The Province of British Columbia - Enactment No. 4

WHEREAS by the "British North America Act, 1867," provision was made for the Union of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada, and it was (amongst other things) enacted that it should be lawful for the Queen, by and with the advice of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council, on Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and of the Legislature of the Colony of British Columbia, to admit that Colony into the said Union, on such terms and conditions as should be in the Addresses expressed, and as the Queen should think fit to approve, subject to the provisions of the said Act; And it was further enacted that the provisions of any Order in Council in that behalf should have effect as if they had been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

AND WHEREAS by Addresses from the Houses of the Parliament of Canada, and from the Legislative Council of British Columbia respectively, of which Addresses copies are contained in the Schedule to this Order annexed, Her Majesty was prayed, by and with the advice of Her Most Honorable Privy Council, under the one hundred and forty-sixth section of the hereinbefore recited Act, to admit British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada, on the terms and conditions set forth in the said Addresses.

AND WHEREAS Her Majesty has thought fit to approve of the said terms and conditions, it is hereby ordered and declared by Her Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in Her Majesty by the said Act of Parliament, that from and after the twentieth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, the said Colony of British Columbia shall be admitted into and become part of the Dominion of Canada, upon the terms and conditions set forth in the hereinbefore recited Addresses. And, in accordance with the terms of the said Addresses relating to the Electoral Districts in British Columbia, for which the first election of members to serve in the House of Commons of the said Dominion shall take place, it is hereby further ordered and declared that such electoral districts shall be as follows:--

• "New Westminster District" and the "Coast District," as defined in a public notice issued from the Lands and Works Office in the said Colony, on the 15th day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, by the desire of the Governor and purporting to be in accordance with the provisions of the thirty-ninth clause of the "Mineral Ordinance, 1869," shall constitute one district, to be designated "New Westminster District" and return one Member.
• "Cariboo District" and "Lillooet District," as specified in the said public notice, shall constitute one district, to be designated "Cariboo District," and return one Member.
• "Yale District" and "Kootenay District," as specified in the said public notice, shall constitute one District, to be designated "Yale District," and return one Member.
• Those portions of Vancouver Island, known as "Victoria District," "Esquimalt District," and "Metchosin District," as defined in the official maps of those districts which are in the Land Office, Victoria, and are designated respectively, "Victoria District Official Map, 1858," "Esquimalt District Official Map, 1858," and "Metchosin District Official Map, A.D. 1858," shall constitute one District, to be designated "Victoria District," and return two Members.
• All the remainder of Vancouver Island, and all such islands adjacent thereto as were formerly dependencies of the late Colony of Vancouver Island shall constitute one district, to be designated "Vancouver Island District, and return one Member.
• And the Right Honorable Earl of Kimberley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions therein accordingly.