SIR, In March last I was appointed by the Government of Ontario a Special Commissioner, for the purpose of enquiring into the location of the Northern and Western Boundaries of the Province, and reporting thereon. In May last, with a view to enable the Government to propose a conventional line as a boundary, in case the Canadian Government were disposed to agree to an equitable settlement, I placed in their hands a general statement of the conclusions at which I had arrived from the investigations that, in so short a period of time as six weeks, I had been able to make. I had reason to believe that further enquiry would confirm the conclusions then reached. That conventional boundary was proposed, and I am not aware that the Government of Canada has either accepted or rejected the proposal; and as the Government of Canada have sought to give to this Province boundaries more restricted than were ever before proposed, it was all the more necessary that the Government of Ontario should have the fullest possible information upon the subject. I obtained what information I could from the library of Congress, and from the Department of the Secretary of State at Washington; I also examined, in the library of Parliament, at Ottawa, whatever seemed to have an important bearing upon the subject, as well as some works in private libraries. There are a few Maps and other Documents referred to in this Report which I was unable to find. They are no doubt to be had by application to the Colonial Office, and if obtained, will, I am confident, sustain the claims of Ontario, and make some things matters of certainty which might otherwise be regarded only as matters of probability. In submitting to the Government the accompanying Report, I would say that I have given such references to sources of information and to authorities as may prove serviceable in maintaining the claims of the Province to the territories in dispute. I have the honour to be, SIB, Your obedient Servant, DAVID MILLS. The Hon. T. B. PARDEE, Provincial Secretary. |