Colonial Despatches

I have duly received the several Despatches from you enumerated in the margin. In these Despatches you report the steps which you took to encourage exploration, and the subsequent discoveries of Gold in the Sooke River District.

You acted veryproperly properly in promoting an endeavor to enlarge the Knowledge of the resources of the Colony, and it is very satisfactory that this endeavor has been rewarded by a discovery which promises to increase the wealth and prosperity of the Colony.

I enclose, for your information, two Parliamentary Papers on Australia, containing some documentswhich which may be of use to you in dealing with this important subject. And if you should require further information, I think that you might derive advantage from communicating on the subject with the Governor of British Columbia, in which Colony a considerable amount of experience on the best treatment of Gold Fields has already beenaccumulated accumulated. Indeed unless there would be a marked difference in the conditions of the case in the two Colonies, it would seem convenient that their regulations on the present subject should be as nearly similar as circumstances will admit.