Colonial Despatches

I have to acknowledge your letter of 10th instant enclosing a further letter from the Hudsons Bay Co on the subject of the amount to which they are entitled on the resumption of Vancouvers Island by the Crown.

2. I do not see that I can add anything on this subject to what is stated in my report of 18th March last. No new statements or arguments are brought forward in the present letter from the Company, and I continue to think that a payment of from £30,000 to £32,000 would meet the justice of their claim. At the same time it would appear to me very bad economy, irrespective of all questions of policy, to incur the expense of legal proceedings for the sake of the difference between that sum and the amount which the Company are willing to accept—and if the Company are determined, I do not see how, without legal proceedings, they can be compelled to retransfer Vancouvers Island. But I presume that the Duke of Newcastle will call on Mr Andoe to report on the present letter from the Company before any conclusion is come to upon it.