Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch from London
Lytton, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer to
Douglas, Sir James 2 September 1858, LAC :, 131.
No. 14
Downing Street,
2 September 1858
Sir,
I transmit to you, herewith, for your information the Copy of a
letter which I have addressed to Colonel Moody on the subject of
granting land on certain conditions to the Non Commissioned Officers and
Men of the Royal Engineers, who are now going to British
Columbia.
1
2. I take this opportunity of instructing you to report to me your
opinion whether it wouldbe
be desirable for the interests of the Colony to
grant remissions on the purchase of land to retired Officers of the Army
and Navy, as was formerly the custom in many of the British Colonies.
Care might be taken if ever Representative Institutions are established
in the Colony, and arrangements are made for securing a Civil List in
return for the Lands of the Crown, that the privileges I suggest should,
for a certain length of time at least, be secured to Military Settlers.
You will report to me your careful and deliberate views uponthis
this
subject.
be desirable for the interests of the Colony to
grant remissions on the purchase of land to retired Officers of the Army
and Navy, as was formerly the custom in many of the British Colonies.
Care might be taken if ever Representative Institutions are established
in the Colony, and arrangements are made for securing a Civil List in
return for the Lands of the Crown, that the privileges I suggest should,
for a certain length of time at least, be secured to Military Settlers.
You will report to me your careful and deliberate views uponthis
this
subject.
3. You will furnish me, at your early convenience, with a list of
such Officers for Civil situations together with the rates of pay which
you think they should receive, as the circumstances of the Colony shall,
in your opinion render it desirable for me to send from England. I
shall be happy to assist you to the best of my ability in making proper
selections; for I think that considering the great number of Foreigners
who are resorting to British Columbia it is on every account proper to
give encouragementto
to Englishmen of character and respectability to go
out to the Colony.
to Englishmen of character and respectability to go
out to the Colony.
4. You will report to me officially by each successive Mail, and
by every safe opportunity that presents itself, on all matters of
interest, and importance to the Colony. At present Her Majesty's
Government only receive such accounts through the Newspapers or through
the courtesy of the Hudson's Bay Company and private individuals.