eee eee ee

7) The Fraser River Mines.

the protection of British laws, as long as you obey those laws and pay
the Queen’s dues like honest men.

Now for a word about the country. Colonies cannot be estab-
lished without the consent of Parliament. Frazer’s River is therefore
not yet open for settlement, but we learn by last accounts from England
that the subject was before Parliament, and, as public opinion is strongly
in favour of colonizing the country, there is little doubt that the
measure will pass. In the meantime what is to be done? Many of
you, I know, wish to settle in the country, and wish to build and to
make yourselves comfortable before winter sets in. I have therefore
adopted a plan which will meet the prospective views of Government,
and your wants at the same time, by giving you the necessary amount
of protection.

I have decided, entirely on my own responsibility, to give you the
only title that can be granted for land at present.

I have given orders to Mr. Hicks, the Commissioner for Crown
Lands, to have a townsite surveyed here, and to dispose of building
lots to any person wishing to hold them under lease, with a pre-emption
right when the land is sold by the Crown. This will give confidence
and security to every one.

In the same manner I have given Mr. Hicks instructions to lay out
the farming lands near the town in convenient lots of 20 acres and to
make grants of them under the same tenure.

I have also given him instructions to permit the building of saw-
mills, to establish ferries, to open roads, and generally to carry out the
views of Government in the manner best calculated to give development
to the resources of this glorious country.

I have now said all that relates to your individual interests, and
have further to assure you that the laws will be administered with
justice and impartiality ; and I have to exhort you all to aid and support
the civil officers in the discharge of their duties.

Every wise man and every good man knows the value of good
laws, and every man who expects to receive their protection when he
himself gets into trouble must be ready at all times to come out manfully
in support of those laws.

Let all do so, and there will not be a better or more quiet com-
munity in any part of Her Majesty’s dominions than will be found
at Yale.

On our way up the river we stopped at nearly all the mining bars,
and found the people healthy, happy, and prosperous, and I am proud
to say what is much more to their honour, I found among the miners