Wodehouse to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)
Foreign Office
December 19th 1853
Sir,
I am directed by the Earl of Clarendon to transmit to you, for the information of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, the accompanying Copies of a letter and it's Inclosure, from Mr Miller, Her Majesty's Consul General in the Sandwich Islands, containing information, respecting Queen Charlotte's Island, and the Inland Navigation between Vancouver's Island and the Main land, and submitting that the Port of Skidigate on theEasternManuscript imageEastern side of Queen Charlotte's Island might become one of considerable interest and importance, were it to be declared a Free Port, and British Subjects encouraged to settle there by the offer of land in the neighbourhood of the Port at the price of Six pence an Acre.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient, humble Servant
Wodehouse

Herman Merivale Esqre
&c &c &c
Minutes by CO staff
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Mr Merivale
This is a proposal to form a small settlement on the Eastern Side of Queen's Charlotte's Island & to rent the land to the Settlers at 6d per acre. Capt. Prevost reports that the Gold Seekers have disappeared & the Indians returned to their usual occupations.
VJ 21 Decr
See the account of the climate inManuscript image Capt. Prevost's letter, last enclosure.
HM D 21
FP 21
There seems little encouragement here for any outlay to found a Settlement.
N 22
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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1. William Miller, Honolulu, to Addington, 8 October 1853, enclosing an extract of a letter from Captain Prevost and suggesting the desirability of founding a settlement at Skidegate in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
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1.1 Extract, Prevost to Miller, 12 August 1853, relating his impressions of the Queen Charlotte Islands and the inland navigation between Vancouver Island and the mainland.
Wodehouse, First Earl of Kimberley John to Merivale, Herman 19 December 1853, CO 305:4, no. 12135, 195. 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/V535FO04.html.

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