No. 43

I have had the honor of receiving your Grace's Despatch of
the 7th February No 8 transmitting a letter from Mr Begbie
respecting the construction of a road

in British Columbia from
Douglas to Cayoosh, and I thank your Grace for the interest you
have evinced in the progress of the country by forwarding me
this communication, and requesting a report upon the subject to
which it relates.

2. I have carefully considered Mr Begbie's proposal and
the conditions mentioned on which he would undertake the formation
of the road in question, and had the proposition been made at an
earlier period before the work was so far advanced and before
arrangements had been made for its gradual progress, I would
gladly have entered into Mr

Begbie's views, but upon the
modification of the wholly inadmissable condition "of that
road remaining the only route to the mines" and provided that
the rate of toll to be levied had not exceeded 5 cents a pound
on all goods and wares passing over the road.

3. Under existing circumstances I think it will be prudent
to decline Mr Begbie's offer, for the following reasons:

1. The wants of the country can be supplied, though at an

expensive rate for transport, by the present mule trail.

2. Measures have been taken and in part carried out for
converting the present mule trail into a waggon road,

which
I hope will be completed to the small Lillooet Lake before
the end of next summer, and in the summer of 1861 we hope to
complete the waggon road on the thirty mile interval from
Lake Lillooet to Lake Anderson.

3. Arrangements have been made by private enterprise to
ply with Steam Vessels on the Lakes between Douglas and Cayoosh.

4. Having accomplished so much of the work by our own
resources, it would be unwise to saddle the country with
a heavy tax in the shape of a five cent toll; forming a transport

charge
of Fifty Dollars a ton on all goods carried from Douglas to Cayoosh.

4. It is therefore advisable in our present circumstances
to submit to a delay of twelve months in the construction of
the road, which will then be free for public traffic, rather
than to undertake the payment of a toll charge that would press
heavily on the industry of the country.

5. I am not insensible however, to the great advantages
of attracting English capital to British Columbia, as nothing
would more certainly

accelerate its development and general prosperity.

6. The road from Yale to Lytton and from Hope to the
Shimilkomeen Valley remain open for the enterprise of capitalists,
and I shall take the liberty of submitting specifications and estimates
of the length and cost of construction of those roads and the probable
amount of their traffic, as soon as I can get them prepared in hopes
that they may be taken up in England as fair investments.