would
seem convenient that their regulations on the present subject should be
as nearly similar as circumstances will admit.



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No. 49

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 54
of the 28th of September.

I am much gratified to learn the safe arrival of Dr. Rae at New
Westminster, and to receive the encouraging account of the prospect of a
good route from the Red River Settlement to British Columbia.



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No. 50

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches No.
41 of the 10th of September 1864, and No. 59 of the 7th of October
reporting on the recent discovery of Gold Fields on the Kootenay River.



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No. 51

With reference to the letter addressed to you by direction of the
Secretary of State on the 10th of February last, relative to the
proposed construction of a Line of Telegraph across British Columbia in
connection with Russia and the United States, I have the honor to
transmit to you for your information, a copy of a Despatch on the
subject from the British Charge d'Affaires at the Court of St.
Petersburgh.



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No. 52

I duly received your Despatch No. 37 of the 9th of September, and
perused with much interest your detailed account of the expeditions
deigned to obtain the surrender of the Chilicoten Indians who murdered
Mr. Waddington's Road Party. I have since received your Despatch No.
58 of the 7th of October in which you describe the further proceedings
of Mr. Brew and of the party of New Westminster Volunteers who acted
under his orders, and announce their safe return.

The readiness of all the Volunteers on this occasion to enter upon
so arduous a service for the good of their fellow Colonists does them
high credit. I need hardly say that I appreciate the gallantry and
devotion to the public interest which led you to share the dangers and
privations of one of the two parties of Volunteers; and laudable as was
the steadiness and fortitude displayed by them I cannot doubt that they
must have been most valuably encouraged by your presence in their Camp.

It is my earnest hope that the triumph of the Europeans over the
difficulties of this expedition into an Indian Country, and the
consequent surrender of some of the persons accused of the previous
murders may produce a salutary impression and conduce to the public
safety.



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No. 53

I have had the honor to receive your Despatch, No. 56 of the 4th of
October, written in acknowledgment of mine No. 30 of the 1st of August.

I have every reason to approve of the moderation and justice
enforced by you during the late Expeditions into the country of the
Chilicoten Indians.

I do not understand the meaning of the paragraph in which you speak
of inviting every white man to shoot every Indian he might meet. I
shall rely on your continued adherence to the line of conduct hitherto
pursued by you, which appears to have been perfectly consistent with
humanity and good policy.



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No. 76

In obedience to the instruction conveyed in the 224th
Section of the book of Colonial Regulations, I have the honor
to forward a Return of Civil Charges regularly authorized by
Her Majesty's Government or by Acts of the Local Legislature
which have received Her Majesty's Assent, classed under the
heads of Salaries, and of incidental and contingent charges,
specifying the amount expended under each head for each Public
Department, for the second quarter of 1864.



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No. 77

I had the honor to receive in London a despatch from Mr
Elliot under date of the 10th February 1864, forwarding a
correspondence which had passed between the Colonial Department
and Mr Collins, respecting the construction of a line of Telegraph
across British Columbia in Connection with Russia and the United States.

2. I have now the honor to report that I believe the work
will soon be taken in hand in this Colony. Mr Edmund Conway,
an Officer of the Company, has already arrived, and Mr Collins
may be expected next summer. The Telegraph has been already
completed on this Continent, as far as Salt Lake City. It is
proposed to carry it from thence to Walla Walla in Washington
Territory and to enter British Columbia at Osoyoos, where we
have a Custom House.

3. The line through this Colony has not yet been determined
on, but Mr Conway is in favour of carrying the wire along Lake
Okanagoon, from thence by Salmon River to Lake Kamloops, then
by the Thompson as far as Bonaparte, thence Northerly along the
great high road of the Colony as far as Quesnel Mouth. He would
continue to follow the Fraser as far as Fort George, there strike
across country to Forts Macleod and Babine and afterwards proceed
down the Valley of Simpson River to the Sea at Observatory Inlet.

4. Mr Collins, I understand, will carry the Telegraph into
New Westminster. Thus it is probable that we shall ere long have
three distinct lines of wire connecting this place with Europe,
the United States and Canada. 1st The California State
Telegraph, which will reach New Westminster in about six weeks.
2ndly The Collins Line, and lastly, that about to be undertaken
by the Hudson's Bay Company to connect all the Colonies of British
North America by way of Lake Superior and the Red River Settlements.



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FILE: 1864-12-03_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64200.txt
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No. 100

1. I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter from Mr A.F.
Pemberton, the Commissioner of Police, covering a letter from Mr
Horace Smith, tendering his resignation as Superintendent of Police,
accompanied by a second letter denying that he had ever given Mr
Pemberton any money on account of "bribes."

2. While I deem it unnecessary to trouble you with voluminous
documents relating to this subject, it is desirable that you should
be in possession of a summary of the facts.

3. My attention had been for some time directed to the discreditable
condition of the Police and Gaol of this Colony when the complaint of
a discharged Sergeant of Police afforded a clue to the discovery of
alleged irregularities.

4. Having instituted inquiry and consulted the Acting Attorney
General he advised that Mr Horace Smith, Superintendent of Police
should be indicted for misdemeanour for having received numerous
bribes to permit gambling in various public houses and for other
immoral purposes.

5. When all legal and some questionable means had been resorted to
for the purpose of defeating the case before the Magistrates (of whom
Mr Pemberton was one) the case was sent to trial before the Chief
Justice and a common Jury who could not agree, ten being for
conviction, and two for acquittal.

6. Mr Smith by his counsel then made application for trial before a
special Jury which was granted by the Court, and on this occasion
there were ten for
acquittal and two for conviction.

7. On the day after the last trial Mr Smith anticipated my
intention to dispense with his services by tendering his resignation,
which I accepted subject to your approval.

8. The proceedings in this case have made it very clear that the
Police Force has been corrupt and inefficient from a period anterior
to Mr Smith's entering it, and that Mr Smith, the sergeants, and
privates of the Force have been compensating themselves for
insufficient salaries by receiving bribes on a large and systematic
scale.

9. The organization and system pursued in the Department facilitated
the proceeding to the utmost.

10. Previous to and for some time after my arrival here, the whole
patronage of the Department was vested in the Commissioner—and
Superintendent of Police, Sergeants, and privates were appointed and
dismissed without any regular inquiry or reference to superior
authority, and I met with some opposition and much dissatisfaction
when I put a stop to this practice.

11. Mr A.F. Pemberton holds the incompatible appointments of
Commissioner of Police, Governor of the Gaol, and Stipendiary
Magistrate—an arrangement which I think ought never to have existed,
and which after recent disclosures cannot be permitted to continue.

12. Without attributing any criminality to Mr Pemberton I cannot
acquit him of very great neglect or want of capacity as Commissioner
of Police, there having been in my opinion ample grounds to raise his
suspicions long before the complaint of bribery and corruption
reached me.

13. I will at an early period report for your information and
approval the measures I adopt to prevent a recurrence of such a
scandal to the public Service.



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No. 101

I have the honor to transmit the copy of a Report of the Chief
Justice in reference to the trial and conviction of two Indians for a
very attrocious and unprovoked murder, and to inform you that after
consultation with my Executive Council it was decided that the
sentence should be carried into effect, which was accordingly done by
the execution of the culprits this day.



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FILE: 1864-12-03_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE15.txt
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Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to Mr Elliots letter of 26th
Ultimo, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you, for the information
of Mr Secretary Cardwell, that They will not object to
the Estimates of British Columbia for the year 1864, or to
the confirmation of the Ordinance No 3 of 1864, to apply
the sum of £135,639.16s.7d to the service of that year.

Their Lordships would however observe that the
Abstract B Estimate of Expenditure, does not show the
amount actually expended in the year 1862, and that the
Abstract A Estimate of Revenue, shows the Approximate Revenue of 1862.

They would suggest that the attention of the Governor
should be called to this omission in order that the established form of
preparing the Estimates of each year may in future be complied with.



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FILE: 1864-12-03_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64278.txt
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No. 78

I would beg leave to state, with reference to my despatch
No. 51 of 25th September, that I am now, and have been for some time,
entirely satisfied with the conduct of my Executive Councillors.



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FILE: 1864-12-05_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647454.txt
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No. 54

In answer to your despatch No. 40 of the 19th of September, I have
the honor to inform you that I have authorized the Crown Agents to
accept and pay the Bills drawn by you for the sum of £20,000.



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FILE: 1864-12-05_Hammond_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645FO08.txt
================================================================================

Hammond to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by Earl Russell to transmit to you, to be laid before
Mr Secretary Cardwell copies of two Reports from the Law Officers of
the Crown upon your two letters of the 3rd and 21st Ultimo,
relative to the Fines imposed at Port Angelos, Washington Territory,
upon the British Steamer "Alexandra", and I am to request that you
will state to Mr Cardwell that Lord Russell is about to instruct Her
Majesty's Minister at Washington in conformity with those Reports.



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FILE: 1864-12-05_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64202.txt
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No. 102

Referring to my Despatches named in the margin

*

and the subject of the Crown Lands and Civil List of this Colony
I have now the honor to transmit copies of communications which have
passed between the Legislative Assembly and myself.

I do not expect that any satisfactory decision upon this question
will be come to by the present House of Assembly,

**

who have not yet I think fully realized the injury and inconvenience
likely to result from the course they have adopted and which must I
think ere long work its own cure.

I will avail myself of this decision of the Assembly to put the
administration of the Crown Lands and Revenue on a sounder footing,
reporting from time to time what I have done or propose to do.

I will of course limit the charges against the Crown Fund to those
you have authorized and which there are ample funds to meet.

***

The action of the Assembly will necessitate my addressing you I fear
at some length on the Crown Lands question which might have been
settled before I assumed the Government and which I found in a most
complicated position. I will if possible have the necessary
documents and information ready to transmit by the next Mail.



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FILE: 1864-12-05_Peel_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE16.txt
================================================================================

Peel to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to your letter of 13th October last,
I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury to acquaint you that They have had under Their
consideration the British Columbia Ordinance No 16 of
1864—to amend the Customs Duties together with the despatch
from the Governor submitting certain observations upon the
fourth Clause which repeals the existing authority for
the clearance of Vessels in Vancouver Island for any port
of British Columbia North of Fraser River—or the payment of
Customs Duties of British Columbia in any part of Vancouver Island.

My Lords have no objection to the first three clauses
of the Ordinance.

With regard to the fourth clause My Lords see no reason
to dissent from the view taken by Mr Secretary Cardwell
that the enactment is a legitimate exercise of the Powers of
the British Columbia Legislature, but They think that, before
the Ordinance is submitted to Her Majesty for confirmation,
full opportunity should be given for any representations
to be made from Vancouver's Island touching the probable
effect of the measure upon the trade of the two Colonies.

*

My Lords are not aware what ports there may be in
British Columbia North of the Fraser River and now open
for traffic or what means the Government of British Columbia
have or intend to have for levying Customs Duties at such
ports, but They observe that the Governor in the 4th
 paragraph of his despatch of 6th June, states that
"Vessels going to engage in the very profitable Traffic
with the Northern Indians will have to clear at New Westminster."

If this means that all Vessels bound to places North
of the Fraser River are in future to go up that River to
New Westminster to get a clearance and to pay the Customs
Duties, which would evidently take them out of their course,
it is not improbable that Shipowners and Traders generally
will complain of the new regulations especially considering
that the Ship Channel into the River has been described as
winding in a tortuous and narrow passage through the sand,
a navigation somewhat dangerous.

The Despatch from Governor Douglas of 3rd November
1858, relating to the Selection of one or more Seaport Towns
for the Colony of British Columbia contains some remarks
bearing upon the question now under consideration.

The 13th paragraph of that despatch has reference to
the arrangement hitherto in force for allowing Vessels to
clear at Vancouver's Island, but the 11th paragraph
suggests that, for the convenience of general Trade and to
prevent the risks and delays consequent on entering the
River, a Customs Officer might be stationed at Point Roberts
or at some more convenient point on the sea coast, outside
of Fraser River, to enter ships bound to other places in the
Gulf of Georgia north of Fraser River.

In the event of its being decided to allow the Ordinance
My Lords would suggest that some provision should be made for
affording facilities to Vessels bound for places North of
the Fraser River in obtaining clearance and paying the Customs
Duties without being compelled to go out of their course.



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FILE: 1864-12-06_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64203.txt
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No. 103, Legislative

Adverting to my Despatch No 86, 19th October 1864 I have the honor
to transmit the copy of a Bill entitled "An Act to appropriate the
sum of twelve hundred pounds Sterling per annum from the General
Revenue of the Colony for the salary of a Chief Justice."

I have with the advice of my Executive Council reserved my Assent to
this Bill pending the decision of Her Majesty's Government, being of
opinion that it is a question whether the spirit and letter of it do
not encroach upon Her Majesty's Perrogative.

I beg to be favoured with your instructions on this subject.



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FILE: 1864-12-06_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64204.txt
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No. 104, Miscellaneous

Referring to my Despatch No 100 of 3rd December 1864, I have the
honor to request that I may be supplied with copies of any Rules or
Regulations which may have been laid down for the discipline and
management of the Metropolitan Police Force or any other information
which may be considered useful for the management of the Police Force
in this Colony.

I regret to say that this Force is greatly deficient in that
systematic and detailed organization which is so necessary to the
efficiency of such a body, and in arranging the details of which it
is in my opinion most desirable to have the benefit of practical
rules.

I would earnestly request that the information sought may be
furnished as early as may be convenient.



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FILE: 1864-12-07_Hamilton_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_B645TE17.txt
================================================================================

Hamilton to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to the letter addressed to you by Order of
This Board on 9th June last, I am commanded by the Lords
Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit to you
the enclosed copies of the Bond executed by Mr C.W. Franks
in the sum of £2000 as Treasurer of British Columbia, and of
 the Bond in a like amount from the European Assurance Society,
and I am to request you to move Mr Secretary Cardwell to
communicate the same to the Governor of British Columbia for
his information and guidance.

The Governor will observe that in the event of any default
on the part of the Treasurer, a Certificate under his hand will
be required in respect of such default, so far as regards the
Bond of the Assurance Society.

He will also observe that the liability of the Society does
not extend to any substitute that may be appointed in Mr
Franks' place while on leave. It will therefore be necessary
to take care that security should be given by the Acting Officer
on the occasions of the absence of the Treasurer from his duty.



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FILE: 1864-12-07_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64205.txt
================================================================================

No. 105, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to transmit a copy of a letter from the Secretary to
the Light House Board, and to request that the Crown Agents for the
Colonies may be instructed to procure and forward to this Colony the
articles therein applied for.



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FILE: 1864-12-08_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647455.txt
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No. 55

I have received your desp. No. 39 of the 9th of September,
reporting the murder of one Indian Constable and the wounding of others
by the Master and Crew of the British Sloop "Random".

I entirely approve of your neglecting no means to endeavour to
obtain possession of the people charged with these crimes, in order that
they may be brought to justice.



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FILE: 1864-12-08_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64206.txt
================================================================================

No. 106

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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FILE: 1864-12-08_Kennedy_to_Cardwell_V64207.txt
================================================================================

No. 107

I have the honor to request that I may be furnished with the
information described in the enclosed Memorandum of the Acting
Colonial Secretary relative to the management and discipline of Gaols
and Prisons, at as early a period as convenient.



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FILE: 1864-12-10_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647456.txt
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No. 56

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 53 of
the 27th of September last, informing me that you had, subject to my
instructions, drawn half salary from the date of your departure from
Southhampton on the 17th of February to the date of your assumption of
the Government of B. Columbia.

I regret that you should have taken this course without a previous
reference to the Department, as you will perceive on reference to the
colonial Regulations that articles 90 and 99 preclude your claim; Sir
James Douglas having continued in the tenure of his Office until your
arrival in the Colony.
I have therefore no alternative but to require
you to refund the amount of the half salary which you have thus drawn,
and I have to request that you will report your having done so to this
Department.



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FILE: 1864-12-12_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647456A.txt
================================================================================

Separate

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 51, of the
25th of September last, submitting a difficulty with reference to the
eighth clause of The Queen's Instructions of the 11th of January last.

The Instruction is intended to render a Governor circumspect in his
proceedings by imposing upon him the necessity of consulting his
Council, and I am not aware that this necessity has been productive of
any inconvenience in other Colonies. It is, however, for you to judge
on your own responsibility what are the cases in which the advantage of
the Public Service requires him to act without consulting his Executive
Council, and that it is impossible for me, without reference to a
particular case, to say whether you will be right or wrong in giving a
large interpretation to your Instructions in this respect.



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FILE: 1864-12-12_Head_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645MI09.txt
================================================================================

Head to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 29th ultimo transmitting a copy of a despatch from
the Governor of British Columbia enclosing copy of a notice
which he had issued calling upon all Magistrates, Constables
and other public officers to furnish Dr Rae with any aid
 which he might require in surveying the route for an Electric
Telegraph across the Rocky Mountains; and on behalf of
myself and my Colleagues in the direction of this Company I
have to request that you will convey to the Secretary of State for the
Colonial Department our best thanks for his obliging communication.



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FILE: 1864-12-12_Head_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645MI09.txt
================================================================================

Head to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

With reference to a letter which I had the honor to address to you on
the 26th of February last on the subject of a claim made upon this
Company respecting a small lot of land in Victoria Vancouvers Island
which has frequently been alluded to in the correspondence with Her
Majestys Government as Lot Z. I beg now to transmit a copy of a
letter recently addressed to this Board by Mr Lowenberg the purchaser
of the lot in question in which he complains that he is still kept
out of possession of [by] the Colonial authorities, and a note signed by
Mr Dallas, who acted in this matter on behalf of the Hudsons Bay
Company in which he states that Mr Lowenberg is unjustly deprived of
his property and subjected to much annoyance & expense by the delay
which has taken place.

Having in my letter of the 26th of February stated at great length
the facts connected with Mr Lowenberg's claim I do not think it
necessary to trouble you on the present occasion with a repetition of
them; but the Committee of the Hudsons Bay Company trust that the
Secretary of State for the Colonies will now give positive orders on
the subject to the Governor of Vancouvers Island as will prevent the
authorities in that Colony from depriving Mr Lowenberg any longer of
his just rights and save this Company from the annoyance to which
they continue to be subjected by the obstacles which have been so
persistently offered in the Colony to the carrying out of the
Agreement entered into between Her Majesty's Government and this
Company on the 3rd February 1862 for the settlement of all questions
connected with the claim of the Company to lands in that Island.



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FILE: 1864-12-13_Macfie_to_Under-Secretary_of_State_V646M01.txt
================================================================================

Macfie to Under-Secretary of State

I have recently returned to this country after a residence of five
years in the above Colonies,

*

as agent of "the British Colonial Missionary Society," and am now
Engaged in preparing a book containing Classified information
respecting their resources collected during the period referred to.

I have already had opportunities of perusing all Parliamentary
documents relating to these Colonies that were published to the close
of 1862. As my work is intended to be a faithful account of the
Condition and Prospects I am anxious that it should contain the most
recent information. I have applied for the blue books referring to
Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, that have been published,
since the close of 1862, at the London Institution and
British Museum but these documents I was informed had not been
received there.

As the forthcoming volume is designed for the public it will, it is
hoped, be of service to those distant parts of the Empire. May I
respectfully beg that you will do me the favor of allowing me to
examine at the Colonial Office or grant me facility to peruse
elsewhere the official papers relating to these Colonies published
since the close of 1862? May I also request Permission to obtain a
copy of the photographs of the Sooke Gold mining district which I
understand have been sent to the Colonial Office by Governor Kennedy
of Vancouver Island within the last few months?



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FILE: 1864-12-14_Douglas_to_Cardwell_B646D03.txt
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Douglas to Cardwell

Absence from England has prevented me from acknowledging, at
an earlier date, the receipt of Sir Frederic Rodgers' Despatch of
the 9th August last, conveying to me your decision upon my
application of the 2d of July 1864, for the residue of salary,
which I considered was due to me, for the balance of the term short
served of my appointment as Governor of the Colony of British Columbia.

2. Nothing could be further from my desire, than to prefer any
claim that could be justly considered unreasonable, and did it appear
to me, after a most careful consideration of the reasons you advance
for declining to entertain this claim, that it could, in any way, be
so characterized, I would at once abandon it. I venture, however,
very respectfully to conceive, that the circumstances attending it
are of a peculiar and wholly unprecedented character, and that the
case is not parallel to that of other Governors, in which category
you apprehend it was Sir Edward Lyttons intention to place me when
I was appointed.

I have no knowledge of any case in which other Governors have been
required to surrender their most valuable interests in
order to hold their appointments.

I was informed that Her Majestys Government would appoint me
for "six years at least," and it was a condition of that appointment
not that any existing private interests, I might have elsewhere,
should remain in abeyance, but that I should absolutely
give up and surrender all my connexion with the Hudsons Bay and
Puget Sound Companies, together with my interests therein present and
prospective.

There was no ambiguity in these terms. I accepted them and on
my part, faithfully fulfilled them. I submit, therefore, that my
position was not that of other Governors, but rather that of an
officer, who gives a valuable consideration for a commission, which
he becomes entitled to hold, on the stipulated conditions, for its
entire term.

3. In reply to your remarks as to the unreasonableness of the
time, at which my claim is preferred, I would desire to explain, that
I was restrained by motives of delicacy from bringing it forward in
my private communication to the Duke of Newcastle, alluded to in Sir
Frederic Rodgers' Despatch.

I had no reason to suppose from His Grace's private letter to me
announcing the probability of my removal from Office, for reasons
solely of convenience and policy, that H.M. Government would be
unmindful of my just rights, in the contemplated arrangement. I
was not informed in the letter of the 16th of March when the
change would take place: on the contrary, I was kept for many
months afterwards, in a state of most tantalizing suspense. I
believe it to be obvious from the whole spirit and tenor of my
reply of the 31st July, that I relied on the fulfillment of
the original agreement. Indeed, anxious to meet the views of His
Grace in any project he might have for the different administration
of the Government of the two Colonies—and the first intimation
of which, I would here observe, was greatly to my pain and
mortification, given to me through the public prints—and naturally
desiring rest after a difficult and harassing term of office, I, in
mentioning it to have been my intention to apply to be relieved, at
the close of the year, wished to convey what I then suggested to His
Grace, that leave of absence should be given me, until the
expiry of the term of my appointment.

I could, I am sure, make this the more apparent, had I my papers
to consult, but not having brought them with me to England, I can
only state the impressions under which they were written.

I would observe also, that it was not until the middle or latter
end of February, that I heard definitely when I should be relieved.

My successor in Vancouver Island arrived in the following month,
and Governor Seymour relieved me in British Columbia in April. I
left shortly afterwards for England, and it seems to me that I could
not well, have preferred my claim, at an earlier period, without giving
rise to the impression that I was not anxious to fall in with the
arrangements of Her Majestys Government. I may be mistaken in this:
I should perhaps, not have allowed such feelings of delicacy to interfere
with the upholding of what appeared to me my just rights, but having
done so—whether mistakenly or not—does not, I apprehend, either
legally or morally, vitiate or diminish the force of these rights.

4. In reference to your allusions to the treatment I have
received, on the part of Her Majesty's Government, I beg most
distinctly to disavow either in this or in my former communications,
upon this subject, any expression that could be construed into a
complaint of their action. On the contrary, it has been my good
fortune to receive from Her Majesty's Government, much kindness and
consideration upon numerous occasions of trial and difficulty; and in
again advancing what I should be loth to think, could be classed
with the recognition of my humble services by Her Majestys Government,
but what I view to be simply a claim founded upon the strictest
equity. I feel sure that the fullest weight will be given to all the
peculiar circumstances connected with it, and that justice will be
done.



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FILE: 1864-12-14_Paget_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645AD05.txt
================================================================================

Paget to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to send you
herewith, for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell, a Copy of a
Letter dated the 12th Octr, No 22, from Rear Admiral The Hon. J.
Denman, with its enclosures, relating to the measures taken by him
for the punishment of the Ahousett Indians for the murder of the Crew
of the British Vessel Kingfisher and the destruction of that Vessel.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-12-14_Paget_to_Rogers_Permanent_Under-Secretary_V645AD06.txt
================================================================================

Paget to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit
herewith for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell a letter dated
the 19th Octr last No 31 from Rear Admiral the Honourable Joseph
Denman reporting the proceedings of the Ships under his orders in the
Neighbourhood of Vancouvers Island and the result of the expedition
to Bute Inlet.



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FILE: 1864-12-17_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647266.txt
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No. 66

I have had under my consideration your Despatch No. 64 of the 31st
of August and the correspondence by which it was accompanied relative to
the claim of the late Attorney General to certain fees which you
required him to refund into the Colonial Treasury.

This correspondence raises the general question whether the
Attorney General of Vancouver Island is entitled to receive fees for
work done for the Colonial Government.

Although I informed you in my Despatch No. 19 of the 11th of July
that a Colonial Attorney General is generally speaking not at liberty to
charge the Government for his services, yet in the case of Vancouver
Island, as the Salary assigned to that Office is only Three hundred
pounds [£300] a year, and as the Government work seems to be of some
considerable amount, I do not think that he can be required to do it for
that Salary.

I therefore consider that the Attorney General must under present
circumstances be paid for his services and that in the absence of any
agreement to the contrary he is entitled to the usual fees. If
therefore in the present instance it is true in point of fact that Mr.
Cary's charges were the usual charges in such cases, which there can be
no difficulty in ascertaining in the Colony, I am of opinion that he
should receive them.

If on the contrary the assessment of the taxing master is to be
considered as a decision of this point (i.e. if it is a taxation not as
between suitors, but as between Attorney and Client) then the Government
should retain the money which Mr. Cary has refunded.



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FILE: 1864-12-17_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647457.txt
================================================================================

No. 57

I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information and
guidance, the accompanying Copy of a letter from the Board of Treasury,
enclosing copies of the Bonds executed by Mr. Franks and the European
Assurance Company as security for the proper discharge by Mr. Franks of
the duties of his Office. You will perceive that their Lordships
consider that it will be necessary, on occasions when the Treasurer may
be absent from his duties to take security from the Officer who may be
appointed to act for him.



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FILE: 1864-12-19_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647458.txt
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No. 58

I have laid before the Queen the Ordinance passed by the
Legislature of British Columbia in February last, which was enclosed in
Sir James Douglas' Despatch, No. 9 of the 29th of February last entitled
No. 3 of 1864

An Ordinance to apply the sum of One Hundred and thirty-five thousand
six hundred and thirty nine pounds sixteen shillings and seven pence
sterling, out of the general Revenue of the Colony of British Columbia
and its Dependencies to the Service of the year One thousand eight
hundred sixty four,

and I have the honor to inform you that Her Majesty has been pleased to
confirm and allow it.

You will communicate Her Majesty's decision to the inhabitants of
British Columbia in the usual manner.



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FILE: 1864-12-19_Cardwell_to_Seymour_B647459.txt
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No. 59

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 32
of the 5th of September, and to inform you that the British Columbia
Estimates for the present year which you have enclosed have met with the
approval of Her Majesty's Government.

The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury have however requested me to
observe to you that the Abstract B Estimate of Expenditure does not shew
the amount actually expended in the year 1862, and that the Abstract A
Estimate of Revenue shews the Approximate Revenue 1863 instead of the
actual Revenue 1862, and their Lordships request that in future the
established form of preparing the Estimates of each year may be complied
with.

With regard to the Ordinance No. 30 of 1864, to which your Despatch
relates, I beg to refer you to my Despatch No. 58 of this days date.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-12-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647267.txt
================================================================================

No. 67

I duly received your Despatch No. 80 of the 1st of October,
containing a Report on the state of the Indian population, and some
general remarks on their future management.

I entirely approve of the prompt attention which you have given to
the subject, and of the principles which you lay down as those which
should guide our policy towards the Natives. I am especially convinced
that nothing could be more for their benefit or more favorable to the
growth of worthier and less pernicious relations between the two races
than the repression of the sale of ardent spirits to the Indians by
unscrupulous European traders.



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FILE: 1864-12-20_Cardwell_to_Kennedy_V647268.txt
================================================================================

No. 68

I have the honor to acknowledge your Despatch No. 84 of the 8th of
October, containing some information with which I requested you to
furnish me on the steps you had taken connected with the unfortunate
massacres of Euopeans at Bute Inlet and the Bentinck Arm.

The account which you have given of your proceedings is quite
satisfactory, and convinces me that you acted with your usual zeal and
promptitude, and with every desire to lend your cooperation in any
measures that might be necessary for the public good.



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FILE: 1864-12-20_Murdoch_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645LN04.txt
================================================================================

Murdoch to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of 13th instant, with a
Despatch from the Governor of British Columbia on the subject of a
Survey of the land conceded to the Hudson's Bay Company in that Colony.

2. By an Agreement made in October 1861 it was arranged, that
the Hudsons Bay Company should receive, in satisfaction of indefinite
claims which they alleged themselves to have to land in British
Columbia, certain plots containing in all 2913 Acres, being
principally the Sites and immediate environs of their former trading
Posts. The Company complain that the Government of British Columbia
have incurred unnecessary delay in conveying to them these lands.
Governor Seymour answers that by the existing Law no grant can be
issued until the Government Survey extends to this Land claimed,
which is the case with only a portion of the Hudsons Bay Cos
Lands. As, however, many years will probably elapse before the
Government Survey is extended over the whole Colony, the Governor
proposes to make some alteration in the Law at the next Session. It
remains to be seen how far any such alteration will meet the
inconvenience of which the Hudsons Bay Company complain, but as
their blocks of Land are 24 in number, extended over a large portion
of the Colony, and varying in size from one Acre to 600, and as
many of them are not, as Mr Seymour observes, worth the
expense of a separate Survey, it is scarcely probable that grants
can be issued for the whole at an early date. The Governor expresses
a desire to meet the wishes of the Company, and there seems no
reason to doubt that he will do so as far as he can consistently
with justice to other Settlers.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-12-20_Seymour_to_Cardwell_B64279.txt
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No. 79

I have the honor to report that I called together the
Legislative Council on the 12th Instant. I enclose copies
of my opening Address, the reply of the Council and my rejoinder.

2. It has been my intention merely to pass the Supplementary
Estimates and Appropriation Act, so as to close the Account of
this year before Christmas, and be in a position to enter,
without arrears of business, upon the Legislation required for 1865.

3. It is with much satisfaction that I report, that at one
sitting the whole of the Supplementary Estimates were passed, and
that I hope to be able, tomorrow, to assent to the Appropriation
Act and prorogue the Council until, the 12th of January 1865.



================================================================================
FILE: 1864-12-21_Sargeaunt_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_B645AG09.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

In reply to your letter of yesterdays date I have the honor
to state, for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell,
that the amount due to the Crown Agents from the Government
of British Columbia to the present date is £2362.5.11, and
that the interest and Sinking Funds on the loans already
raised in this Country for that Colony amount to £12,500
per annum, half (£6250) becoming payable at this Office on
the 1st January and 1st July in each year.

From a conversation I had with Mr Seymour,
previous to his departure from this Country for British
Columbia, I am aware that he is quite alive to the fact
that the regular and punctual payment of this interest
is essential to the credit of the Colony, and I attribute
the non-arrival of remittances to the supposition that
the Crown Agents would hold a large amount to the credit
of the Colonial Government from the proceeds of the sale
of fresh Debentures beyond the amount required (£20,000)
to meet the bills referred to in your letter of the 2nd instant.



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FILE: 1864-12-21_Sargeaunt_to_Elliot_Assistant_Under-Secretary_V645AG03.txt
================================================================================

Sargeaunt to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

Referring to Mr Julyan's letter of the 8th ultimo I have to state
for the information of Mr Secretary Cardwell, that it appears that
the "John Stephenson" arrived at Victoria, Vancouver Island, on the
25th Septr last, & had discharged nearly all her cargo on the 19th
of October, but the Crown Agents have no knowledge of the condition
in which the Machinery taken out by that Vessel reached its
destination.

I have to add that the Admiralty Transport Board shipped a large
quantity of Government Stores by this Vessel.



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No. 69

With reference to my Predecessor's Despatch No. 5 of the 16th of
March last; I have the honor to request that you will report to me the
steps you may have taken for giving Mr. Lowenburg a valid title to a
certain lot of Land forming part of the Government Reserve at Victoria,
Vancouver Island.



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Head to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 14th instant and of the accompanying copy of a despatch
from the Governor of British Columbia explaining the cause of the
delay in the issue to the Hudsons Bay Company of Grants of the
land assigned to them under the Agreement between Her Majestys
Government and the Company dated the 11th October 1861, and I
have to request that you will convey to the Secretary of State
for the Colonial Department the thanks of myself and my Collegues
in the direction of the Company for that obliging communication.



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No. 108, Miscellaneous

I have the honor to inform you that I have this day authorized the
Colonial Treasurer to draw Bills for One Thousand Pounds (£1000) on
the Crown Agents for the Colonies on account of the Vancouver Island
Road and Harbour Loan.



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No. 109

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of
State's Despatches of the numbers and dates noted in the margin.

*



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No. 70

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches Nos.
76 and 77 of the 15th and 21st of September relative to the fines levied
at Port Angelos Washington Territory of the British Steamer "Alexandra."

I have to acquaint you that a communication on this subject has
been made to Her Majesty's Minister at Washington.



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No. 110

I have the honor to inform you that consequent upon the resignation
of Mr J.D. Pemberton, Surveyor General, and the appointment of Mr
B.W. Pearse as his acting successor, I have selected Mr J.T. Tidwell [Pidwell]
to perform the duties of Assistant Surveyor in the room of Mr
Pearse.

Mr Tidwell is an active intelligent Colonist, fully competent to
perform the duties assigned to him.

He has hitherto given much of his time gratuitously to the public
service and is irreproachable in private character.

I have to solicit your approval of this temporary arrangement.



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No. 111

Referring to my Despatch No 100 dated 3rd December 1864 reporting
the resignation of Mr Horace Smith, Superintendent of Police, I have
the honor to inform you that I have, subject to your approval,
appointed Mr Philip J. Hankin to succeed him.

Mr Hankin has been for some time under my immediate observation as a
temporary clerk in the office of the Colonial Secretary and I have
formed a very favourable opinion of his fitness for the office to
which I have appointed him.

Mr Hankin is an ex-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and has been
strongly recommeded to me by Governor Hill (of Antigua), and by
Captain Richards R.N. under whom he served during his survey of this
coast.

Mr Hankin has also been favourably mentioned in a Despatch from
Admiral the Honorable J. Denman for his conduct on a recent occasion.

His appointment has been received with great satisfaction by the
public, and will I feel sure result in the efficiency of the Police
Force—and the restoration of public confidence in this important
branch of the public service.



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No. 112

Referring to my Despatch No 99 dated 30th November 1864 reporting
the suspension of Mr R. Golledge, I have the honor to inform you
that I have appointed Colonel Foster, Stipendiary Magistrate at
Sooke, to perform the duties of Gold Commissioner in connection with
those of the office he now holds, but without any addition of salary.

The duties of both offices can be readily performed by one officer at
this season of the year when mining operations are partially
suspended.



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Mallet to Rogers (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council
for Trade, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th
October last, transmitting by desire of the Secretary of State for
the Colonies, a Copy of an Ordinance passed by the Legislature
of British Columbia, "to amend Customs Duties."

In reply, I am to request that you will inform Mr
 Cardwell that My Lords see no reason to object to S.S. 1, 2 and 3.

With regard to the 4th Section, to which special
reference is made in your letter, I am to state that as its
effect is to restrict, to a great extent, the navigation
at the ports of British Columbia, to the vessels clearing
from one port of that Colony, My Lords are unable to recommend
its adoption on grounds of commercial policy, but that the
question of allowing the clause appears to them to be one
which must be decided with reference to the political considerations
advanced by the Governor.



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No. 71

With reference to your despatch No. 83 of the 8th of October
 enclosing a letter from the President of the California State Telegraph Company I have the honor to inform you that I have received a despatch
from the Governor of British Columbia from which I am glad to learn that
Mr. Seymour anticipates no difficulty in adjusting matters with the
Company. You will no doubt communicate with the Governor of British
Columbia on any point in the case requiring your joint consideration and
action, and I have requested Mr. Seymour to take a similar course.



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No. 60

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 62
of the 13th of October, from which I am glad to learn that you
anticipate no difficulty in settling the question to which the grant of
exclusive privileges to the California State Telegraph Company had given
rise, and which if injudiciously treated might have become embarrassing.
You will no doubt communicate with Governor Kennedy on any point on the
subject of this Telegraph, requiring your joint consideration and
action.



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No. 72

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 87
of the 19th of October reporting the progress made in the mining at
Sooke River Gold District.



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No. 73

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 88
of the 19th of October, and in reliance on your discretion, I approve of
your having accepted the bonds of Mr. McKenzie and Mr. Watson as
security for the due performance by Mr. Watson of the duties of Colonial
Treasurer.



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No. 80

With reference to my despatch No. 74 of 29th November,

*

I have now the honor to report that I have, with the advice
of the Executive Council, granted one year's leave of absence
to Mr Greville Mathew, Registrar of the Supreme Court.

2. I enclose the usual Certificates.



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No. 74

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 35
of the 14th of October with it's enclosures reporting the steps taken to
discover and punish the Indians concerned in the murder in the year 1862
of the Mr. Bamfield and in the recent massacre of the crew of the Sloop
"Kingfisher."

I have to express my approval of the measures which were adopted
for this purpose, and I am glad to perceive that they have met with
success, and that at the date of your Despatch several of the Indians
implicated were in custody and awaiting trial.

Much as I lament the necessity of hostile expeditions against the
Indians, I am bound to recognize the duty of protecting peaceful traders
by inflicting punishment upon Natives guilty of such treacherous acts of
murder and robbery as those committed by the Ahouset tribe.

In the case of the "Kingfisher" there is nothing to shew that the
outrage was caused by any thing except the opportunity of plunder. But
the Indians it appears, complained much to Commander Pike of the
behaviour of the traders to them, saying that frequently any wrong they
did was provoked by the bad language used towards them, and in some
cases by their being pushed and struck by the men in the trading
Schooners. They begged that the Governor would issue a warning to the
Masters and Crews of the trading vessels to be more circumspect in their
language and behaviour to Indians when trading with them. This
representation seems deserving of your attention and I think that it
will be very right to take all suitable opportunities of impressing upon
Traders the impropriety and folly of irritating the Natives by violent
and contemptuous language or conduct.



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No. 61

Having noticed in your Despatches by the last Mail various
requisitions for articles for the use of your Government, I thought it
expedient to call upon the Crown Agents for a report of the state of
their account with British Columbia and of the date and amount of the
periodical demands on them for interest on the debt. I have the honor
to enclose for your information, a copy of the letter addressed to the
Crown Agents and of their reply.

I can assure you that I feel no want of confidence in your sense of
importance of regularity in the pecuniary transactions of your
Government. You have doubtless abstained from sending any remittances
to meet the approaching half year's interest on the debt, from your
knowledge that the Crown Agents held for disposal an amount of
debentures far exceeding the amount required for this obligation. It
would involve a superfluous cost to remit money from the Colony to pay
interest in this Country so long as there are funds here belonging to
the Colony which can be applied to the same purpose. But the state of
the money Market during the past year has shown you that the power to
borrow cannot be reckoned upon as equivalent to the possession of the
money. You will have the best means on the spot of knowing the further
amount of Bills which you may from time to time have drawn against the
Loan or of supplies for which you shall have sent requisitions to the
Agents. But whenever the time may come at which such demands will have
exhausted the funds at your disposal here, I am sure that you will be
fully sensible of the necessity of making remittances in such ample time
as to ensure the periodical payment of the half yearly interest with the
punctuality which is essential to the credit of the Colony.



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No. 62

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No.
63, of the 14th of October, forwarding copies of the latest and most
authentic Maps of British Columbia.



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No. 63

With reference to my Despatch No. 37 of the 7th of October last, I
have the honor to acquaint you that as no representation adverse to the
Ordinance No. 16, "to amend the Customs Duties," has been received from
Vancouver Island or from British Columbia, Her Majesty has been pleased
to allow and confirm it. You will communicate the Queen's decision to
the Inhabitants of the Colony in the usual manner.

I have to observe however that it would seem from your Despatch that
vessels trading with the Northern parts of British Columbia would be
obliged to come to New Westminster to clear, which would take them
considerably out of their course. On this point I have to refer you to
the 11th paragraph of your Predecessor's Despatch No. 9 of the 3rd
November 1858, and to suggest the expediency of placing a Custom House
Officer at Point Roberts or at some more convenient Point on the Sea
Coast, outside of Frasers River, to enter ships bound to other Places in
the Gulf of Georgia North of Fraser River.



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No. 113

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No 55,
29th October 1864 wishing some further explanation of the reasons
 which induced me to set an Indian Convict named How-a-Matcha at
liberty.

Those reasons are chiefly deducible from the letters of the Chief
Justice and Mr Sebright Green which accompanied my Despatch No 60
of the 23rd August 1864.

The Indian tribes hold it to be a sacred duty to avenge the death of
a relative by killing a member of the offending tribe. A near
relative of How-a-Matcha had been murdered. The Chief of his tribe
applied to Mr Sebright Green who came to Victoria to represent the
case to my Predecessor, and obtain redress according to our laws.
Sir J. Douglas (quoting Mr Green's words) "told him in reply that he
could not interfere and must leave the Indians to settle the matter
themselves and he told the old Chief (of How-a-Matcha's tribe) the
same."

It is not surprising that under this implied sanction a savage
adopted the custom of his own bloody code.

With this fact in evidence, the Jury having properly found
How-a-Matcha guilty of murder, at the same time recommended him to
mercy, and the Judge joined in that recommendation.

I could not without greatly offending the Indian sense of justice,
and violating my own judgment (and that of my Council) under these
circumstances authorize the execution of this man.

It may be thought that some lesser penalty ought to have been
inflicted, and that this man ought not to have been set at liberty
unpunished. In adopting this latter course I was influenced by the
following considerations.

1st How-a-Matcha had undergone a lengthened imprisonment previous to
trial—in itself a great disgrace in the eyes of Indians.

2nd In a very ill-regulated Gaol such as that at Victoria he would
have been
demoralized and degraded.

3rd I was assured by missionaries, Protestant and Catholic, that a
Free Pardon would be accepted as a great boon by the culprit's tribe
and insure their future loyalty and good behaviour, and lastly, it
afforded me an opportunity of reconciling two hostile, and contiguous
tribes in which I am happy to say I have entirely succeeded.



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Separate

With reference to my Despatch to your Predecessor No. 61 of the
19th Ultimo I transmit to you herewith the Queen's Warrant for the
appointment of Mr. Arthur Birch to be Colonial Secretary for the Colony
of British Columbia.

