No. 31, Legislative
25 April 1861
I have the honour to inform Your Grace that I lately issued the two Proclamations mentioned in the accompanying Schedule, and Copies are herewithtransmittedManuscript image transmitted for the information of Her Majesty's Government.
2. The first of these Proclamations carries out the instructions conveyed in Your Grace's several Despatches, No 10 of the 21st of February 1860, and No 26 of the 28th of June 1860, authorising me to reduce the upset price of Country Land to 4s/2d an acre; and to permit Settlers as a provisional arrangement, pending the legal difficulties which at present impede the grant of land in VancouverIslandManuscript image Island, to occupy certain tracts of waste or inferior land within the surveyed Districts, with a pre-emption right.
3. The second Proclamation extends those provisions to the whole Colony of Vancouver Island and its Dependencies, as the surveyed Districts were found not to afford the means of settlement, and as Your Grace's Despatch—British Columbia, No 64 of the 6th of December 1860—conveyed to me the sanction of HerMajesty'sManuscript image Majesty's Government to the Pre-emption Act of British Columbia, and Despatch—Vancouver Island No 27 of the 16th of July 1860—communicated the desire of Her Majesty's Government that the practice adopted in one Colony should also be established in the other.
4. These measures have given great satisfaction to the public at large, and will, I have no doubt, promote the settlement andprosperityManuscript image prosperity of the Colony.
I have the honor to be
My Lord Duke,
Your Grace's most obedient
and humble Servant
James Douglas
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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Schedule of proclamations, as per despatch.
Minutes by CO staff
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ABd 20 June
TFE 20 June
Land Board at once.
FR 21/6
CF 22
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
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Proclamation by Douglas, 19 February 1861, "prescribing the terms on which settlers may occupy land within the surveyed Districts of Vancouver Island, with a right of Pre-emption."
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Proclamation by Douglas, 21 March 1861, "extending such provisions to the whole of Vancouvers Island and its Dependencies."
Other documents included in the file
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Elliot to Emigration Commissioners, 24 June 1861, forwarding copies of the despatch and proclamations for their observations.
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Draft reply, Newcastle to Douglas, No. 64, 15 July 1861.
Minutes by CO staff
Have these Proclamations been registered?
Douglas, Sir James to Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes 25 April 1861, CO 305:17, no. 5472, 161. 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/V61031.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)