Colonial Despatches

James Duncan represented the Lake District in Vancouver Island's Legislative Assembly from 1863 to 1866.1 He first competed for the riding in 1860, losing to George F. Foster by a count of thirty-two to seven.2 In 1863, Foster ran in Esquimalt, and Duncan won the Lake District by acclamation when Horatio Varicas, who was running against him, failed to appear.3 Duncan was critical of the laws governing the sale and pre-emption of land in the colony, and was quoted in 1865 as saying that 1862's Vancouver Island Land Proclamation granted a man 150 acres of land who had only to build a cabin and twirl his thumbs.4

• 1. Douglas to Newcastle, 29 August 1863, CO 305:20, no. 10020, 341. V63036.html; Lake District Election, Daily British Colonist (Victoria), 22 July 1863, 3. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t3cz55j4r
• 2. Lake Election, British Colonist (Victoria), 19 January 1860, 3. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t52f9p39n
• 3. Esquimalt Election, Daily British Colonist (Victoria), 22 July 1863, 3. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t3cz55j4r; Lake District Election, Daily British Colonist (Victoria), 22 July 1863, 3. http://n2t.net/ark:/13960/t3cz55j4r
• 4. Appendix to the Revised Statutes of British Columbia [1871] (Victoria: Government Printer), 31-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0221958; Wood to Wakeford, 25 April 1865, [untranscribed enclosure] in Kennedy to Cardwell, 19 July 1865, CO 305:26, no. 9078, 193. V65061.html

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