No. 150

I have had the honor to receive Your Lordship's Despatch No
29 of the 20th October last, transmitting copy of a Letter
which the Hudson's Bay Company had addressed to you complaining
that the Colonial Government fail to give them any assistance in
attempting to check the illegal traffic in Spirituous Liquors on
the Coast; and requiring me to report whether the
Ordinance—No 28 of 1867 had been strictly enforced, or
whether its provisions are not sufficiently stringent to effect
the object for which it was passed.

2. No representations whatever have been made to me by the
Representatives of the Hudson's Bay Company in this Colony on
this subject; and it would have been reasonable to expect if
their Agents regarded the government as having the power to
prevent the traffic of which they complain that they should have
called my attention to the matter; and I am not informed that
the Company itself makes any attempt to check the traffic; they
certainly have furnished no information which would lead to the
conviction of offenders. In fact they are as well aware as I am
that the difficulty lies not in the insufficient stringency of
the Law or the absence of willingness to enforce it, but in the
circumstance that practically it is found, as stated by Mr
Grahame, to be impossible to "prove any case in point," for want
of proper evidence. Mr Grahame's remedy is that a "Gunboat
should be employed to watch the Coast." But, even one Gunboat
would be inadequate to exercise the necessary surveillance over
several hundred miles of Coast; and I fear that without the
constant employment of one or more Vessels as Cruisers for this
purpose it will always remain difficult to prevent the traffic.
It is represented as carried on in "Schooners that clear from
Victoria and take on board liquor outside the Harbor." It is
true that the liquor is not on board when these Coasting traders
leave Victoria; but it is not in fact known where or when they
take on board the liquor which it is believed that they trade to
Indians in exchange for furs. The Gulf of Georgia abounds in
Islands, Bays, and Inlets affording numerous places where it is
easy to have the liquor left to be taken, or put on board by
concert with other persons for such a purpose; and, moreover, as
the American Ports on Puget Sound are at no great distance from
Victoria it is quite possible for their supplies to be obtained
from thence. It is only by following these traders to the parts
of the Coast far up to the North which they frequent for traffic
that it is possible to prove against them any infraction of the
Law. In cases where the offence has been proved the penalty has
been enforced. One such occurred during the visit of my
Predecessor to the North Coast in the early part of last Year as
mentioned in Mr Trutch's Report forwarded in Mr Hankin's
Despatch No 22 of 26th June 1869. But, it is not within
the means of this government to maintain an armed Vessel
specially for this purpose, nor do I think that the Lords of the
Admiralty would readily consent to the employment of Gunboats
for this service. But without some such assistance it is found
practically almost impossible to give effect to the provisions
of the Law however stringent or salutary.