I have laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
your Letter of the
22nd Inst with its enclosures from the
Governor of Columbia, respecting disturbances between Rival
Claimants of a Mining Property in the
district of Cariboo on
the Upper
Fraser River, nearly 500 Miles distant from the Seat of
Government at
New Westminster.
With reference to the complaint made by the Governor that
Rear Admiral Hastings had declined to detach any Force from the
Ships under his Orders
at at
Esquimalt for a place so remote as
Cariboo, their Lordships desire me to state for the information
of
His Grace The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos that they
approve of the conduct of the Admiral in this matter, and I enclose
a Copy of the Instructions given in
1864 to his Predecessor in the
Naval Command in the Pacific not to detach Officers and Men to a
distance from their Ships, but to limit his co-operation to such
measures as could be executed by the Vessels or by their Boats
acting in their immediate vicinity.