31 04:
Par. 1.
Pars. 2, 3, 4.
Pars. 5 & 6.
217
(b)
Besides the men dislodged from North Barracks we have to find quarters for 11 Officers and 300 men—a voted increase to the Royal Artillery at this Station—provide (under the Barrack scheme already approved of) married quarters for a large number of families. And were it not for the accommodation afforded by the Hotel, we would be at our wits' end to find healthy sites for these buildings convenient for everyday life and for tactical requirements.
(c) The acquisition of Mount Austin will enable us more speedily to get the Asiatic Artillery out of the unsuitable and unsalubrious MacGregor Godowns and enables us to give the men of the garrison a change from the moist hot-house air of the lower levels.
I add short replies to such of the numbered paragraphs of the Petition put forward by some of the European and American inhabitants as seem to call for remark.
The principal petitioners are the dwellers in the Hotel, and many ladies have signed the Petition in addition to their husbands, thus swelling the list.
The signatories do not represent the general feeling in the Colony.
These paragraphs justify our giving the soldiers a change to this cooler air. I know of no other site where 400 soldiers could be quartered on the hill.
Within 200 yards of the Mount Austin Hotel is the Peak Hotel, now containing accommodation for 80 guests. A wing is to be added containing more bed rooms.