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If such is not done the Community will be misled into thinking that the land for the Park has been obtained by that amicable agreement which Sir William Gascoigne foreshadowed, and the Unofficial Members of the Legislative Council and the ratepayers of the Colony will complain hereafter when they are asked to vote sums for the purchase of private lands for Military purposes out of the $493,177 standing in the Treasury books to the credit of the War Department or when Crown Land is transferred to the War Department without payment, as stipulated by Ordinance 1 of 1901, (and any such transfer is sure to come to the knowledge of the business men of this Colony sooner or later) that an arrangement contrary to the conditions upon which they consented to the increase in the Military Contribution to 20% of the Revenue exclusive of Land Sales has been made without their knowledge or consent.
I know the Community and the Council will share the view which I hold that it is unreasonable and unjust to put a building value on land which is to be devoted to a Public Park, and I feel sure that the Council will come to the conclusion that the Colony cannot afford to make a Park on such condition especially when it reflects that the cost of laying out the Park has been estimated at $60,000.
But for the reasons I have stated above it would not, in my opinion, be straightforward to leave the Colony in ignorance of the real terms upon which the Park is obtained.
9.
I turn now to other points in your Despatch upon which I most earnestly crave your re-consideration.
For the reasons indicated in Sir Henry Blake's