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VANCOUVER'S ISLAND.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
A GOVERNOR was first appointed to this Settlement in 1849, with power to pass laws in con- junction with a Council nominated by the Crown, and a General Assembly. By these authorities the affairs of the island are conducted, the Assembly having been convoked last year for the first time. The
expenses of the
government are entirely defrayed
by the Hudson's Bay Company, who, having had a grant of the island from the Crown for a certain number of years, derive their revenues from the sale of land, the establishment of emigrants, and from the trade they carry on with the Indians. But this grant expires with the Company's license to trade with the Indians, which will terminate in 1859, having been granted in the year 1838 for a term of twenty-one years. When resumed by the Crown, the sums expended in the settlement for their premises, &c., will have to be repaid to the Com- pany. What the revenue and expenditure is, we have no means of ascertaining. The European population is small, and the number of natives about 26,000.
Both coal and gold have been discovered in this island; the former mineral in considerable quanti- ties. Vessels resort to the island for coal.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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