Reeve to Fortescue (Parliamentary Under-Secretary)

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 4th instant stating for the information of the Lord
President of the Council that His Grace the Duke of Newcastle
concurs in the reference of the petitions of the Hudson's Bay
Company to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In the petition having reference to the large tract of land
in the neighbourhood of Fort Victoria, Vancouver's Island, of
which the Hudson's Bay Company claimed to be true and lawful
Owners in fee simple, a distinct claim is raised by the
Petitioners for payment for the value of the said tract of land.
In the petition having reference to the annexation to the Colony
of British Columbia of certain lands alleged to have been in
possession of the Company, the

petitioners pray that the justice
or injustice of such dispossession and the correctness or
incorrectness of their claims may be considered by the Judicial
Committee and that their Lordships may determine thereon and
advise Her Majesty what and how great relief the Petitioners
may have in the premises.

As these petitions, therefore, raise a question of
pecuniary indemnity—in the event of the legal claims of the
company being established, in the opinion

and judgement of
the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Lord
President is of opinion that before the Order of Reference
is made by Her Majesty, the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury should be informed that the Duke of
Newcastle concurs in such reference, and that the assent of
the Lords of the Treasury should likewise be obtained to the same.

I am therefore commanded by the Lord President to
request that you will have the goodness

to communicate with
the Lords of the Treasury in order to ascertain whether
their Lordships would be prepared to take the measures
necessary to give effect to the recommendation of the
Lords of the Judicial Committee if that recommendation should
award any pecuniary indemnity to the Petitioners.