I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your Despatch of
the
31 January acquainting me that Letters Patent under the Great Seal have been issued erecting
the Colonies of
British
Columbia, and of
Vancouver's IslandIsland into a Bishop's See, to be
styled the "Bishoprick of
British Columbia" and appointing the
Reverend George Hills to be the first Bishop thereof; and I beg
to thank you for the copy of the said Letters Patent which you
have had the goodness to enclose for my information.