official Report, prepared by Mr. Duncan, and presented to the Minister
of the Interior of the Dominion of Canada, in May, 1875. The occasion
of this important document being drawn up was the occurrence of some
conflict of opinion between the Provincial Government of British
Columbia at Victoria and the Dominion Government of Ottawa, respecting
the Indian Land Question. The same thorny problems that have so often
given trouble in South Africa and New Zealand had presented themselves,
and the local authorities at Victoria were anxious that the liberal
treatment of the Indians on the coast, which had marked their own
dealings with them while the Colony was independent of Canada, should
be still pursued now that British Columbia was incorporated in the
Dominion Confederation. But even the liberal plans of the Victoria
Government had, to a large extent, failed in their object of
ameliorating the Indians, and Metlakahtla still remained almost the
only example of success upon the coast. To us it is, of course, obvious
that the cause of this success was simply its being based on the
foundation of Christian teaching and Christian life; and Mr. Duncan
made no secret of this in his Report. He gave a description of the
Indians as he found them, and a full narrative of the Mission from the
first. That part of the Report, however, it is needless to print here.
It only recapitulates what we have already told in greater detail. The
opening and closing paragraphs we subjoin:--

_Report presented by Mr. W. Duncan to the Government of Canada._

"From a copy of statutes which I lately received from the Indian
Commissioner, British Columbia, I learn that changes in the management
of Indian affairs are about to be inaugurated in that province. It is
in anticipation of these changes that I feel prompted to address to you
this present letter, my object being to place before you the origin and