With respect to your enquiry whether the Secretary of State for War would be prepared to accept the offer of the Colonial Government to purchase a certain portion of North Barracks @ $3 per foot, observe that, in paragraph 6 of Sir W. Des Vœux's Despatch before alluded to, $3 per foot is stated to be a very low computation of the value of the land to be reclaimed in front of the Naval Yard, and that Mr. Secretary Stanhope has reason to believe that the portion of North Barracks alluded to is worth much more.
I am to add that a valuation of the property proposed to be disposed of is now being made, and on its receipt, a further communication will be addressed