The Province of British Columbia. communication between Victoria and San Francisco, and twice a week between Victoria and Olympia: the vessels to be adapted for the conveyance of freight and passengers. 5. Canada will assume and defray the charges for the following services: A. Salary of the Lieutenant-Governor ; B. Salaries and allowances of the Judges of the Superior Courts and the C. The charges in respect to the Department of Customs; D. The Postal and Telegraphic services; E. Protection and encouragement of Fisheries; F. Provision for the Militia; G. Lighthouses, Buoys, and Beacons, Shipwrecked Crews, Quarantine and H. The Geological Survey; I. The Penitentiary. And such further charges as may be incident to and connected with the services which, by the " British North America Act, 1867," appertain to the General Government, and asare, or may be allowed to the other Provinces. 6. Suitable pensions, such as shall be appoved of by Her Majesty's Government, shall be provided by the Government of the Dominion for those of Her Majesty's servants in the colony whose position and emoluments derived therefrom would be affected by political changes on the admission of British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada. 7. It is agreed that the existing customs tariff and excise duties shall continue in force in British Columbia until the railway from the Pacific Coast, and the system of railways in Canada are connected, unless the Legislature of British Columbia should sooner decide to accept the tariff and Excise laws of Canada. When Customs and Excise duties are, at the time of the Union of British Columbia with Canada, leviable on any goods, wares or merchandizes in British Columbia, or in the other Provinces of the Dominion, those goods, wares and merchandizes may, from and after the Union, be imported into British Columbia from the Provinces now composing the Dominion, or into either of those Provinces from British Columbia, on proof of payment of the Customs or Excise duties leviable thereon in the Province of exportation, and on payment of such further amount (if any) of Customs or Excise duties as are leviable thereon in the Province of importation. This arrangement to have no force or effect after the assimilation of the tariff and excise duties of British Columbia with those of the Dominion. The Province of British Columbia. 8. British Columbia shall be entitled to be represented in the Senate by three Members and by six Members in the House of Commons. The representation to be increased under the provisions of the "British North America Act, 1867." 9. The influence of the Dominion Government will be used to secure the continued maintenance of the Naval Station at Esquimalt. 10. The provisions of the "British North America Act, 1867," shall (except those parts thereof which are in terms made, or by reasonable intendment may be held to be specially applicable to and only affect one and not the whole of the Provinces now comprising the Dominion, and except so far as the same may be varied by this Minute) be applicable to British Columbia, in the same way and to the like extent as they apply to the other Provinces of the Dominion, and as if the Colony of British Columbia had been one the Provinces originally united by the said Act. 11. The Government of the Dominion undertake to secure the commencement simultaneously, within two years from the date of the Union, of the construction of a railway from the Pacific towards the Rocky Mountains, and from such point as may be selected, east of the Rocky Mountains, towards the Pacific, to connect the seaboard of British Columbia with the railway system of Canada; and, further, to secure the completion of such railway within ten years from the date of the Union. And the Government of British Columbia agree to convey to the Dominion Government, in trust, to be appropriated in such manner as the Dominion Government may deem advisable in furtherance of the construction of the said railway, a similar extent of public lands, alorg the line of railway throughout its entire length in British Columbia, (not to exceed however twenty (20) miles on each side of the said line,) as may be appropriated for the same purpose by the Dominion Government from the public lands in the North-West Territory and the Province of Manitoba: Provided that the quantity of land which may be held under pre-emption right, or by Crown grant within the limits of the tract of land in British Columbia to be so conveyed to the Dominion Government shall be made good to the Dominion from contiguous public lands; and provided further, that until the commencement, within two years as aforesaid from the date of the Union, of the construction of the said railway, the Government of British Columbia shall not sell or alienate any further portions of the public lands of British Columbia in any other way than under right of pre-emption, requiring actual residence of the pre-emptor on the land claimed by him. In consideration of the land to be so conveyed in aid of the construction of the said railway, the Dominion Government agree to pay to British Columbia, from the date of the Union, the sum of 100,000 dollars per annum, in half-yearly payments in advance. 12. The Dominion Government shall guarantee the interest for ten years from the date of the completion of the works, at the rate of 5 per centum per annum, on such sum, not exceeding 100,000l. sterling, as may be required for the construction of a first class graving dock at Esquimalt. The Province of British Columbia. 13. The charge of the Indians, and the trusteeship and management of the lands reserved for their use and benefit, shall be assumed by the Dominion Government, and a policy as liberal as that hitherto pursued by the British Columbia Government shall be continued by the Dominion Government after the Union. To carry out such policy, tracts of land of such extent as it has hitherto been the practice of the British Columbia Government to appropriate for that purpose, shall from time to time be conveyed by the Local Government to the Dominion Government in trust for the use and benefit of the Indians on application of the Dominion Government; and in case of disagreement between the two Governments respecting the quantity of such tracts of land to be so granted, the matter shall be referred for the decision of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 14. The Constitution of the Executive Authority and of the Legislature of British Columbia shall, subject to the provisions of the " British North America Act, 1867," continue as existing at the time of the Union until altered under the authority of the said Act, it being at the same time understood that the Government of the Dominion will readily consent to the introduction of responsible Goverment when desired by the inhabitants of British Columbia, and it being likewise understood that it is the intention of the Governor of British Columbia under the authority of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to amend the existing Constitution of the Legislature by providing that a majority of its members shall be elective. The Union shall take effect according to the foregoing terms and conditions on such day as Her Majesty by and with the advice of Her Most Honorable Privy Council may appoint (on addresses from the Legislature of the Colony of British Columbia and of the Houses of Parliament of Canada, in the terms of the 146th section of the "British North America Act, 1867"); and British Columbia may in its address specify the Electoral Districts for which the first election of members to serve in the House of Commons shall take place. That such terms have proved generally acceptable to the people of this colony; That this Council is therefore willing to enter into Union with the Dominion of Canada upon such terms, and humbly submit that under the circumstances it is expedient that the admission of this colony into such Union, as aforesaid, should be effected at as early a date as may be found practicable under the provisions of the 146th section of the "British North America Act, 1867." We, therefore, humbly pray that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased, by and with the advice of Your Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, under the provisions of the 146th section of the "British North America Act, 1867," to admit British Columbia into the Union or Dominion of Canada on the basis of the terms and conditions offered to this colony by the Government of the Dominion of Canada, herein before set forth. And, inasmuch as by the said terms British Columbia is empowered in its address to specify the electoral districts The Province of British Columbia. districts for which the first election of members to serve in the House of Commons shall take place, we humbly pray that such electoral districts may be declared under the Order in Council to be as follows: That "New Westminster District" and the "Coast District," as defined in a public notice issued from the Lands and Works Office on the 15th day of December, 1869, by the desire of the Governor and purporting to be in accordance with the provisions of the 39th clause of the "Mineral Ordinance, 1869," shall constitute one district, to be designated "New Westminster District," and return one member; That "Cariboo District" and "Lillooet District," as specified in the said public notice, shall constitute one district, to be designated "Cariboo District," and return one member; That "Yale District" and "Kootenay District," as specified in the said public notice, shall constitute one district, to be designated "Yale District," and return one member; That those portions of Vancouver Island known as "Victoria District," "Esquimalt District," and "Metchosin District," as defined in the official maps of those districts in the Land Office, Victoria, and which maps are designated respectively "Victoria District Official Map, 1858," "Esquimalt District Official Map, 1858," and "Metchosin District Official Map, A. D. 1858," shall constitute one district, to be designated " Victoria District," and return two members. And that all the remainder of Vancouver Island, and all such islands adjacent thereto, as were formerly dependencies of the late Colony of Vancouver Island, shall constitute one district, to be designated "Vancouver Island District," and return one member. (Signed), PHILIP J. HANKIN, Speaker. TREATY BETWEEN HER MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Signed at Washington, May 8, 1871. (Ratified: and ratifications exchanged June 17, 1871.) ER Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, being desirous to two countries, have for that purpose appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: Her Britannic Majesty on her part has appointed as Her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries, the Right Honourable George Frederick Samuel, Earl de Grey and Earl of Ripon, Viscount Goderich, Baron Grantham, a Baronet, a Peer of the United Kingdom, Lord President of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, &c., &c.; the Right Honourable Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, Baronet, one of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, &c., &c.; Sir Edward Thornton, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America; Sir John Alexander Macdonald, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, and Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Her Majesty's Dominion of Canada; and Mountague Bernard, Esq., Chichele Professor of International Law in the University of Oxford; And the President of the United States has appointed on the part of the United States as Commissioners in a Joint High Commission and Plenipotentiaries, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State; Robert Cumming Schenck, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain; Samuel Nelson, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, of Massachusetts; and George Henry Williams, of Oregon; And the said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and concluded the following Articles : ARTICLE I. Whereas differences have arisen between the Government of the United States and the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and still exist, growing out of the acts committed by the several vessels which have given rise to the claims generally known as the "Alabama" claims: And whereas Her Britannic Majesty has authorized Her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries to express, in a friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels : Now, in order to remove and adjust all complaints and claims on the part of the United States, and to provide for the speedy settlement of such claims, which are |