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time to time their preparation in the hope that each succeeding tail would bring me the decision of Her Majesty's Government as to the maintenance of the Mint, and the funds from which, if that establishment was to be maintained, the expenses were to be supplied for its support.
4. I likewise wished to ascertain whether it was the reasonable intention of Her Majesty's Government to remit any portion of the Military Contribution. It had occurred to me that as the expectations which induced Her Majesty's Government to establish a Mint here had hitherto been disappointed, and as unexpectedly a very large proportion of the Colonial capital and income had been sunk in that project, which may be said to have been carried out entirely by Her Majesty's Government, it was probable that the opportunity might be availed of to abate somewhat the demands made on the Colony for the Military Contribution, till the Stamp Ordinance at least had been passed.
I therefore thought it possible that the remission of one year's Military Contribution from the end of last September to the end