Consequently, I concur generally with the views set forward in their Memorandum of the 20th of Dec., especially as regards the desirability of pushing to completion all works already begun before entering upon any new works unless absolutely necessary, and also as regards the impropriety of sanctioning and commencing any works before detailed drawings and estimates have been prepared. I agree in the opinion expressed in the concluding portion of this minute as to the importance of consulting the unofficial members before committing the colony to serious expenditure.
Subject to the above remarks and to the remarks contained in my separate despatch as to the increased salaries, I approve the Estimates for the current year.
Page 720
was removed as per the instruction to output in HTML and not include page numbering as a part of the text but it is worth noting the original had "Nee Xnotet cuffed 720" which seems to be OCR error for "Page 720". The correct representation in HTML with "Page 720" as per original context would be:
Page 720
However, to strictly follow the instruction:Nee Xnotet cuffed 720
is not included. The corrected version is directly provided in the two paragraphs above.