8250. Vancouver's Island
Hudsons Bay House
London
Octr 4th 1850
My Lord,
I have had the honour of receiving Mr Under Secretary Hawes's letter of the 21st Instant transmitting a Copy of a Despatch from the Governor of Vancouvers Island reporting on the progress and present state of that Settlement.
That the efforts of the Hudsons Bay Company towards the colonization of the Island have not been attended with the success which some at first expected is to the Company a subject of much regret; allowance however ought to be made for the adverse circumstances with which they have had to contend. IManuscript image I allude more particularly to the irresistible attraction which Calefornia at present possesses for emigrants. That the vast crowds however, who are flocking to that quarter will eventually be highly beneficial to Vancouvers Island in creating a demand for its productions and consequently making it a desirable field for Emigration, I cannot for a moment doubt.
The Governor, I perceive, has fallen into a mistake with regard to the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. That Company, though its shares are held by persons more or less connected with the Hudsons Bay Company, is a distinct and seperate Association, having a Capital of its own, and its possessory rights are Manuscript imagerecognized by the Treaty of 1846 between Great Britain and the United States.
With respect to the Coal, Everything has been done that could be done. Experienced Miners have been sent out and are now employed in the operations necessary for reaching a workable seam of Coal, the surface coal having been exhausted; and by the latest accounts they were sanguine as to the result of their labours. The Company are now sending out a Steam Engine for the Mine.
I have the honour to be
My Lord,
Your Lordships most obedient
humble Servant
J H Pelly
The Rt Honble
The Earl Grey
Minutes by CO staff
Manuscript image
Mr Merivale.
In acknowledging the Governor's despatch it will be as well perhaps to explain to him the real position of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company as regards the Hudson's Bay Company.
ABd 7/10.
HM O 7
O 8 BH
G. 10/
Pelly, Sir John Henry to Grey, Right Honorable, Second Baronet, Sir George 4 October 1850, CO 305:2, no. 8250, 327. 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/V505HB03.html.

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