Colonial Despatches

I have the honor to forward to you herewith a letter which was delivered to me yesterday for transmission to Your Grace, from Mr E.E. Langford, aa Bailiff in the service of the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, residing upon, and in charge of one of their Farms in Vancouver's Island.

2. The tenor of the Letter itself and the correspondence which it covers render report from me almost unnecessary; but as Mr Langford reflects upon the integrity of the Land Office in this Colony, as well as upon my own course of action in Connection with the complaint he made to me, it may not be inconvenient that I should laylay before Your Grace a resume of the Subject, with such comments as may appear necessary.

3. On or about the 17th December 1859, I received a letter from Mr Langford, complaining of the unjust, partial, and improper conduct of the Colonial Surveyor with regard to a circumstance which ocurred in the summer of the preceding year, and requesting an early investigation thereof. I was somewhat surprised at this application, made one year and a half after the transaction alluded to, but as it was known that Mr Pemberton the Colonial Surveyor was about to leave the Colony to proceed to England, and as a General Election was pending, Mr Langford himself being a candidate, and having in his address to the electors distinguished himself by the display of an unusual degree of animosity to myself personally as Governor, and to the Government of the Colony generally, I had not much difficulty in surmising the true object of the application. I nevertheless instantly investigated thethe matter, and called upon Mr Pemberton for a report, which he forthwith made to me; but I could elicit nothing which seemed to require that I should take further steps than to furnish Mr Langford with a Copy of the Mr Pemberton's report.

I placed the matter in the hands of the Attorney General who perfectly coincided with me in this conclusion, but I instructed him to enter into communication with Mr Langford with the view of ascertaining, if possible, what was the precise object of his application.

4. I forward a Copy of Mr Langford's letter of complaint together with Mr Pemberton's Report thereupon; and I conceive that Every point alluded to by Mr Langford is fully met by Mr Pemberton. Mr Langford avows in his letter that he was desirous of purchasing a certain tract of land for purposes of speculation, but that Mr Pemberton informed him that the land had been sold, and the instalment paid. Mr Pemberton replies that early in 1858, when land was scarcely marketable, Mr Dallas, the Agent of the Puget Sound Company, appliedapplied for and selected certain tracts of land lying contiguous to a Farm already belonging to the Company, and that, in consequence, the land required was reserved, but that afterwards when Mr Dallas examined the ground, he refused to complete the purchase, upon the plea that certain portions selected had been omitted. Mr Pemberton thereupon remarks that but two courses remained open to him, either to compel the Agent of the Puget Sound Company to complete the purchase, or to throw the land into the market; and as it might havehave been difficult to succeed in the former, he adopted the latter; and as the land at the date of his letter was still unsold, Mr Langford could have no just cause of complaint, for if he wished to purchase it was still open to him to do so.

5. Mr Langford asserts Mr Pemberton informed him that the instalment had been paid upon the land, and he supports his assertion by the affidavit of a bystander, who further affirms that Mr Pemberton offered to shew his Books in proof thereof. This is positively denied by Mr Pearce, the Assistant Colonial Surveyor, who was present at the time, and states he "distinctly recollects" the whole occurrence. The Colonial Surveyor "did not tell Mr Langford that the first instalment had been paid", but simply "that the land was sold." Apart from this, I must remark that it appears to me a circumstance scarcely credible that the Colonial Surveyor should offer the official Books for inspection to any chance Purchaser of land as Mr Langford was, or that he should volunteer information regarding the payments made.

6. From the investigation instituted by me upon Mr Langford's complaintcomplaint, I ascertained one or two other points which it may be as well to mention. I would in the first place observe that before the Gold Excitement in 1858, we had great difficulty in disposing of land in Vancouvers Island, and every facility was given to an intending proprietor to induce him to purchase, and it was customary for the Colonial Surveyor himself to proceed to the spot to exhibit the land, and to assist in its selection. Having done so in this particular instance, and the Agent of the Puget Sound Company having agreed to purchase the land, I consider the Surveyor waswas justly entitled to regard it as sold, although the land was not surveyed. It was upon the land being surveyed, subsequent to Mr Langford's application, and finding the Boundaries did not exactly accord with the position roughly designated by Mr Pemberton (an acre and a half was I believe about the difference) that the Agent of the Puget Sound Company refused to take the land. That the transaction was a bona fide one so far as the Colonial Surveyor is concerned is indisputable, for I have ExaminedExamined the Office Books, and there is the cancelled instalment paper which was made out at the time the land was surveyed, with the current number upon it.

7. If Mr Langford felt himself injured by Mr Pemberton's Conduct, or that an unlawful action had been committed, why did he not have recourse to legal measures to obtain redress? Or why did he not bring the matter to notice at an earlier date?

8. I trust Your Grace will pardon my trespassing thusthus long upon your time, but I have been somewhat full in my report, as I have to address Your Grace in a further Despatch upon another matter in which the present complaint will be referred to.