Seymour to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)
London
13 January 1866
Sir,
I have had the honor of receiving your letters of the 22 ultimo & 10th instant on the subject of an application made on behalf of Mr Alfred Waddington for assistance in forming a road from Bute Inlet to the interior of British Columbia.
I am of opinion that the Colony would be benefitted, to a moderate extent, byManuscript image the formation of his proposed road, and I should therefore were I in the actual administration of the Government be disposed to consider indulgently the application made for an extension of the terms of the charter proposed to be granted to Mr Waddington, provided that he can shew that the work will be immediately undertaken with the requisite amount of capital. I thinkManuscript image the best person to decide on this point would be the Officer Administering the Government, with the assistance, perhaps, of his Executive Council.
I have no hesitation in saying that I should not make to Mr Waddington the grants of land for which he applies.
I have the honor to be
Sir,
Your most obedient Servant
Frederick Seymour

Minutes by CO staff
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Draft annexed to Govr & to Mr Churchill.
TFE 15 Jany
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Mr Waddington's claims in respect of the Bute Inlet Road
In 1862, Mr Waddington, an Inhabitant of Victoria, Van Isld, appears to have entered into an agreement with Sir J. Douglas for the construction of a Road from Bute Inlet to the Gold Diggings at Cariboo. This agreement bound him to construct a road by the end of the year 1866. In return, he was to enjoy a right of toll on goods using the road, for ten years from the completion of the first 45 miles of road. The scheme appears to have been very popular in Vancouver Island, and very much the reverse at New Westminster. Eventually the working-parties on the roadManuscript image were murdered by the Chilcoten Indians, and all active progress ceased. Mr Waddington then preferred vague claims on the Govt of B. Columbia, as he said "not for compensation." These claims were steadily refused by Govr Seymour and his Council.
In Decr last, Mr Waddington's Attorney in London, made at last some more definite proposals. He asks that the period of the Charter (i.e. the time during which he shall be entitled to levy tolls) shall be extended, that large tracts of Land should be granted to the "concessionaire,"Manuscript image or even that the Govt of B. Columbia shd guarantee Interest on a fixed expenditure. Mr Seymour (in a letter recd to day) seems not unwilling to extend the time of the charter, but appears opposed to grants of Land.
Other documents included in the file
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Draft reply, Cardwell to Acting Governor Birch, No. 5, 16 January 1866.
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Elliot to Churchill, 16 January 1866, declining to provide land grants but reserving the question of extension of the charter for decision in the colony.