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Revenue, £31,078, leaves £19,881 to be defrayed from the Parliamentary grant. It should be added that the expenditure for Public works £15,880 is of a temporary nature only, and being deducted from £19,881, leaves a balance of only £4,001 beyond the Revenue.

Public Works..

Almost all these works are either completed, or in rapid progress, with the exception of a Government House, not yet commenced. A good road of twenty-four miles now completes the circuit of the Island, much of it cut through granite rocks, at a total cost of about £20,000. There Military posts at an average distance of six miles from each other, and the facilities and security which all these works afford have produced a marked effect on the population of the Island.

The handsome Colonial Church is in a state of rapid progress; as well as the Public offices, intended to concentrate the principal Civil Departments, and to include the Treasury and Records. A substantial Court of Justice and Commissioners Court House, at a cost of £5,000, does away with the payment of £175 annual rent for a temporary building.

The usual General reports from the Surveyor on the Public works during 1847, and on the progress of his Department, are annexed to the Blue Book.

Military Expenditure.

In the return made to me of the Military expenditure of the last year, I am glad to see a reduction, as compared with the preceding year of about £26,000. The principal Military works have been an extensive cutting for the parade ground, considerable buildings for ordnance stores, and the commencement of a main guard House.

Legislation.

Among the Ordinances which have been...

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