§ MR. ARTHUR MILLSsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, If he has received a Despatch from the Governor of Vancouver's Island, conveying a Resolution of the Legislature to the effect that the offer of the Imperial Government to transfer to the Colony the Crown Lands did not afford an equivalent for the Civil List asked; if it is true that the Legislature has refused to provide the necessary residence for the Governor; and whether any representations from Vancouver's Island have been made to the Colonial Office respecting the Indenture of 1862, by which the Imperial Government confirmed to the Hudson's Bay Company the appropriations of Lands and Minerals which the Company had made on that Island?
MR. CARD WELLreplied that he had received a despatch from Vancouver's Island, containing the expression of a desire on the part of the Colony that it should be more or less closely united with British Columbia, for the purpose of saving expense. The answer of British Columbia upon that subject had not yet been received, but he had reason to believe that that answer was not likely to be a favourable one. He did not despair that the Representatives of Vancouver's Island would yet enter into a proper arrangement with the Governor.