No. 5. 23 April 1868. • Page 17. Colonial Office: COPY of a LETTER from the Right Honourable C. B. Adderley, M.P., to Sir, Downing-street, 23 April 1868. I AM directed by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to acquaint you that he has had under his consideration the Address from the Parliament of Canada to Her Majesty, praying that Rupert's Land and the North West Territory may be united with the Dominion of Canada, and placed under the authority of the Canadian Parliament, and the letter from the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, dated the 25th January,* on that subject. Her Majesty's Government think that it will be right to comply, under proper conditions, with the wish expressed by the Parliament of Canada, and they propose to introduce a Bill for the purpose into the Imperial Parliament. They desire, however, to pay due regard to the interests of Her Majesty's subjects already concerned in the territory; and with that view they will be prepared to make provision for any reasonable terms which may be agreed upon with the Hudson's Bay Company. I am desired to call your attention to the negotiations which took place in 1864, between the Secretary of State and the Company, as recorded in the correspondence referred to in the margin, and I am to request that you will state what are the terms which the Company would be prepared to accept, proceeding on the principles then adopted, namely, that the compensation should be derived Hudson's Bay Com- from the future proceeds of the lands, and of any gold which may be discovered in Rupert's Land, coupled with reservations of defined portions of land to the Company. 11 March 1864. pany: دو 13 April 1864. 7 Dec. I am, &c. (signed) C. B. Adderley. Earl of Kimberley to the Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P. 24 April 1868. COPY of a LETTER from the Earl of Kimberley to the Right Honourable Sir, Hudson's Bay House, London, 24 April 1868. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd instant, addressed to the Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and to inform you that the subject-matter of this communication will be taken into consideration by the Committee, and a reply made thereto at an early date. I take this opportunity to inform you, that I have this day been elected Governor of the Company, in the room of the late Sir Edmund Head, Bart. I am, &c. (signed) Kimberley. No. 7. No. 7. 13 May 1868. COPY of a LETTER from the Earl of Kimberley to the Right Honourable Sir, Hudson's Bay House, London, 13 May 1868. Your letter of the 23rd ultimo, which I have already had the honour to acknowledge, has been carefully considered by the Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, and I am authorised by the Committee to make the following reply. The The Committee wish in the first place to express the satisfaction with which they have learnt that Her Majesty's Government, whilst thinking it right to comply, under proper provisions, with the prayer of the Address to the Queen from the Parliament of Canada, that Rupert's Land and the North West Territory may be united with the Dominion of Canada, desire to pay due regard to the interests of Her Majesty's subjects already concerned in the territory, and with that view will be prepared to make provision for any reasonable terms which may be agreed upon with the Hudson's Bay Company. Before proceeding to state the conditions which they would undertake to recom mend the proprietors to accept, the Committee think it necessary to point out the important difference in the basis of the negotiations between the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1864, to which you refer in your letter, from that of the negotiations into which his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos now invites the Company to enter. In the letter of Mr. Fortescue of 11th March 1864, the first condition proposed by the Duke of Newcastle was "That within certain geographical limits (coinciding more or less with those laid down in your letter), the territorial rights of the Company should be surrendered to the Crown." These geographical limits are defined in the letter of Sir Edmund Head of Printed as 13th November 1863, as follows: "With regard to the extent of the proposed Colony, of which the seat of Government would be Red River or Fort Garry, the Committee presume that his Grace would wish it to include the whole country from the frontier of the United States to the north branch of the Saskatchewan, and to extend eastward towards Lake Superior, as far as the frontier of Canada, wherever the precise line of that frontier may be found. Perhaps the most convenient limit for the northern boundary would be either the Saskatchewan itself, or a line running from the Rocky Mountains eastward through Edmonton House and Fort Cumberland, and from the latter following the Saskatchewan down to Lake Winnipeg. Nothing would be gained by going further to the northward, nor by including the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg; but from the mouth of the Winnipeg river, where it enters the lake, the line of demarcation might be run eastward until it cut the Canadian frontier somewhere north of Lake Superior or Lake Huron." From this quotation his Grace will see that the terms to which Sir Edmund Head stated in his letter of 13th April 1864, that the Committee were willing to agree, referred only to a portion of the territory held by the Company, being that portion which it is supposed may be capable of settlement. Now, on the other hand, it is proposed, as the Committee understand your letter, to extinguish the Company's territorial rights in the whole of Rupert's Land, and to place the whole of Rupert's Land, together with the North Western Territory, under the Government of Canada. * Appendix III. p. 66. Query 11th. The Committee have invariably expressed their anxiety to offer no obstacle to any arrangements for facilitating the colonisation of all such parts of Rupert's Land as can possibly be settled; they have only asked that reasonable compensation be secured to the Company for its territorial rights; and in the letter of Sir E. Head of the 25th of January last, they disclaimed all desire to impede Page 17. the general policy of transferring the Government of the North West Territory and of the Hudson's Bay Territory to the Government of Canada; but his Grace will not fail to perceive that there is a wide difference between the terms assented to by the Committee in their correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle, under which the Company would have retained the exclusive control over that part of the territory where their fur trade is principally carried on, and the surrender of the whole of their territorial rights; and it becomes, therefore, of the utmost consequence to the Company that such provisions shall be made as will enable hem to carry on their fur trade without interruption. Bearing these considerations in mind, the Committee are prepared to recom-. mend the proprietors to accept the following terms, which, as his Grace will perceive, are based upon the terms proposed in Sir Edmund Head's letter of 13th April 1864, with such additions as the altered state of the case seems to them to require. 1. That the Company shall surrender all the territory which they hold under their Charter, with the reservation of all their posts and stations, with an area of 6,000 acres round each such post or station; this reservation of 6,000 acres, however, not to apply to the Red River Settlement. 2. That the Company shall be entitled to receive one shilling for every acre of the land surrendered, which shall be disposed of by the Government, whether by sale, lease, or free grant, or parted with in any other manner. 3. That one quarter of the sum received by the Government as an export duty for gold and silver, or on leases of gold and silver mines, or for licenses for gold and silver mining, shall be paid to the Company; the amount to be received under this and the preceding Article being limited to a total sum conjointly of one million sterling. 4. That the Canadian Government shall confirm all titles to land that has been alienated by the Company at Red River or elsewhere. 5. That whenever the Government shall have sold, leased, granted, or otherwise parted with 50,000 acres, the Company shall be entitled, for every such 50,000 acres, to a free grant of 5,000 acres of wild land, to be selected by them. 6. That no tax shall be imposed upon any land belonging to the Company not under cultivation, and no exceptional tax shall be imposed upon the Company's other lands or property, or upon the Company's servants. 7. That the disputed matter of the Company's lands in Canada be settled by issuing grants on the footing formerly agreed upon by Mr. Vankoughnet and Mr. Hopkins. 8. That the Canadian Government shall take over from the Company all the materials for the construction of the telegraph now in Rupert's Land and the North West Territory, on payment of the cost price and the expenses already incurred, with interest. 9. That full liberty to carry on their trade shall be secured to the Company free from any special or exceptional taxation. 10. That until the million sterling stipulated by Articles 2 and 3 shall be paid to the Company, no export duties shall be levied by Canada upon furs exported by the Company; and no import duties shall be levied upon articles imported by the Company into the North Western Territory, and into that part of Rupert's Land which is not included within the geographical limits laid down in Sir E. Head's letter of 13th November 1863; the Company to be further entitled to import goods in bond, free of duty, through any part of the surrendered territory into the North Western Territory and the aforesaid part of Rupert's Land.' Lastly, that in order to afford to the Company a guarantee for the due fulfilment of these provisions by the Canadian Government, power shall be given to the Company to bring before the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council for decision any matters connected with the carrying into effect the foregoing provisions, in respect of which they may consider themselves aggrieved. The Committee assume that all charges of a public character which now fall on the Company will be transferred to the Canadian Government, and that in order to prevent any dispute with Canada hereafter as to the limits of the territory to which the conditions to be agreed upon shall apply, the boundary line between the territory surrendered by the Company and the present Dominion of Canada, will be precisely defined before the cession is completed. The Committee desire me, in conclusion, to refer to the letter of Sir E. Head of the 25th of January last, and especially to the last paragraph of that letter. They feel confident that they will not be deemed unreasonable in asking that, in transferring the North West Territory to Canada, such provisions shall be made as may may secure to the Company full liberty to trade as at present, as well as the unmolested possession of their posts, stations, and other property, free from any exceptional duties on their property or servants. I have, &c. Copy of a LETTER from Sir Frederic Rogers, Bart., to the Earl of Kimberley. My Lord, Downing street, 7 August 1868. A BILL having now passed through both Houses of Parliament, conferring the necessary power for the surrender to Her Majesty by the Hudson's Bay Com No. 8. Sir F. Rogers, Bart., to the Earl of Kimberley. 7 August 1868. pany of their territories and privileges, on such terms as may be agreed upon, I 31 & 32 Vict. c. 105. Printed am directed by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos to transmit to you a as Appendix II. r. copy of the Act. In your Lordship's letter, dated the 13th of May last,* there are certain points in the terms set forth which the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos would not 65. feel at liberty to agree in their present shape. His Grace believes that the best* Page 22. I have, &c. (signed) Frederic Rogers. COPY of a LETTER from the Earl of Kimberley to Sir Frederic Rogers, Bart. Kimberley House, 16 August 1868. Sir, instant. I request you will have the goodness to inform his Grace the Duke of Buckingham that I shall gladly avail myself of his suggestion that I should have an interview with him next month to discuss the terms proposed in my letter of the 13th of May last;† and I will, when the time approaches, take an opportunity of communicating with his Grace as to the day and hour when it will be convenient to him to receive me and such other members of the Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company as may accompany me. I have, &c. Copy of a LETTER from the Earl of Kimberley to the Right Honourable Hudson's Bay House, London, Sir, THE Committee of the Hudson's Bay Company have received from Sir C. Lampson and myself reports of the interviews which we have had the honour to have with his Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, on the subject of the proposed cession to Canada of the Company's territorial rights; and they have anxiously considered how far they would be justified in altering the terms No. 10. The Earl of proposed in my letter of May 13th, with a view to meet the objections which have been raised to them. They understand his Grace to suggest that, instead of the Company being entitled to a free grant of 5,000 acres, to be selected by them, for every 50,000 acres which shall be alienated by the Government, the whole territory should be at once divided into sections on the map, and that a certain portion of each section should be allotted to the Company, by a fixed geographical rule, the Company taking its chance as to the value of the land which might fall to its share; and further, that, in order to meet the evils which might arise from the existence of so many blocks of will land free from taxation, the exemption of the Company's wild land from taxes should continue only for a limited period, say, for example, 20 years. The Committee regret that they are unable to agree to this mode of allotment. One of the chief inducements to their shareholders to accept the proposed arrangements would be, that according to the plan of the Committee, if, as it is hoped, the colonisation of the country proceeded rapidly under the new Government, the Company would receive blocks of land of inoderate size, in the vicinity of the new settlements, which would possess an actual value in the market. But if the plan suggested by the Duke of Buckingham were adopted, instead of the grants to the Company proceeding equally with the progress of colonisation, the whole country would be dotted over with isolated tracts of wild land belonging to the Company, many of which, even if ultimately available for settlement, must necessarily remain entirely valueless until long after the expiration of the 20 years, and, if taxed, would be a heavy burden instead of a source of profit to the Company. The Committer are willing, however, to agree that the exemption from taxes on the Company's wild land shall only apply to each block of 5,000 acres, which they may be entitled from time to time to select, for a period of 20 years from the date of selection. This would give the Company a reasonable time within which to turn each block to profitable account, and at the same time the ultimate liability to taxation would prevent these lands from becoming an obstruction to the free progress of settleinent. The Committee think it right to add that they do not propose that land purchased by the Company should be reckoned in the 50,000 acres, and that the selection of the land by the Company naturally implies that the Company shall bear the cost of such a survey as may be necessary to define the land selected, it being understood that the Company shall have the option of making the survey by means of their own officers. The Committee are also quite willing that land granted for such purposes as roads, churches, or schools, shall not be liable to the payment of 1 s. per acre to the Company, provided that the exemption is restricted to the land actually used in the construction of the work, and that the exceptions are specified in the agreement with the Government for the cession of the Company's rights. They also admit that it is proper that a similar exemption should apply to land set apart as Indian reserves, on the understanding that these reserves will be made by Her Majesty's Governmeut, as they are informed it is his Grace's intention they shall be, before the Company's territory is transferred to Canada; and that if, at any time before the million sterling is paid to the Company, such land shall be used or granted for other purposes, it shall become liable to the payment of 1s. au acre, in common with other land. With respect to the land which the Committee have asked that the Company may retain as private property round their posts and stations, if 6,000 acres are thought to be too much in that part of Rupert's Land which is suited for settlement, the Committee will consent that the 6,000 acres shall only apply to posts which do not lie within the limits referred to under Article 10, in my letter of 13th May, as laid down in Sir E. Head's letter of 13th November 1863, and that within those limits the extent of land to be retained round each post shall not exceed 3,000 acres; all the lands retained to be free from taxation, except when reclaimed from a wild state. Lastly, the Committee cannot deny that the stipulation that the Company shall have power to bring before the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council matters in dispute, is open to the objection that the Privy Council acts only as a court of appeal; and as they presume that the Company would be entitled to appeal from the local courts to the Privy Council, they do not think it indispensable to insist on this demand. The |