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lenoy said he hoped that the troublesome question of the Reser- vation Ordinance would never be revived, and he trusted that
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I should not, as Chief Justice, be the person to revive it. As the question of buying the house when Mountain Lodge was builty had been mentioned,I mooted the question of anking it the official residence of the Chief Justice: and His Excellency replied that he would not be surprised if something of that sort were the result of the present difficulty. I said it would be certainly a satisfactory outcome of it. I said I should destroy the letter I had written, which I did without showing it to Sir F. Lugard.
16. On the following day I replied officially to His Excellency's letter above referred to, pointing out however that for the reasons indicated in our conversation in my view the action taken by the Government was illegal. I have not a copy of the letter on the file, but His Excellency answered that the mattery to which I had referred, one of which was the ques- tion of making the house the official Residence of the Chief Justice, would receive his best consideration.
17. After I returned from leave, I wrote to enquire if His Excellency had arrived at any conclusion on the subject of the Chief Justice's Official Residence. The reply pointed out a variety of reasons why it could not be considered. The price of the property was also referred to as being too high. Neither then nor at any other time since has the agent been approached to ascertain what the price of the house would be supposing the owners were willing to sell. I had discussed the matter private- ly with the agent and it appeared not impossible that a pur- chase might be effected of the house independently of the Cliff Garden. The lease of that part of the property being for about 900 years is considered by the owner as exceedingly valuable, ar he might decide at any time to build a terrace of houses on it. The high price which it is rumoured would be asked for
The Eyrie" depends mainly on the inclusion of this garden.