Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Despatch to London
Douglas, Sir James to Labouchere, Henry 22 May 1856, CO 305:7, no. 7191, 50.
Abstract
Despatch to London.
Minutes (3), Other documents (1), Marginalia (1).
Douglas writes to Labouchere regarding the purchase of Vancouver Island from the HBC. Douglas writes that he will send Labouchere “a statement of all money, the proceeds of land sales and otherwise derived, received
and expended” by the colony.
CO staff discuss whether Douglas intends to repay the HBC for HBC land that may be turned over to the Vancouver Island colony.
Draft reply from Colonial Office to Shepherd, enclosing a copy of another despatch sent to Vancouver Island.
No. 13
1. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No
6 of the 28th of February last, calling my attention to the present
state of affairs between Her Majesty's Government, and the Hudson's Bay
Company, with reference to the probable re-purchase, by the Crown, of
the land of Vancouver's Island, on payment to the Company,
of the sums heretofore
heretofore laid out and expended by the Company, in
and upon the said "Island and Premises," and the value of their
Establishments, property and effects.
You also therein direct that I should furnish a specification of the
present state of the account, that is to say, of the sums hitherto
expended by the Hudson's Bay Company, in the manner described in the
grant, and also of the sums realized by the Company, by the sale of land
and applied from time to time towards the colonization and improvement
of the Island.
heretofore laid out and expended by the Company, in
and upon the said "Island and Premises," and the value of their
Establishments, property and effects.
You also therein direct that I should furnish a specification of the
present state of the account, that is to say, of the sums hitherto
expended by the Hudson's Bay Company, in the manner described in the
grant, and also of the sums realized by the Company, by the sale of land
and applied from time to time towards the colonization and improvement
of the Island.
2. I have the honor to inform you in reply to the subject of that
Despatch that it will be a matter of little difficulty, to furnish a
statement of all the monies expended within the Colony, for public
improvements, and other colonial purposes, and I can also furnish an
exact statement of the sums realized by the Hudsons Bay Company, through
the sale of land, as
as the Colonial accounts, which have been very
carefully kept, account for every penny of the public money that has
been received and disbursed by the Executive Government.
as the Colonial accounts, which have been very
carefully kept, account for every penny of the public money that has
been received and disbursed by the Executive Government.
3. It is however out of my power to furnish a statement of the
sums which have been disbursed in England by the Hudson's Bay Company,
on account of objects, connected with the Colony of Vancouver's Island,
as I am only partially acquainted with, and have no record of the full
amount of that expenditure.
4. I observe that the Grant, includes among the items to be
repurchased the "Establishments property and effects" of the Hudson's
Bay Company on Vancouver's Island.
5. If that clause has application only to military establishments, and
to outlays made for the protection and defense of the Colony, the same
appear, and are included in the Colonial accounts, but if it refers to
the commercial and
and farming establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company,
formed prior to and since the grant of Vancouver's Island, by the Crown,
I have not the means of furnishing an account of the expenditure thereby
incurred, which cannot be correctly ascertained without an application
to the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
"Their" establishmts.
and farming establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company,
formed prior to and since the grant of Vancouver's Island, by the Crown,
I have not the means of furnishing an account of the expenditure thereby
incurred, which cannot be correctly ascertained without an application
to the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.
6. I will in the mean time prepare and forward as soon as
possible, a statement of all money, the proceeds of land sales and
otherwise derived, received and expended under the sanction of the
Executive Government within this Colony, which is all that I have
information sufficient to accomplish. In attempting to do more I might
mislead Her
Her Majesty's Government by erroneous statements.
Her Majesty's Government by erroneous statements.
The Right Honble Henry Labouchere Esqre
Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State
For the Colonial Department.
Her Majesty's principal Secretary of State
For the Colonial Department.
Minutes by CO staff
Mr Labouchere
Mr Douglas raises a question of some little nicety in the paragraph which I have marginally noted in red ink. I have however little doubt that the intention was to repay the HBC. the value of their private property on the island. If
public establishments had been meant, it
would have been so expressed. Though the point seems clear to me,
perhaps you would prefer an opinion on the point from the Law Advisers?
Mr Douglas raises a question of some little nicety in the paragraph which I have marginally noted in red ink. I have however little doubt that the intention was to repay the HBC. the value of their private property on the island. If
public establishments had been meant, it
would have been so expressed. Though the point seems clear to me,
perhaps you would prefer an opinion on the point from the Law Advisers?
Supposing the meaning to be as I suggest: it seems to me to remain
a question, whether the H.B.C. may not prefer to keep their
"establishments" instead of being paid for them: and whether it would
not be best for the colony that they should do so, although they will
have lost their power over the waste land. I do not see what is to
become of these "establishments" if the Company part with them.
HM
Augt 13
Is it necessary for us to raise this question at present? What we
want is a regular statement of the expenses of the Company which we may ultimately be called upon to repay. They shd be asked to give those accounts that the Governor cannot furnish.
want is a regular statement of the expenses of the Company which we may ultimately be called upon to repay. They shd be asked to give those accounts that the Governor cannot furnish.
HL
A 14
Other documents included in the file
Draft, Colonial Office to John Shepherd, Hudson's Bay Company, 30
August 1856, asking for a statement of what the company had spent in
England on account of the colony.