Hammond to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)
29 February 1860
I have laid before Lord John Russell your Letter of the 22nd instant respecting the Land and Buildings purchased for the use of the Oregon Boundary Commission, and I am to state to you, in reply, for the information of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, that the Land and Buildings in question are actually the property of the Foreign Office, and that Lord John RussellManuscript imageRussell will be willing to transfer them to the Admiralty as soon as the labours of the Commission are concluded, but that His Lordship cannot, at present, fix a time for this transfer.
I am etc.
E. Hammond
Minutes by CO staff
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Mr Merivale
Inform the Admiralty in ansr to their Letters of the 20 Jany and 8 Feby last; & inform the Governor also with reference to the Duke of Newcastle's desph of 2 Feby 698.
ABd 1/3
Annex dt.
HM Mh 1
Other documents included in the file
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Draft, Merivale to Secretary to the Admiralty, 12 March 1860, advising the Foreign Office would be willing to transfer the property when no longer required by the boundary commission.
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Draft reply, Newcastle to Douglas, No. 13, 7 March 1860, informing him of developments regarding the proposed transfer of land and buildings at Esquimalt, as well as an Indian Reserve of about 50 acres that the Admiralty is desirous to possess.