Colonial Despatches

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatches Nos. 37 and 38, of the 3rd and 5th of December last on the Subject of the surrender to the Crown of the unsold land in the Town of Victoria.

I have referred theseDespatches Despatches to the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and I now transmit to you a copy of Mr. Berens' reply.

In the absence of any report from you, on the Letter addressed by Mr McTavish to the Colonial Secretary, dated the 7th January, which forms an Enclosure in Mr. Berens' Letter, I can only impress upon you the importance of not raising unnecessary controversies with the Company's Officers, but of conducting the correspondence in a liberal and conciliatory spirit,the the primary object being to put an end to the questionable tenure of the Company which is calculated to impede the progress of the Colony.

With regard to the lot of land reserved for the Office of the Harbor Master, I shall defer any final decision until I am in possession of your report on the subject, but I am desirous that you should deal with this question also in the same spirit, not of course sacrificing the interests of the public to theconvenience convenience of the Company, but not on the other hand taking advantage of what is said to have been an error on the part of Mr. Dallas to expose the Company to unnecessary expense or embarrassment.