Berens to Lytton

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Lord Carnarvon’s letter of the 17th Instant in which he Encloses a copy of a letter from a gentleman of the name of Nias at San Francisco, on the subject of sales of town lands in Victoria Vancouver's Island, and of the Despatch thereupon addressed by you to Governor Douglas.
In reply I have the honour to state that there is no land in the vicinity of Victoria that has not been acquired long ago, either by the Hudson's Bay Company, or by private individuals, and I have no reason to believe that any public land has been disposed of in the shape of Town Lots. I am aware that there has been a considerable excitement with respect to the sales of lands in the vicinity of Victoria and Esquimalt Harbour but as I have stated above, these transactions are not in Colonial land; nor do I think that there is any quantity of land available for town lots that has not been acquired years since by private parties.
In reply to your request that I should communicate any information on the sales of public lands in Vancouver's Island, I have the honour to refer you to a Return which I sent in on the 15th July last setting forth the quantity of land sold, the names of the several purchasers, and the Districts in which each sales have been effected. That return contains the latest accounts of the sales of Public Land, which have reached us.
I have also the honour to refer you to my letter of the 12th August, in which I Enclosed the regulations laid down by Governor Douglas with regard to the sale of land.