Gold Commissioner

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Gold Commissioner was an important regional administrative post in the Colony of British Columbia.

In the 1860s, Governor Douglas had three priorities to protect the two colonies he governed:^[1] to protect the boundaries, to uphold law and order and to provide access to the gold fields. In 1859, the Pig War together with McGowan's War the previous year, underlined concerns that American settlers might challenge the British jurisdictions. After the native population in the Washington Territory was crushed and the area was opened to settlement, its non-native population grew rapidly to more than 11,000. General William Harney, after meeting with Douglas, reported to Washington that the population of the colony was largely American with few British and that it would soon be a a commercial necessity for the colonists to yield Vancouver Island to the U.S. government. In these circumstances, Douglas enhanced the limited military capability of the Royal Engineers and developed the office of Gold Commissioner buttressed by the periodic visits of a traveling judge.

The ten Commissioner's were appointed to specific geographic jurisdictions. Their primary role was to issue mining licences and register gold claims. The commissioners also acted as agents of everyday authority. They settled mining disputes, collected government revenues, oversaw land claims, served as electoral officers and dealt with the natives. They displayed the British flag. ^[2]:81 They acted as a receiver-cashier for gold, which was held until the Gold Escort could deliver it to the capital. A Gold Commissioner's powers and duties also encompassed the duties of Government Agent, Indian Agent, magistrate, Mines Commissioner, surveyor, sheriff, coroner and other duties. The powers of a Gold Commissioner within his designated jurisdiction were second only to the Governor. The position remained as a fixture in the new province when the colony joined Canada in 1871 although by the end of the Great War nearly all Gold Commissioner positions had been devolved to separate offices, with the bulk of the office's power and legacy inherited by the Government Agent, who typically was also Indian Agent as well as Mines Commissioner, which was a post associated with each of the mining districts.

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[edit] Other sources

• McGowan's War, Donald J. Hauka, New Star Books, Vancouver (2000) ISBN 1-55420-001-6
• British Columbia Chronicle,: Gold & Colonists, Helen and G.P.V. Akrigg, Discovery Press, Vancouver (1977) ISBN ISBN 0-919624-03-0