Colonial Despatches
The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871
Public Offices document
Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton and Rogers, Frederic to Merivale, Herman 3 March 1860, CO 60:9, no. 2301, 67.
Abstract
Public Offices document.
Minutes (2).
Murdoch and Rogers inform Merivale that, because
British Columbia's population is much smaller than that of Victoria,
Australia, Clarke's proposals regarding the occupation of land by colonists are not suitable.
Murdoch and Rogers to Merivale (Permanent Under-Secretary)
Emigration Office
3 March 1860
Sir
We have to acknowledge your letter of 24th instant
transmitting for our information extracts of letters received
from Capt Clarke R.E. formerly Surveyor General of Victoria,
pointing out the course to be adopted for allowing Settlers
in British Columbia to occupy and cultivate Crown Land before
it has been surveyed.
2. In obedience to the directions
in the last paragraph of
your letter we return the sketch of an Order in Council which
accompanied Capt. Clarke's second letter. As this sketch had
been referred for Governor Douglas' report we abstain from
offering any observations on it. But we may be allowed to
point out that an arrangement which might be inevitable in
Victoria, where the population rose in less than two years from
77,000 to 157,000, would not have the same justification in B.
Columbia, where at the latest date the
population did not exceed 5,000.
in the last paragraph of
your letter we return the sketch of an Order in Council which
accompanied Capt. Clarke's second letter. As this sketch had
been referred for Governor Douglas' report we abstain from
offering any observations on it. But we may be allowed to
point out that an arrangement which might be inevitable in
Victoria, where the population rose in less than two years from
77,000 to 157,000, would not have the same justification in B.
Columbia, where at the latest date the
population did not exceed 5,000.
