Magazine wither the advantage to the Colony of the great public improvement projected nor the prospect of an increase; however Material to the Colonial revenues by the sale and rental of valuable building ground imported into the question; the conditions suggested by Colonel Moggridge as opposed to those laid down by General Brunker and Colonel W. Bullets are analysed upon their own intrinsic merits, and the remarks which follow may apply equally well to any Magazine, whether or not debarring the realization of any important improvement.
13.
Apart from risks from within due to the careless handling of Guns, Cartridges &c, the dangers from without to which a powder store is exposed are of two kinds, that is, danger from accidental fire and danger from incendiarism. As regards the first it is noted that there are to be no buildings of any agreed kind in the vicinity and therefore the only accidental risks to be provided against would be those arising from the incautious lighting of Matches by passers by, from the throwing of lighted Cigar ends or Cigarettes, or the knocking out of burning Ashes from a pipe or any similar act of thoughtlessness likely to occur on a public suburban road. But against these it seems almost impossible for the most cautious and prudent mind not to concur in the protections determined by General Brunker and Colonel W. Bullets. In addition to the usual sentries, they provided that the road was to be removed twenty feet from the outer edge of the enclosure yard in which the Magazine stands and therefore fifty feet from the Magazine itself, and not only the Building itself, but the compound encircling it to be screened off from the public view by a Masonry wall running along the edge of the new road and of a height as lofty as the Commanding Royal Engineer thought fit to prescribe. Adhering to these conditions the safeguards interposing between the powder and a person standing over the road would be the following, First the Magazine Wall itself which is, I understand, of granite Ashlar 18 inches thick, supporting...
Page 431