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
               herewith
transmitted
 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, N
o 10 of the 
21st of
                  February 1860, and N
o 26 of the 
28th of June 1860, authorising me
               to reduce the upset price of Country Land to 4
s/2
d an acre; and
               to permit Settlers as a provisional arrangement, pending the legal
               difficulties which at present impede the grant of land in 
VancouverIsland Island
 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, N
o 64 of the 
6th of
                  December 1860—conveyed to me the sanction of Her
Majesty's
 Majesty's
               Government to the Pre-emption Act of 
British Columbia, and
               Despatch—
Vancouver Island N
o 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 and
prosperity
               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)
               
                
                  
                  
                     Schedule of proclamations, as per despatch.
                     
                   
            
            
            
            
            
            
               Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
               
                
                  
                  
                     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."
                     
 
                  
                  
                     Proclamation by 
Douglas, 
21 March 1861, "extending such
                     provisions to the whole of 
Vancouvers Island and its Dependencies."
                     
                     
 
            
            
            
            
               Other documents included in the file
               
                
                  
                  
                     Elliot to Emigration Commissioners, 
24 June 1861, forwarding
                     copies of the despatch and proclamations for their observations.
                     
 
                  
                  
                  
                  
                     Minutes by CO staff
                     
                     
                        
                        
                           Have these Proclamations been registered?