No. 71
Downing Street
24 May 1859
Sir,
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches No 9 of the 3d of November last, and No 92 of the 4th of February, reporting the site which you had selected on the banks of the Fraser River for the Capital and Sea port of British Columbia.
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I am glad to perceive that both Colonel Moody and yourself agree in opinion that the locality you have described is the one best adapted for the purpose. It appears to have been judiciously selected, and I have to approve the steps you have taken to survey and subdivide the site into building lots for sale.
I communicated your despatch to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War, and I transmit to you, for yourinformationManuscript image information, the Copies of the letters which I have received from those departments in answer. I have to call your attention to the remarks offered by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty with regard to the necessity for stationing a pilot vessel at the entrance of the River, and to the selection of a port in the northern portion of the Colony.
I have the honor to be
Sir,
Your most obedient
humble servant
Carnarvon
In the absence
of Sir E.B. Lytton