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the Surveyor General to take charge of the land in question.
As the respective officers of Ordnance had held this land on behalf of the Naval Service, I thought it right to advise them of the resumption which I had ordered under the instructions conveyed in the Despatch above quoted. The enclosed Correspondence resulted.
The requisition made by the Ordnance is most unreasonable, and they are quite unable to show that this extensive space is necessary for Military purposes.
The Circular battery alluded to in Colonial Secretary's letter of 6th instant is small, dismantled and of no importance - Indeed I am informed that it was only recently that the Commanding Royal Engineers was aware of the existence of such a work.
I have directed the Surveyor General to mark, on the plan enclosed in the respective Officers' letter of 6th instant, the lot of ground to which the Colonial Secretary refers in his, No. 21 of instant. It will be seen that this property interferes with the proposed appropriation by the Ordnance. It was leased by Sir George Bonham to Mr. James Stephenson in 1851.
I trust Her Majesty's Government will approve of my refusal to permit the Ordnance Department to obtain a very large piece of most valuable ground which they are not even...