The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-15 00:00:00

BRITISH CaLUAIBIA.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Having in an unguarded moment committed myself
to the public, through your columns, on the subject of Van-
couver's Island and British Columbia, I have been inun-
dated by such an avalanche of letter,: (12 Were, put into my
Ipitul at oncc), rcgtioting Illottl particular information re-
;zargling I 'eel tinder thy, ncce,mity of
,ppeding to you to t"tit r,f f hc. i,cropr by pub-
have applied to sae,
rea6tdherNs owvh.°last another Victoria libhin3 one gtnetal answer,. In
6 2, me you will oblige
theu nnudmerbtehreodf
aytoeuorf
corre-
spondent, in whom I place implicit reliance, writes as fol-
lows :

"I saw the other day two menwithbagsconaining 69,000
dols. in golddust, the produce of their summer's work. The
majority of the miners have returned more or less success-
ful, and are now causing great excitement. Next spring
every man who can command sufficient means to take him
up to the interior will proceed thither. One of O--'s men
who deserted from the brigade up,
going went to Cariboo
and returned two months afterwards with 2,000 dols."
I have no hesitation in recemmending these countries to
the labouring man and mechanic. They will earn from two
to five times as much per day as they can in England, with
the chance of making a fortune at the mines. Gold-digging
is, however, proverbially a lottery, and in the pahniest days
of California the numbers returning from the mines discon-
tented fully equalled those going up. I cannot advise the
professional man or farmer to emigrate, especially when bur-
dened with a family, if he can earn a moderate living at
home. Society is continually in such a fluctuating state in
a rising colony that the circumstances of today may not
hold good six months hence. With increase of population,
however, there will be openings for professional men, and
the diggings always to fall back upon. There is no induce-
merit to attempt farming on a large scale while labour is so
scarce sod dear. The small farmer or cottier who tills his
own land can beirie A., proprietor t* eaarteirtrie—fvTi.,
4s. 2d. per acre, payable 'by instalments) of what will be in,
the meantime a maintenance, and a source of future wealth
to his children ; or ho can rquat upon unsurveyed lands,
with the certainty of obtaining a title when the lande are
surveyed, till which time he is called upon to pay only a
small registration fee: The good lands in the neighbour.
hood of towns are all taken up, and settlers must bo pre-
pared to rough it at first, away from the haunts of men.
Though the extent of good land is small compared with the
quantity of mountain and forest, yet it is large in propor-
tion to the number of inhabitants ; and the soil, though in
many places light, is fertile. The climate of the seacoast
is milder and finer than that of England, but wet in winter.
In the interior the winters are drier and colder, while the
summers are hotter. Many tales of suffering are too true;
but want of food and shelter, added to the foolhardiness of
the early adventurers, were the teal causes. Game is plenti-
ful, and consist of deer, elk, bears, grouse, partridges,
wild fowl, &c.; but they are difficult to be got at, owing
to the density of the forests. There are no noxious animals
or reptiles excepting rattlesnakes, and they are confined to
the interior of the mainland. I say nothing of mosquitoes,
which will introduce themselves on Fraser's River; in Vic-
toria there aro none. Emigrants should burden themselves
with as little baggage as possible, and husband their ready
cash for extremities. It is not the country for broken-
down gentlemen or " swells ;" washing costs 12s. per dozen.
You cannot get your boots brushed under a shilling. Ser-
vants' wages are £5 to £8 per month, with food, and house
rent is excessively dear. There is enough to dismay a pro-
fessional man with a family, but it is good news for the
washerwoman, the shoeblack, and the servant of all work.
Single men can easily rough it out, and the restaurant,
generally kept by Frenchmen, are far better than they are
in London.

Among the questions asked of me are—Where is Van-
couver's Island ? How can I get there ? And what is the
best season to arrive ? Vancouver's Island will be found
where Vancouver " laid it down"—on the north-west coast
of America, and spring is the best season in which to ar-
rive. The pons asinorurn is how to get there, and at what
cost. The shortest route is by the Isthmus of Panama,
which can be reached via New York, or by the West India
steamers to St. Thomas's. The latter route ought to be
adopted only in winter and spring, as the emigrant may be
detained some days both at St. Thomas's and Panama,
waiting for the connecting steamers, and both those places
are subject to the vieitations of yellow fever. St. Thomas's
has been much maligned for its heat and insalubrity,
but I heard a Glasgow skipper say it was the finest
climate he was ever in, as he was "aye drinking
and aye dry." The West India steamers book passengers
through from Southampton to Victoria for £35, but, rho-
ther by St. Thoma, N,,,r 'York, no emigrant riceil (.Il-
culate on reaching his destination under 430 or £6O. The
vi.yzlge round Cape Horn can be made for LW, tir even
but it generally occupies five or six months. As the pas.
senger is fed and lodged for such a period some may consi-
der this an advantage, and, in comparing the voyage with
the shorter one via Panama, and the cost, be of the same
way of thinking as the Highlander, who complained of a
professional dentist that he charged him half-a-crown for
pulling out a tooth, which was done in a second, while a
blacksmith, in extracting another grinder, dragged him all
round the smithy for a quarter of an hour and charged only
6d.

Permit me to call attention to a crying evil in the above-
named colonies—viz., the want of women. I believe there
is not 1 to every 100 men at the mines ; without them the
male population will never settle in the country, and hum-
merable evils are the consequence. A large number of the
weaker sex could obtain immediate employment as domestic
servants at high rates of wages, with the certainty of mar-
riage in the background. The miner is not very particular
—"plain, fat, and 50," even, would not bo objected to;
while good-looking girls would be the nuggets, and prized
accordingly. An immigration of such a character would
be as great a boon to the colony as I am sure it would be
to many of the under-paid, under-fed, and over-worked
women who drag out a weary existence in the dismal back
streets Ind alleys of this metropolis.
In conclusion, I must apologise for the length to which
this letter has reached, but the information required was so
varied that I could not well have given it in fewer words. I
know of np recent work on Vancouver's Island or British.
Columbia to which 1 can refer intending emigrants. The
letters of your own correspondent which appear from time
to time in your columns give tllg,,,begi information I have
yet read in regard to these celOnies. I trust no more com-
munications may be addressed to me, as I shall be beyond
their reach in a few days. A. G. D.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Bath have been
entertaining a select party at Longleate,,AViits, during the
past week.

The Assyrian has arrived from China 'with
616,8001 b, of to and 862 JAW of silk.

Her Majesty's screw steam store-vessel Buffalo,
Master-Commander Alexander Brown, from the
West Coast of Africo, arrived at Purileet yester-
day afternoon, and discharged her powder. She
will require extensive repairs and alterations
throughout, the ship and machinery having been
in commission since 1857. She is under orders to
be dismasted and paid off at Woolwich.
For the information of those concerned, we are
requested to state that the announcement contained
in some of the morning journals of yesterday under
tbo heading of "Naval Intelligence," from Wool-
wich, that " the steam storeship Supply, now load-
ing at Deptford, was under orders for Rio and
Ascenscion," is inaccurate. Her destination is
Gibraltar and Malta. The statement that the
whole of the hired labourers in Woolwich Dock-
yard are under orders to be discharged at the end
of the financial year, is likewise incorrect, as no
order of the kind has been received at Woolwich.
The steam storeship Lord Panmure, Mr, Moore,
Commander, arrived alongside the landing wharf at
Woolwich Arsenal yesterday morning from Devon-
port, Liverpool, and Purfleet, laden with over-
vented guns from the former place, a number of
hospital waggons and carriages, military saddles,
pickaxes, and shovels, and numerous other stores
discharged at Marchwood, near Southampton,from

transport vessels over loaded for North America.
Prior to her arrival at Woolwich, the Lord Pan-
mare landed at Purflect 1,400 barrels of powder
from Devonport.

The screw frigate Galatea, 26, 800 horse power,
Master-Commander H. Goldsmith, was yesterday
towed from Folly-point, Chatham, to Sheerness, by
the Adder and African steamers, to join the first
division of the steam reserve under the command of
Capt. C. F, Schomberg. The Galatea has her guns,
shot, shell, and all her stores on board.

The screw corvette Pylades, 41, 400 horse power,
is undergoing some very extensive repairs in No. 4
dock at Chatham. The whole of her copper is being
stripped off, a great deal of her planking being
found to he very rotten. Both her decks will also be
removed. Several new plates will be required to be
placed in her boilers, which have been removed for
that purpose.
The Calypso, 18, Capt. Montressor, dismantling
at Chatham, will be paid off on Monday next.
By direction of the Admiralty, No. 1 dock at
Chatham has been entirely floored over, the opening
at the entrance enclosed and glazed, and the whole
converted into a large fitting and workshop for the
workmen employed on the Achilles, 50, iron steamer,
building in the adjacent dock. A considerable por-
tion on the land side of the dock has also been taken
in and covered with a corrugated iron roof by Messrs
();rissell and Co., in order to extend the workshop
for the large number of additional hands who will
shortly be employed on the Achilles.
From letters received from the Ili est Indies, dated
Jamaica, Dec. 21, by our Chatham correspondent,
several important movements on the part of the va-
rious vessels of war are announced. The Mersey,
40, 1,000 horse power, Capt. H. Caldwell, C. 8., ar-
rived at Port Royal on 13th Dec. from Bermuda,
and was shortly expected to leave. The Donegal,
99, 800 horse power, Capt. Osborn, C. 8., and the
Sanspareil, 70, 400 horse power, Capt. Bowyer, ar-
rived from England on the 16th, with part of the
marine battalion for Mexico on board. The Hima-
laya, 700 horse power, Capt. Seccombe, had arrived
from Bermuda, and was to leave for Barbadoes and
England on Dec. 22. The Conqueror, 101,800 horse
power, Capt. Sotheby, CB., had arrived out with
her Marines, and was to leave for Bermuda about
the 24th of December. Her Majesty's paddlewheel
steamer Barracouta, 6, Capt. Malcolm, arrived at
Jamaica, from England, on the 15th of December.
The Sanspareil passed the Cadmus, 21, Captain
Hillyar, 0.13., near Antigua, standing to the south-
ward, on the 9th December, last from St. Thomas.
Her 111i;jesty!s ecrew-steldne-rs' f3t-..Ge^orge, 81), rap
' taro the Hon. F. Egerton, and Cygnet, 5, Comman-
der Thrupp, arrived at Port Royal, on the 21st of
December, also a small French screw sloop of war.
All were well on board these ships.
In addition to the powerful forts and batteries
which are now under construction at the entrance
to the Medway, two exceedingly strong batteries
are being erected a few miles up the Thames, on
the Essex and Kent sides of the river, about mid
distance between Gravesend and the Nore, in order
still further to protect the river should any hostile
vessel succeed in accomplishing the almost impos-
sible feat of passing the guns of the fortifications on
the Isle of Grain and the batteries at Sheerness.
Notwithstanding the numerous and almost insur-
mountable natural difficulties which have been ex-
perienced during the progress of the undertaking
ever since its commencement, especially in driving
the piles on which the structure will be reared, the
works are being pushed forward as rapidly as cir-
cumstances will permit. The battery at Coalhouse
Point, on the Essex side of the river, will probably
be completed some time before that at Shornmeade,
on the opposite shore, it being considered desirable
to finish it as early as possible, in order that the
armament may be placed in position. The Coalhouse
Point battery is being erected on the site of the
small line of fortifications which were built a few
years since, at considerable expense, the whole of
which are now levelled. This will be the larger
and more important of the two batteries. The ut-
most care and skill are being used in preparing the
foundation. In consequence of the soft, spongy
nature of the soil, nearly every inch of the ground
has been piled to a depth of some 30 or 40 feet, 12
steam pile driving machines being used in this por-
tion of the undertaking. The beds of concrete on
which the superstructure will be raised are of enor-
mous strength, anc apparently capable of support-
ing any weight. The battery will be bomb proof,
with two tiers of guns, the tier above being placed

en barbetle. The walls will b© no less than 12 feet in

thickness of solid masonry, over which again will
be placed layers of concrete and asphllir. Thr dc
ormuntf.d vastly armamt!nt,
In pint of nulllhcr atilt Ciill/OT, to the ilcfUT v guns
\lli jell Will }Pc id accti
at 11,,int:. 1,0,-ing unlimited control of the mid
channel ut .nit grf:ctt. commercial higirw ay. The
precise number of 1z utt:i which will be inuuLted
on each battery has not yet been finally decided
upon, but it is probable that each will be furnished
with an armament of 50 guns and mortars. It is,
however, decided to mount nothing but the 100
pounder, 70 pounder, and 40 pounder Armstrongs,
together with the ordinary 10 inch and 68 pounder
' cast iron guns. Each battery will also be furnished
with furnaces and cupolas for preparing red-hot
shot and filling the shells with molten iron. The
two forts, which stand at the important junction of
Lower Hope and Gravesend Reaches, will thus cross
their fire either against any force ascending the
Lower Hope or in rear of "a hostile fleet should it
have succeeded in forcing this difficult bend of the
stream, which would again be met by a sweeping
fire of the heavy armament mounted at New Tavern
Fort, on the Kent shore, and that of Tilbury Fort,
on the Essex side, the latter having a direct bearing
down Gravesend Reach. The armament intended
to be mounted on the new fortifications will be fitted
with flanged trucks and raised racers, the invention
of Co]. Colquhoun, Royal Artillery, which, after
repeated and severe tests, has been found to be far
superior, in point of durability and strength, to the
old pattern principle of flat racers and front pivots.
This system has recently been applied to the 10 inch
and 68 pounder guns mounted at New Tavern and
Tiibury Forts, as well as to similar descriptions of
ordnance mounted on the battepies at the entrance
to the Medway. During the progress of the forti-
fications the security of the Thames is maintained
by the floating batteries Etna, 16, and Thunderbolt,
16, which are stationed on each side of the river.

Each of the floating batteries is armed with 16 68