No. 158
25 May 1859
Sir,
Having called upon Captain Gosset, the Treasurer of British Columbia, to furnish me with such information in connection with the establishment of a Mint as he had been able to acquire previous to his departure from England, I received from him the enclosed Letter, which in compliance with his request I forward for your perusalManuscript imageperusal.
2. The only point to which I would desire to draw your attention is the allusion made by Captain Gosset to the inconvenience experienced from the want of British Coin in this Country. This is a serious evil and if Her Majesty's Government would entertain the suggestion of sending out a supply of Coin, it would confer a real benefit on the Colony.
I have etc.
James Douglas
Minutes by CO staff
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Mr Merivale
See Treasury Lr 6790. I presume that a copy of this desph & of the Treasurer's Letter on the establishment of a Mint and Assay Office in B. Columbia may be sent to the Treasury notwithstanding the recent report—6790—from that Office which I now pass on.
I should wish to draw your attention to the observations made by Capn Gosset in respect to the Governor having "inadvertently" encouraged the impression that V.C. Island Manuscript imagemight have a Mint established there instead of in the natural place for it, B. Columbia. It is, not perhaps unnaturally, the wish of some persons to promote the importance of V. Couver Island, at the expense of B. Columbia; and it will be well that this office should not shut its eyes to the possibility of such influences being at work.
ABd 13 July
See on 6790.
CF 29
Other documents included in the file
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Draft, Colonial Office to G.A. Hamilton, Treasury, 11 August 1859, forwarding copy of the despatch and requesting favourable consideration of Gosset's proposals.
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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W.D. Gosset to Acting Colonial Secretary, 25 April 1859, suggesting how a mint and assay office should be organized in the colony.
Minutes by CO staff
The appointment of an officer to a Mint is vested in the T-y. We have been a little premature and exceeded our powers in encouraging Capn Gossett to suppose he might be made Master of the Mint, if established.
Douglas, Sir James to Lytton, Sir Edward George Earle Bulwer 25 May 1859, CO 60:4, no. 6955, 387. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. James Hendrickson and the Colonial Despatches project. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/B59158.html.

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