C.N. Senior writes from the Department of National Defence to A. Wells Gray, Provincial Minister of Lands, concerning the acquisition by “Japanese interests” of natural resource sites in British Columbia. Given the sensitivity of the subject matter, the Minister of National Defence, Ian Mackenzie, requests that Gray surreptitiously gather information on this subject from other Provincial departments. The acquisitions of particular interest were: 1. mining rights for magnetite ore on Haida Gwaii; 2. 46 square miles of forest land near Port McNeil, Vancouver Island; 3. forest land primarily of Sitka on Louise Island; 4. “sale of 250,000,000 feet of timber limits” in Cowichan Valley; 5. And Mitsui Bishi’s, of Japan, purported interest in copper concentrates from Trail and Granby smelters and “the entire nickel output” of B.C. Nickel Mines.