Colonial Despatches

I have received your despatches No. 76 of the 15th of January, and No. 90 of the 4th of February, on the subject of the erection of Lighthouses in Fucas Straits and the approaches to Esquimalt Harbor.

I transmit for your information and guidance the copies of a correspondence which has passed between theAdmiralty Admiralty, the Board of Trade, the Treasury and this Department on the subject.

You will perceive that the expense of the construction of the two Lighthouses suggested by Captain Richards has been estimated by Captian Sulivan of the Board of Trade at Seven thousand pounds (£7,000), and in compliance with my recommendation the Lords Commissioners of the Trasury have consented to advance this sum on condition that one moiety of it shall be repaid by the Colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia jointly.

The Board of Trade have been requested to send out immediately from this Country the necessary apparatus and to give you any advice or information in their power, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have been requested to instruct the Naval Officers on the spot to give you every assistance by their advice or otherwise to facilitate the work. But you will distinctly understand that the responsibility of the works rests with yourself, and I need not impress upon you the necessity of promptness and energy in carrying out an undertaking which is calculated so materially to promote the commercial progress of the two Colonies under your Government.

With regard to the repayment by British Columbia and Vancouver's Island to the Imperial Treasury of the Moiety of the advance of Seven thousand pounds, I must leave it to you to decide the proportion of that sum which it would be equitable that each Colony should contribute, but I must instruct you that this debt should be repaid within the earliest practicable period.