No. 13
Downing Street
7 March 1860
Sir,
With reference to my despatch No. 5 of the 2nd of February I transmit for your information copies of a correspondence with the Board of Admiralty relative to the transfer of the Land and Buildings at Esquimalt Harbor to the Naval Department when no longer required for the use ofManuscript imageof the Oregon Boundary Commission: and also with respect to an Indian Reserve of about 50 acres which the Lords Commissioners are desirous to possess.
I have etc.
Newcastle

Governor Douglas, C.B.
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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Paget to Merivale, 8 February 1860, forwarding a letter from Baynes requesting land and buildings at Esquimalt as well as what Paget describes as about fifty acres marked Indian Reserve on the enclosed plan, and Inskip Island.
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Baynes to Paget, 14 November 1859, asking that land and buildings at Esquimalt purchased for the Oregon Boundary Commission be secured for Naval purposes once the Commission's work was completed. In addition, Baynes suggests that the section marked Indian Reserve in the accompanying plan of Esquimalt Harbour, about fifty acres, might hereafter be of infinite use to the Admiralty; the Indians, few in number, could easily be located elsewhere, adding that the north side of Inskip Island would be a good site for a magazine.
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Merivale to Paget, 22 February 1860, informing him that the Foreign Office has been asked if it owns the land and buildings at Esquimalt which are being used by the Oregon Boundary Commission and, if it does, whether it is willing to give these assets to the Admiralty when the Commission's work is completed. Merivale also informs Paget that the Indian Reserve, and any other land in Vancouver's Island which the [Admiralty] may think it advisable to possess, cannot be transferred until the general mode of dealing with public lands in that Colony has been decided.
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Merivale to Paget, March 1860, informing him that the Foreign Office owns the land and buildings at Esquimalt that are being used by the Oregon Boundary Commission, and that it is willing to transfer these assets to the Admiralty once the Commission's work is complete.