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.