Murdoch to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)

I have to acknowledge your letter of 2nd instant,
enclosing a Despatch from the Governor of British Columbia,
on the subject of the disposal of Crown Lands in that Colony.

2. On 7th February last Sir E. Bulwer Lytton
addressed a Despatch to Governor Douglas, explaining the
principles on which Land should be disposed of in British
Columbia. But on the 14th February the Governor had
issued a Proclamation in the Colony on the same subject,
which he forwarded to the Secretary of State in a
Despatch dated 19th February. The two Despatches
crossed of course on the road. On examining Governor Douglas' Proclamation it was found that the only material
difference between his regulations and Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's
instructions was in respect to the mode of requiring payment
for Land sold. Governor Douglas allowed the payment to be
made in two equal instalments with an interval of two years.
Sir E. Bulwer Lytton required payment down. In our Report
of 28th April last we recommended, that to avoid
confusion Governor Douglas' Proclamation should be allowed
to remain in force, but that whenever new Regulations were
issued the mode of payment should be altered in conformity
with the Secretary of State's Instructions.

3. Governor Douglas' present Despatch is an answer to
Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's Despatch of 7th February before
referred to, and is therefore now out of date. The only
important points in it are the statement that some of the
Town Lots in Langley were sold at the rate of £560 an
Acre, and that it has been decided to give up the system
of Licenses to dig for Gold and to substitute an Export
duty on Gold and a direct Tax on Miners, from both of
which measures a large amount of Revenue is expected.
The impossibility of maintaining the licences was anticipated
from the experience of Victoria, whether the export duty
can be made to answer with the American Frontier so close
is a matter on which only those on the spot can form an opinion.

4. Governor Douglas evidently adheres to his preference
of paying for Land by instalments rather than by money down,
but admits that prompt payment may be introduced when the
Country has become more settled and Land more valuable. Upon
this point, however, he has already received instructions in
Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's Despatch of May last. Nothing,
therefore, remains to be done on his present Despatch but to
acknowledge its receipt and to refer him to the instructions
which he has received.