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

BRITISH
.COLUDIBId.

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 letters (12 were put into my
hand at once), requesting more particular information re-
garding these countries,-that I feel under the necessity of
appealing to you to assist me out of the scrape by pub-
lishing one general answer. In obliging me you will oblige
the number of your readers who have applied to me.
Under the date of 6th Nov. last another Victoria corre-
spondent, in whom I place implicit reliance, writes as fol-

lows :

"I saw the other day two menwith bags conaining 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 going up, went to Cariboo
and returned two months afterwards with 2,000 dols."
I have no hesitation in recommending these countries to'
the labouring man and mechanic. They will earn from two
to fivo 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 palmiest 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 be 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-
ment-to attempt-faverinfo.o4*mlwhillboutialso-1
scarce and dear. The small formai or dialer who tills his
own land can become a proprietor on easy terms (viz.,
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 he can squat upon unsurveyed lands,
with the certainty of obtaining a tale when the lands 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 be pre-
pared to rough it at first, away from the haunts of men.
Though the extent of good land is small compared with the
quoin ity 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 real 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 Vie-
toria•there are 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 ahoeblack, and the servant of all work.
Single men can easily rough it out, and the restaurants,
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 asinorum 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 visitations 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, whe-
ther by St. Thomas's or New York, no emigrant need cal-
culate on reaching his destination under £5O or £6O. The
voyage round Cape Horn can be made for £3O, or even less,
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 innu-
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 be objected to ;
while good-looking girls would be tho 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 and 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 no 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 the best information I have
yet read in regard to these colonies. 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, Wilts, during the
past week.

The AsSyrian has arrived from China with
615,8001 b, of tea and 862 bales of silk,