No. 5

In my report on the affairs of the Colony of British Columbia
of the number and date noted in the margin,

*

I did myself the honor of laying before your Grace a statement of the
expense, 
inconvenience, uncertainty and delays to which emigrants were
exposed in making purchases of land in that Colony.

2. I also stated that the Government Surveys could not
keep pace with the demand for public land, and I might moreover
have added that the expense of moving Surveying parties of the
Royal Engineers to the various points where land is required
for settlement and cultivation, would probably exceed the money
value of the land sold.

3. I at the same time, informed Your Grace that in order
to remove so pregnant

a cause of complaint and to facilitate
settlement, and promote the lawful acquisition of unsurveyed
agricultural land, pending the operation of the public surveys,
I had authorized the occupation of land to the extent of 160
acres with a preemption right, by any person immediately
occupying and improving such land, and agreeing to pay the
Government price, not exceeding Ten Shillings an acre, whenever
the land is surveyed and Title granted.

4. I now forward herewith, a Proclamation giving to my
previous instructions the force of Law, and also providing for
the purchase,

with the same limitation of the ultimate price,
of larger tracts of unsurveyed country land, in addition to the
land preempted, as may be desired by persons of larger means;
it being in that case, also provided in order to guard against
the mere speculative holding of land, that Five Shillings an
acre is to be paid down, and the residue at the time of Survey.

5. This Act has been reviewed with much anxious consideration,
and every precaution has been taken to adapt its machinery to
the state of the Colony, and to divest it of unnecessary forms,
expense, and delay.

6. The District Stipendiary Magistrates will record the
application for land, and immediately report the same to the
Commissioner of Lands and Works, and to the Colonial Secretary,
so that it will not cause any further drain on the funds of the
Colony.

7. The object of the measure is solely to encourage and
induce the settlement of the Country; occupation is therefore
made the test of title, and no preemption Title can be perfected
without a compliance with that imperative condition.

8. The Act distinctly reserved, for the benefit of the

Crown,
all Town Sites, auriferous land, Indian Settlements, and public
rights whatsoever; the emigrant will therefore on the one hand
enjoy a perfect freedom of choice with respect to unappropriated
land, as well as the advantage which is perhaps of more real
importance to him, of being allowed to choose for himself, and
enter at once into the possession of land, without expense or
delay; while the rights of the Crown are, on the other hand,
fully protected, as the land will not be alienated, nor Title
granted, until after payment is received.

9. The system will, I trust, have the effect of enlisting
the sympathies, and letting loose the energy, intelligence, and

activity of the whole emigrant population upon the public domain,
adding daily to its value, while it is to be hoped the people
themselves will become more and more attached to the soil, and
more studious to acquire property in land rendered valuable by
their own labour.
Thus men who have no serious intention of settling in the Country,
and others who, on their first arrival, have not the means of
buying land, become in the end devoted settlers, and in their
capacity of producers and consumers, valuable contributors to
the public Revenue.

10. Other good effects are expected to result from the
operation of the Act; there is for example, every reason to

believe that it will lead to the more rapid colonization of
the Country; and to greater economy in its Survey, which can
be effected hereafter, when roads are made, at a much smaller
cost for travelling and conveyance, than at the present time.

11. The District Magistrates are authorised in all cases
of dispute about land to proceed immediately in a summary way,
to settle boundaries, to restore possession, to abate intrusions,
and to levy such costs and damages as they may think fit, a
course, which I believe will have the happiest effect, in
preventing litigation, and private acts of violence for the
redress of grievances; and to guard

against injustice on the
part of the Magistrate, an appeal from his decision may be
carried to the Supreme Court of the Colony.

12. I have only further to Express a hope that the measure
may meet with the approval of Her Majesty's Government.