which is equal to a rate of $8.37 per square foot. Therefore, the Government pays for these 16,000 square feet the sum $6,257 (the difference between $345,787 and $339,530), besides giving up another 6,000 square feet. Or, to put it in another way, it pays only $6.257 for 10,000 square feet, the difference between 16,000 and 6,000 square feet. These 10,000 square feet at $7, the price paid to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, would be worth $70,000, and at $8.37, the price paid to Government by Mr Chater, they would be worth $83,700.
It will no doubt be asked why Mr Chater can find it in his interest to buy from Government a portion of this ground at a rate much higher than that which Government has paid. The reason is that the Government has undertaken to open streets on the Western and