Colonial Despatches

I have to acknowledge your letter of 2nd Instant enclosing a Despatch from Governor Douglas on the present state of British Columbia, and expressing the desire of the Duke of Newcastle to be furnished with any observations which occur to us upon it.

2. Governor Douglas commences by an epitome of a Report recently furnished to him by Mr Sanders thethe Assistant Gold Commissioner, the substance of which could not be stated more succinctly than in their Despatch. The effect of it is to show that the land along the whole course of Frazers River is highly auriferous, that probably a large part of the interior of the Colony is equally so, and that even the lands that have been worked are so far from exhausted that additional skill and labour would again render them very productive and profitable. Govr Douglas further reports that detachmentsdetachments of Sappers and Marines are actively employed in opening Roads, that the traffic on the roads that have been opened is very great, and that the expense of transport has been reduced from 37 Cents per lb last winter to 10 cents per lb at present. He adds that while on Frazers River there are large Tracts of land adapted for settlement, on Harrison's River, which is less fertile, there are forests of magnificent trees and great water power, so that each will contribute thoughthough in a different way, to the wealth of the Country. From Harrisons River he anticipates a large export of Spars and deal. A powerful water Saw Mill has been already erected near the Town of Douglas by a Mr McDonald. These accounts must be considered as highly satisfactory.

3. But Governor Douglas likewise states that in consequence of the delay caused by the survey of the site of 'Queensboro' (now called New Westminster) and other necessary work, no Country Land has as yet been brought intointo the Market, and that there is much popular clamour on that account. To meet this difficulty he proposes to establish some system of occupation which would enable settlers to occupy and improve certain tracts of land under preemptive rights until the Surveys are completed. To this point our special attention is directed by your letter.

4. It appears to me that nothing but the clearest necessity should induce the Government to have recourse to such an arrangement. It may perhaps bebe unobjectionable in the case of isolated adventurers in tracts of Country far removed from actual settlement, and where no other rights have grown up or are likely to be immediately created. But in a Country like British Columbia and as a means of meeting the demands of a large body of settlers it could not fail to introduce great confusion and uncertainty of title, and to lay the ground for future disputes and litigation. From the nature of the case there wouldwould be no definition of the boundaries of individual settlers, and it is impossible to believe that under such circumstances rival claims to the same land would not continually spring up. And in a Country where superficial improvements are so easily made and as easily obliterated, the decision of such claims would involve very great difficulty; not only to the Executive Government, who would first be called upon to decide them, but even to CourtsCourts of Law. The History of every new Colony shows the embarrassment and loss which has arisen from a careless or indiscreet system of disposing of the Crown Lands in the first instance. The land moreover would be occupied and claimed in every kind of shape most convenient to the individual settler, and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to fit these claims into a future survey without leaving portions of unappropriated land, the value of which would be destroyed by the shape and position of the adjoining claimsclaims and which would thus become not only valueless but injurious. This was the case in Ceylon and Natal where land was granted with great laxity and without reference to any General survey, and the records of the Colonial Office contain ample proof of the confusion and expense which has been caused in Ceylon. It appears to me that it would be far better to delay the completion of the survey of the Capital, and to draw from the Survey party therethere employed sufficient strength to lay out the Country Lands that may be immediately required. It seems hardly probable that the demand for land in New Westminster can be so great as to require that the survey of its site should be immediately completed, and at all events it would seem easier to provide for a demand for unsurveyed land in the Town, where the lots are only 1/6 of an acre in size, than for Country LandsLands where the demands would be for many hundred acres at a time.

5. Upon the whole I would recommend that no countenance should be given to Govr Douglas' proposal to sanction the occupation with preemptive rights of unsurveyed land.