XML | Preceding document | Next document | Cite this document

Despatch from London
Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, Sir James 15 November 1862, NAC :, 151.

Abstract
Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, Sir James 15 November 1862, NAC :, 151.
Despatch from London. Enclosures (untranscribed) (4).
No. 121
Downing Street
15 November 1862
Sir,
I have the honor to inform you that on the receipt of your despatch No. 39 of the 30th of July, respecting the lands to be surrendered to the Crown by the Hudson's Bay Company under the Agreement of the 3rd of February 1862, I communicated thatdocumentManuscript image document to the Company, in order to give them an opportunity of offering any observations which they might wish to make on the subject.
I transmit to you for your information a copy of the answer which has been received from the Governor of the Company.
In this letter Mr. Berens takes no notice of the error into which you intimated your opinion that Mr. Dallas had led the Government of this Country on the extent of land which the Crown would recoverbyManuscript image by the Agreement relative to lands in the City of Victoria. Mr. Berens will be requested to furnish this Department with copies of the plans to which he alludes, in order to afford an opportunity of further elucidating this subject.
But his present letter discusses a different question that has arisen in the Island between the local Government and the Company's Agent, vizt., the site to be surrendered for a Harbor Master's Office. Into this question, since it is a new one, I shalldeclineManuscript image decline to enter until I can receive upon it a report from you, which I have to request accordingly that you will furnish at an early opportunity.
Mr. Berens, you will perceive, suggests that the reconveyance of the whole Island and of the land in Victoria should be comprised in a single Instrument, and that with a view to it's preparation and execution in this Country, you should furnish a plan of the Island showing the portions of it to be excepted from the reconveyance. He statesthatManuscript image that corresponding instructions have been sent by the company to their Agent. I see no objections to the proposed course, provided that it be not converted into cause of delay, but in order to prevent the difficulty which would arise from discrepancies between the maps sent home to Her Majesty's Government and to the Company, it will be desirable that their Officers should communicate with each other on the spot, and agree on the exact extent of the reservations to be made and themannerManuscript image manner in which they should be described in the reconveyance.
I have the honor to be
Sir,
Your most obedient
humble Servant
Newcastle

Governor Douglas C.B.
Documents enclosed with the main document (not transcribed)
H.H. Berens to Newcastle, 3 November 1862, suggesting Vancouver Island be reconveyed to the Crown, except for lands belonging to th3 Hudson's Bay Company.
Dugald Mactavish to W.A.G. Young, 29 July 1863, enclosing sketch maps of Victoria area so deeds can be prepared to convey "the property in question by the HBCo to the Crown in accordance with the Agreement entered into in London in February last."
W.A.G. Young to Dougald Mactavish, 1 August 1862, noting a discrepancy in the sketch maps regarding the situation of the government lot.
Sketch map of James Bay and the Hudson's Bay Company's properties.
Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, Sir James 15 November 1862, NAC :, 151. 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/V627121.html.

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