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21764
purely an invention of the Military Authorities; and I admit
that it is a phrase capable of very elastic definition.
The phrase used in the Circular is
Colonial Military Lands and Buildings (vide clause 1 of that
document) and is defined in the same clause as lands the fee
simple of which is vested in the Crown represented by the
Colonial Government but of which the War Department has a
right of perpetual user for purposes of defence, and the
buildings on such lands*.
It is quite plain, therefore, that the
only lands contemplated as being subject to the conditions
of exchange laid down in that Circular are lands commonly
known as War Department lands in which the War Department has
a right of perpetual user for purposes of defence, and that
other lands over which this right of perpetual user does not
extend and which are styled Military Reserve Lands, do not
fall within the scheme of the Marquess of Ripon's Circular.
The only right, therefore, which appertains to the War Department over any land is a right of perpetual user for purposes of defence; but that right does not attach to lands vaguely styled Military Reserve Lands. In
paragraph 4 of my Despatch No. 194 of the 23rd May last,
the word "right" has obviously two meanings. As first used,
it means a concession or licence granted by this Government,
but as used at the end of the paragraph, it means a right
vested in the War Department by the Imperial Government.
This concession or licence is revocable
by the Colonial Government at any moment, and for it the
Colonial
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