8
9°
AS
them had become either insolvent, or abandonment of their purchases, many of so that to press the Government claims would have led to their absconding or becoming insolvent, in which case the money already expended on the Sea Wall would have been wholly lost, and it must have been continued entirely at the cost of the Government, itself almost insolvent at the time.
12. These were the leading points in the case when on the 14th February last I received a petition from the tenants of the Marine Lots praying for a reduction of their rent to one fourth of its present scale, and if that request could not be complied with that the Government should accept the surrender of all the Lots both Inland and Marine, and should then proceed to reclaim and fill them in, constructing the Sea Wall at the expense of the colony. When all this was done the petitioners suggested that the lots should be resold and the proceeds of the sale devoted to repaying the present tenants the value of all buildings then erected and of all outlay incurred on the sea wall, and to reimburse the Government for its outlay, to repay the tenants all rents previously paid with eight percent interest on their outlay.
13. I doubt if it be possible to imagine a more extraordinary request preferred to