In this inter-governmental Memorandum, Sir John A. Macdonald, acting in the dual role of Minister of the Interior and Prime Minister, tries to remedy one of the many grievances homesteaders in the North-West had with the system of land distribution. (Reprinted in the Sessional Papers No. 45, 1886)OFFICE OF DOMINION LANDS, OTTAWA, 14th OCTOBER, 1882.

The undersigned has the honor to report to Council that cases sometimes arise in his Department when, through delays attendant on investigation of claims preferred to homestead entry, the applicants, though decision may be ultimately in their favor, are placed at a disadvantage, in that their occupation and cultivation of the land during the interval between the claim for entry and the decision does not count to them as any part of the term of residence required by the law for their obtaining patent. These cases not being anywhere specially provided for in the Dominion Lands Act, he recommends that, under the provisions of the 125th section of that Act, he be authorized, when finally according homestead entry in such cases, to antedate the entry in such manner as to cover the time after application and before the giving entry during which the applicant may have been a bona fide settler on the land.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN A. MACDONALD, Minister of the Interior.