KAKAS
granted upon the payment
of a license fee calculated at the rate
of Dollars One hundred ($100.) per annum, for the period over
159 which the experiments lasted. These
Lester 12 Aug. 1880
Letter 19 Aug. 1880
were completed in about two months and the purchase of the property having
been concluded by us, we on the 12th August 1880 wrote to the Acting Colonial Secretary
applying for a license to carry on our operations there.
C.S.O. X1033 19 Aug. 1880
On 19th August having received no reply to our application, we ventured
to request that it might receive the Governor's early attention. On the
same day, the Acting Colonial Secretary informed us that it was under consideration. On the next day, we pressed the matter again and, on the 24th of the month, we were, by direction of His Excellency, informed that a new license would be granted, subject to the payment of a fee of $2000. for the ensuing twelve months, as fixed by the Governor in Council.
The Governor's decision to increase the fee twenty times over, thus curtly expressed, took us completely by surprise; nor has that surprise been lessened by His Excellency's subsequent refusal to reconsider the matter on the ground that...