§ MR. CAIRDsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether he can confirm the reports which have recently appeared regarding Gold 494 Discoveries in British Columbia, and if be will lay upon the table any recent information regarding that Colony and its Gold Fields; whether it is the intention of Government to establish a regular Postal Communication with British Columbia; and that any recent information regarding the Australian Gold Fields be laid upon the table?
§ MR. FREELANDsaid, he would beg to ask the hon. Gentleman, before he answered the question just put to him, Whether any reports or despatches have been received from the Governor of Canada or the Governor of British Columbia with reference to the establishment of telegraphic communication or communication by water and railway between the north-west corner of Lake Superior and New Westminster, on the Fraser River?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUEsaid, that the part of the first question relating to postal communication would be answered by his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. With reference to the gold discoveries in British Columbia, a Paper would shortly be laid upon the table which would give the latest information received from the Governor on the subject. It would fully confirm, but not add much to what was contained in the excellent accounts that had appeared in the columns of The Times. The Governor had assured the Home Government that the almost fabulous accounts of the richness of the gold fields and of the Cariboo discoveries were not exaggerations. The only difficulty arose from the remoteness of the mines from the mouth of the Fraser, and the consequent expense of the transport. The Governor, however, was applying all such colonial funds as he had at his disposal for such a purpose to improving the means of communication and bringing the necessaries of life within reach of the miners. With reference to the question of the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Freeland) no communication had been received from the Governor of Canada or the Governor of British Columbia since the despatch of Governor Douglas, which would be found in the British Columbia Blue-book for 1860. With respect to Australia, Her Majesty's Government had lately received an interesting Report from Governor Barkly, giving an account of an inspection which he had made of the gold fields, and reporting that although from temporary causes there had been a certain diminution in the yield of 495 gold in Victoria last year as compared with former years, yet he believed that the gold mines in that Colony would not only be as prolific, but as permanent a source of industry as our iron and copper mines.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that as regarded the question of the hon. Member (Mr. Caird) as to whether it was the intention of the Government to establish a general postal communication with British Columbia, by which he presumed the hon. Gentleman meant a postal communication by steam between San Francisco and British Columbia, he did not think that any sufficient reason had been shown why there should be a direct charge on the Estimates of this country for a service of that kind, but he was glad to say that such communication seemed to have been established, provisionally, at all events, by the colonists themselves. A letter of the 10th of January, received by a mercantile house in this country, had been communicated to the Postmaster General. In that letter it was stated that Messrs. Holiday and Flint, of San Francisco, had made an agreement with the two Colonies for six months for a fortnightly mail communication, at a charge of £10,000 for the six months, each Colony to pay £5,000.