On August 2, 1880, Malcolm Sproat sent a letter to the Indian Office in Victoria. In this letter, he detailed all the surveys and work completed along the coast during the years 1879 and 1880. The letter closely mirrored the memorandum sent to Ottawa, which included the Minutes and Decisions. The letter of August 2, 1880, was Malcolm Sproat’s final correspondence regarding the Sliammon Reserves, as Israel Powell replaced him. Powell became the Visiting Indian Commissioner for the entire province and was the sole decision-maker for Indian Reserves.

Israel W Powell, the visiting Indian Superintendent, wrote on November 15, 1880, about the Dominion of Canada’s Annual Report for the Department of Indian Affairs. In his report, he expressed his views on the ongoing dispute with Malcolm Sproat and conveyed that he saw no immediate need to designate reserves along the coast.

“The late Reserve Commissioner, for some reason which it is difficult to understand, left such important localities as Cache Creek, Williams Lake, Lillooet, etc., and proceeded to the northern coast of Vancouver, where really there existed no disputes, no white settlers, and no immediate need of allotments. Owing to the mistake which appears to have been made in not visiting this region in a small steamer, instead of a sailing craft, subject to constant detention from adverse winds, and the consequent inability of the Commissioner to visit localities where reserves appear to have been set aside from the Admiralty Chart, it is questionable if many of the allotments contained in the minutes of decision will not require readjustment, and much of the ground to be gone over again. The terms of agreement between the two Governments which require that the Commissioner should make his enquiry “on the spot,” before determining a reserve, would seem not to have had sufficient consideration, and, apart from the doubtful legality of allotments made in this way, I am informed that some of them are actually erroneous, and will require, in the interests of both whites and Indians, correction. Indeed, it would be extraordinary, under such circumstances, where localities have never been seen by the Commissioner, if mistakes were not more than exceptional.”

By 1880, the British Columbia Government issued two timber and land licenses that the Sliammon people claimed as their own. Mr. Rithet actively pursued control of the timber in this area. He submitted formal applications for both the 1874 Timber License and the timber rights associated with the 1878 sale of Lot 450, and the government approved each request. By securing these licenses, he positioned himself to manage and profit from the valuable coastal timber covered by both instruments, tying his name directly to the early commercial exploitation of the district’s forest resources, land disputed by Sliammon.

With this statement, Israel Powell did not acknowledge the reserves set for Sliammon by the Indian Commissioner of the time, Malcolm Sproat. He left them as paper reserves to be resurveyed at a later date and possibly adjusted.

In the Sessional Papers (No. 4) from 1880, on page 43, there is a brief notice acknowledging the Dominion of Canada for Mr. G. M. Sproat’s urgent work at Sliammon. This work was necessary to address land matters due to the sale of land by the local (Province of BC) government near their principal village. In this edition of the Sessional Papers, Malcolm Sproat provides a summary of his work over the years and documents his efforts regarding the Sliammon reserves.

By the end of 1880, Israel Powell made no indications of setting the ‘paper reserves’ into a government submission, did not request any immediate survey to confirm Malcolm Sproat’s reserve boundaries, or did he feel their was any immediate action that the Dominion of Canada defined as ‘urgent work at Sliammon, work that was necessary to address land matters due to the sale of land by the local(Province of BC) government near their principal village. Israel Powell walked away from the matters on the coast and concentrated on other matters elsewhere.