No. 14, Miscellaneous
[4817, CO 305/14, p. 86; received 12 May
]
23 March 1860
I have the honor to forward to you herewith a letter which was
delivered to me yesterday for transmission to Your Grace, from Mr
E.E. Langford, aa Bailiff in the service of the Puget Sound
Agricultural Company, residing upon, and in charge of one of their
Farms in Vancouver's Island.
2. The tenor of the Letter itself and the correspondence which it
covers render report from me almost unnecessary; but as Mr Langford
reflects upon the integrity of the Land Office in this Colony, as
well as upon my own course of action in Connection with the complaint
he made to me, it may not be inconvenient that I should laylay before
Your Grace a resume of the Subject, with such comments as may appear
necessary.
3. On or about the 17th December 1859, I received a letter from Mr
Langford, complaining of the unjust, partial, and improper conduct of
the Colonial Surveyor with regard to a circumstance which ocurred
in the summer of the preceding year, and requesting an early
investigation thereof. I was somewhat surprised at this application,
made one year and a half after the transaction alluded to, but as it
was known that Mr Pemberton the Colonial Surveyor was about to leave
the Colony to proceed to England, and as a General Election was
pending, Mr Langford himself being a candidate, and having in his
address to the electors distinguished himself by the display of an
unusual degree of animosity to myself personally as Governor, and to
the Government of the Colony generally, I had not much difficulty in
surmising the true object of the application. I nevertheless
instantly investigated thethe matter, and called upon Mr Pemberton for
a report, which he forthwith made to me; but I could elicit nothing
which seemed to require that I should take further steps than to
furnish Mr Langford with a Copy of the Mr Pemberton's report.
I placed the matter in the hands of the Attorney General who
perfectly coincided with me in this conclusion, but I instructed him
to enter into communication with Mr Langford with the view of
ascertaining, if possible, what was the precise object of his
application.
4. I
4. I forward a Copy of Mr Langford's letter of complaint together
with Mr Pemberton's Report thereupon; and I conceive that Every
point alluded to by Mr Langford is fully met by Mr Pemberton.
Mr Langford avows in his letter that he was desirous of purchasing a
certain tract of land for purposes of speculation, but that Mr
Pemberton informed him that the land had been sold, and the
instalment paid. Mr Pemberton replies that early in 1858, when land
was scarcely marketable, Mr Dallas, the Agent of the Puget Sound
Company, appliedapplied for and selected certain tracts of land lying
contiguous to a Farm already belonging to the Company, and that, in
consequence, the land required was reserved, but that afterwards when
Mr Dallas examined the ground, he refused to complete the purchase,
upon the plea that certain portions selected had been omitted. Mr
Pemberton thereupon remarks that but two courses remained open to
him, either to compel the Agent of the Puget Sound Company to
complete the purchase, or to throw the land into the market; and as
it might havehave been difficult to succeed in the former, he adopted
the latter; and as the land at the date of his letter was still
unsold, Mr Langford could have no just cause of complaint, for if he
wished to purchase it was still open to him to do so.
5. Mr Langford asserts Mr Pemberton informed him that the
instalment had been paid upon the land, and he supports his assertion
by the affidavit of a bystander, who further affirms that Mr
Pemberton offered to shew his Books in proof thereof. This is
positively denied by Mr Pearce, the Assistant Colonial Surveyor, who
was present at the time, and states he "distinctly recollects" the
whole occurrence. The Colonial Surveyor "did not tell Mr Langford
that the first instalment had been paid", but simply "that the land
was sold." Apart from this, I must remark that it appears to me a
circumstance scarcely credible that the Colonial Surveyor should
offer the official Books for inspection to any chance Purchaser of
land as Mr Langford was, or that he should volunteer information
regarding the payments made.
6. From the investigation instituted by me upon Mr Langford's
complaintcomplaint, I ascertained one or two other points which it may be as
well to mention. I would in the first place observe that before the
Gold Excitement in 1858, we had great difficulty in disposing of land
in Vancouvers Island, and every facility was given to an intending
proprietor to induce him to purchase, and it was customary for the
Colonial Surveyor himself to proceed to the spot to exhibit the land,
and to assist in its selection. Having done so in this particular
instance, and the Agent of the Puget Sound Company having agreed to
purchase the land, I consider the Surveyor waswas justly entitled to
regard it as sold, although the land was not surveyed. It was upon
the land being surveyed, subsequent to Mr Langford's application,
and finding the Boundaries did not exactly accord with the position
roughly designated by Mr Pemberton (an acre and a half was I believe
about the difference) that the Agent of the Puget Sound Company
refused to take the land. That the transaction was a bona fide one
so far as the Colonial Surveyor is concerned is indisputable, for
I have ExaminedExamined the Office Books, and there is the cancelled
instalment paper which was made out at the time the land was
surveyed, with the current number upon it.
7. If Mr Langford felt himself injured by Mr Pemberton's Conduct,
or that an unlawful action had been committed, why did he not have
recourse to legal measures to obtain redress? Or why did he not
bring the matter to notice at an earlier date?
8. I trust Your Grace will pardon my trespassing thusthus long upon your
time, but I have been somewhat full in my report, as I have to
address Your Grace in a further Despatch upon another matter in which
the present complaint will be referred to.
I have etc.