2
be
tvas
that
opposing the sum of £4600
a mistake in
fixed upon in the Ordinance
04
double the
amount at that time subscribed by the
Community, for the Surveyor General's statement, Major Caine's letter, it appears that
enclosed in
only
£1861.7
· 7.1 was
then paid
into the
Treasury, considerably less than their proportion
of
that sum, and this is further shown by the proviso at the end of Section 1 of the Ordinance
but I would submit that this sum
itself; of £4600
£4,600 was named, as of the
was named, as about two-thirds
erroneous Estimate of Mr. Gordon, then Surveyor General; the Government, as originally agreed upon, throwing the responsibility of
the remaining
though
third
upon
the community,
not then subscribed. We are bound to
admit the perfect fairness of this arrangement
at the time, Sir John
Davis
having been
misled by Mr. Gordon's Estimate, the extreme
inaccuracy of which
we
explained in our
former letter, and there seems no reason to
249
doubt, that, had a correct estimate been given at that time, the limit would have been fixed at £6000, instead of £4600; indeed, there
would have been
no reason
for departing from
original agreement, for, protected by the
proviso
in Section 1, that no issue
was to be
made from the Treasury
till
one-
third of the
whole estimated cost was raised by subscription
and
lodged in the treasury, Government would have been as safe in leaving
the
Community
to make up £3000, their proportion of
£9,000, as they
were in
leaving them to supply the deficiency from £2300, their proportion of £6900, and it is reasonable to suppose
the community, who, under many
unfavourable circumstances,
have since
contributed upwards of £3000,
would
have done so at an earlier period, had it
been
required of them. By
the statement, it
would seem that, in March 1847,
the sum
of £110. 12.6 was collected in the Church,