Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch from London
Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, James 24 December 1862, NAC RG7:G8C/3, 169.
Abstract
Despatch from London.
Newcastle informs Douglas that the HBC has agreed that it will not receive a ten
percent commission on the sale of land on Vancouver Island after 6 October 1862, the date
on which the government paid the company for the
repurchase of the Island.
No. 124
Downing Street
24 December 1862
Sir,
With reference to the recent correspondence that has taken place
on the forms by which the reconveyance of Vancouver Island to the Crown is to be effected, I wish to call your attention to the clause in the
grant to the Hudson's Bay Company of the 13th of January 1849, by which
so long as the lands of the Colony belong to the Company they are
entitled to deduct by way of profit a rate of 10 percent on the gross
amount of land sales.
so long as the lands of the Colony belong to the Company they are
entitled to deduct by way of profit a rate of 10 percent on the gross
amount of land sales.
I have been in communication with the Hudson's Bay Company on
this subject, and Mr. Berens has expressed his concurrence with me that
the right to the deduction of this profit ceased on the payment to the
Company of the sum agreed upon for the repurchase of the Island, even
although the Company may still for
the sake of form continue to effect
thesales
sales until the Island has formally been transferred to the Crown.
sales until the Island has formally been transferred to the Crown.
The repurchase money was paid to the Company on the 6th of October last.
If previous to that date you should have made any land sales under
the authority of the Hudson's Bay Company, which Mr. Berens believes
to be the case, the percentage on such sales will still be due to the
Company.