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-release the whole of such particular land on certain condi-
tions.
8. If my conclusions, as stated in paragraphs
3 and 4 of this despatch, are sound, I submit that, immediately
lands now in Military Reservation are either shown or tacitly
admitted to be no longer required to be kept free of build-
ings for purposes of defence, the only right vested in the War
Department, namely, the right to object to the erection of build-
ings prejudicial to the defence of the Colony, is forthwith de-
termined, that the restriction ipso facto ceases to exist and
that the rights of this Government over such land are free
from all curtailment.
9. If this be so, it does not appear to be
either reasonable or lawful for the Military Authorities to
treat the land as their own property by seeking to bargain it
for other land or by seeking to impose conditions when it is
released from the restriction placed upon it in their favour
and at their request with the consent of this Government. If
land once thus tied need no longer be so tied, it clearly re-
verts to this Government absolutely: if the purposes of defence
require that this land should still he subject to the restric-
tion, the action of the Military Authorities in releasing it
seems to be dangerous to the defence of the Colony. In neither
alternative are the Military Authorities, in my opinion, justi- fied either in trying to set off such land against fresh land to be acquired or in endeavouring to impose conditions when
such