APPENDIX (11-)

(See Page 50.)

Report of Theophilus Stewart, Indian Commissioner, regarding Indians.

CHARLOTTET OWN, 22d February, 1858.

SIR,—In compliance with the requisition of the law on the subject, I have now the honor to forward herewith to your Excellency my separate account, as Indian Commissioner, of Disbursements on behalf of certain sick and indigent Indians, for the past year. My brother Commissioner, Mr H. Palmer, choosing to render a separate account of his Disbursements instead of having them blended into one, as had been previously done; any inconvenience found resulting from this division of Accounts, will therefore not be laid to my charge ; the account disclosing an excess of expenditure over that of the preceding year, will naturally require explanation. I may first observe that the result of the operations of the previous year on the ground obtained from the respective Officers of the Ordnance Department, being such as to encourage similar efforts the succeeding spring, the same families were furnished with the necessary seed by Mr. Palmer, who assumed this part of the busi- ness, while I assumed the part of seeing them supplied with provisions. As a pre- ‘ paratory step, in consequence of the owner of the adjoining Farm refusing permis- sion to cross his fields, after a long and continued exercise of the privilege, it be- came necessary to provide a means of communication between the plantation and the high or publicroad in the vicinity; to effect this object, a pathway or road had to be opened up through nearly a quarter ofa mile of the same farm lying in its wllder- ness condition. Notwithstanding the extra labor thus thrown upon individual Indians, it is gratifying to have to state that the members of the different families embarked in the enterprise (old and young) were so zealous and energetic through- out the planting season, that the greater portion of an area of 10 acres (the escheat of the reserve) was brought under cultivation, and the result has been equally, if not more encouraging than that of the preceding year,-—the aggregate yield being estima-r ted at from five to six hundred bushels, among eleven families; three of these have green—housed eighty bushels. The time occupied in the process of preparing the soil and putting in the Potatoes, having been from one cause or another very much pro- tracted, will serve to account for the large draught made on the provisions, which will be found to have absorbed a considerable portion of the grant. When the total destitution ofthe Indian, when withdrawn from his accustomed pursuits is considered, this will cease to occasion any surprise; it must also be considered as a self-evident proposition, that unless they had been so assisted, the work of planting would have fallen through. The excess of expenditure is to be further accounted for, by the fact, that a greater number of families have been furnished with Blankets, articles of Clothing, and Provisions, than during any preceding year; this partly resulted from the appearance of several of these families for the first time from the Western parts of the lsland, in circumstances of great destitution; they remain encamped in different positions favarable to enable them to take advantage of the City as a market