C. O.
29323
Minute by Major-General Gascoigne.
542
Your Excellency,
!
I do not know that I have anything to add to my previous remarks.
It is a matter of regret to me that the first opinion I was called upon to express officially after my arrival in the Colony should be unfavourable to a scheme which it appeared was desired by a large number of residents.
There can be no question whatever that the making of this road would now be a source of weakness in a defensive sense, not rather the reverse.
It would be an increase of anxiety, and would probably necessitate some alteration in the scheme of defence.
Therefore any military Commander, if asked whether he preferred that the road should or should not be made, would be bound to reply that he preferred that it should not be.
At the same time if Your Excellency informed me that to make this road would satisfy a great and pressing need for the Colony generally I should consider