charged to that fund, and special expenditure again becoming necessary thereafter, for strengthening the police force, &c., and in view of the possibility of further clamour arising. I wish the fund to be preserved intact for the repression of occasional emergencies.
I think it important that the fund should not be accumulated without the sanction of H.E. the Government, and that it should be more strictly applicable.
The necessary provision for education should, as in other Colonies, be defrayed from ordinary Revenue, and I shall gladly consider any scheme for the Collegiate School, to which it stands appropriated.
I hope that on further enquiry it will be found that while the bulk of the Gambling Fund is invested at 5%, a sum of $40,000 is placed with the Mercantile Bank at 4%. I am disposed to think that in all the circumstances of the case a moderate rate of interest, and perhaps the rate of 5% in the Chartered Mercantile Bank, might be obtained for the $40,000 deposit, subject to two days' demand, and with some good reason might be withdrawn because that Bank may be unacquainted with the fact that a return for a longer specified time would account for a higher interest.
I perceive that in the development of school accommodation, care should be taken to utilise the different buildings contemplated. As stated in Mr. MacDonnell's despatch, the whole amount is to be applied.
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