No. 1

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 17
of the 3rd of March on the subject of the Ordinance No. 3 of 1865 to
amend the duties of Customs.

I referred your Dispatch for the consideration of the Lords
Commissioners of the Treasury and their Lordships' adhere to the opinion
expressed in my Despatch No. 98 of the 11th of November last.

The amendment which you suggest would not remove the objections
which Her Majesty's Government entertain to the principle of this law,
and they do not consider the precedent which you quote from the
legislation of Canada a sufficient reason to justify an exceptional
practice in the case of British Columbia.

The Queen will therefore be advised to disallow the law, unless
such a course should be rendered unnecessary by the amendment of the
Ordinance, in accordance with the views of Her Majesty's Government,
before the expiration of the term of two years from the date of its
receipt by me on the 29th of June 1865, as provided by Order in Council
dated 11th June 1863.