The Agent-General for British Columbia thinks it necessary to furnish the following information for the assistance of persons desirous of emigrating to that province:—

Now that there is a certainty of the Canadian Pacific Railway being made through British Columbia, the province attracts renewed attention, and settlers are coming into it to take up land for farms. There are many good places open for settlement, but the man of small means, particularly, cannot spend his time and money in visiting all parts of the province, in order to find the place that will best suit his wants and circumstances. This Handbook will give, among other information, some general idea of the different sections of the province that have been tested by practical farmers.

The occupation of gold-mining exists still as the principal industry of British Columbia and as an unfailing attraction to population—4½ millions sterling having been exported within ten years—but other industries have appeared, and promise well. The chief of these has been coal. Within ten years 330,395 tons of coal have been shipped from Nanaimo. Many articles of provincial produce, besides gold and coal,—namely, lumber (sawn wood), furs, hides, wool, fish, cranberries, &c.—figure now in the [unclear: tst] of exports. A small settlement of practical experienced men is found in nearly every district that is suitable for farming. Such men know, in some degree, what their own land will produce or support, and they also have a general idea of the extent of similar laud near to them. Availing myself of the wider sources of information thus opened, I hope to be able to give a picture of the province which is neither underdrawn nor overdrawn. Truth, not exaggeration, is the basis of these pages. The information that will be laid before the reader, on each point, will be fully borne out by that best of tests—Experience.

It has been somewhat unfortunate that the rich gold-fields of Cariboo are among rough mountains, with a severe climate, and that the trunk road to Cariboo runs for a long way through an unprepossessing part of the province. Several persons who have travelled on this road only, and have afterwards left the country, have in good faith tried to describe British Columbia. These writers I do not complain of, though their position is like that of a foreigner who should attempt to describe England after travelling through Wales on a public coach. I complain of another class of writers—writers who are deficient in fairness and candour. In the earlier days of British Columbia, as of all page 4 young British colonies, certain persons came into the country who had a strong desire to make a living without taking off their coats—a desire which could not be gratified. The friends of these persons at home sent them money, which they put into silly investments. They rode to the diggings, and rode back again. They hung, like mendicants, round the doors of the Government offices. They croaked in the streets, spent their time idly in bar-rooms, and finally disappeared. Having in some manner got back to England, several of these persons wrote scraps in magazines, or vamped up books about British Columbia. I might collect these wails of the unsuitable into a list, but it is enough simply to state that nobody of any position in British Columbia—no settler worth his salt—has ever written against the country. On the contrary, persons who are there, settled comfortably after overcoming early difficulties, write to their friends to join them.

I wish to express myself very carefully, but I believe that the recommendations of British Columbia by the 'Times' ten years ago, were, upon the whole, well based, and that the country will justify what was said of it by that far-seeing journal. "British Columbia abounds with every natural and material "wealth. It enjoys law and order. There you will find elbow-room, a fair "field and no favour. Go to British Columbia and be a free man."

Many circumstances, however (some of which will be learned from this Handbook), require that emigration to the province should at present be undertaken very prudently, and with clear notions of what settling in a young country really means. One of the duties of the office of Agent-General, which I hold, is to give information to intending emigrants, so that they may not make any large mistakes. If unsuitable persons go to the province and do not succeed, they must blame their own folly. The province, unquestionably, is a very desirable place for suitable settlers, compared with any other territory on the North American continent.