§ MR. ALDERMAN M'ARTHURasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the agreement entered into by the Dominion of Canada with the Province of British Columbia, as arranged by the Earl of Carnarvon in 1874, is being carried out, more especially that part relating to the construction of a Railway in British Columbia and Vancouver's Island; whether the Dominion of Canada did not, on the 13th of June 1873, by an order of the Governor General in Council, nominate and fix the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway to be at Esquimault in Vancouver's Island, and call upon the Province of British Columbia to convey to them a strip of land twenty miles in width along the proposed line of Railway; and whe- 871 ther the Province of British Columbia did not, in obedience thereto, comply with the said order to the satisfaction of the Dominion Government; and whether the land so placed at the disposal of the Dominion has not remained so up to the present time; whether the Dominion Government did not in 1875 cause surveys to be made of a considerable portion of the Esquimault Nananimo section of the Railway, and, having purchased in England a quantity of steel rails, cause them to be shipped for and delivered in Vancouver's Island for the purposes of that section of the Railway; whether the Dominion Government have not lately publicly announced that they have abandoned their intention of making the Esquimault Nananimo portion of the Railway; whether any intimation has been received by Her Majesty's Government from the Legislature or Government of British Columbia expressing a desire to secede from the Dominion of Canada; and what reply, if any, has been given thereto; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will lay upon the Table of the House any Correspondence between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Dominion of Canada and the Government of British Columbia since 1st January 1875 on this subject?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERI am afraid, Sir, it would be quite impossible within the ordinary limits of an Answer to a Question to afford an adequate explanation to the House of the circumstances of this case, which are attended with considerable difficulty, while a simple answer to the hon. Gentleman's series of Questions would give an altogether incorrect impression of the matter. I will therefore confine myself to stating that it has been arranged that Lord Dufferin shall shortly visit the Province, and until the result of his visit is known, it would be very inexpedient to enter into any discussion of the points raised in these Questions. There is, however, one of the hon. Gentleman's Questions—the fifth, I think, it is in the category—to which it is advisable that I should at once give a direct reply—namely, the Question—
Whether any intimation has been received by Her Majesty's Government from the Legislature or Government of British Columbia expressing a desire to secede from the Dominion of Canada; and what reply, if any, has been given thereto?872 I am happy to say that no such intimation has ever been received by Her Majesty's Government.