443
Department with the capitalized value of the Crown Rent,
when reimposed, would cause a diminution of the said
defence fund and thus contravene paragraph 3 of the
Circular of the 30th. December, 1894, which requires that
the integrity of the fund should be preserved in kind or
value. The fallacy in this argument is the use of the word
"permanent" for the waiver of the Crown Rent of £150 by
the Colony was expressly declared at the time to be
temporary and conditional on the lot remaining the property
of the War Department. The rental of £150 per annum is
not therefore to be regarded as a permanent contribution
but as a temporary augmentation of the defence fund.
8.
But I entirely demur to the view
that the defence fund of the Colony included in 1894 the
こ
Crown Rent of Spring Gardens: that Crown Rent was waived
by the Colonial Government under a clearly defined condi-
-tion: and, as the Circulars of 1890 and 1894 make no
provision for such a case as that of Spring Gardens, the
Colonial Goverment objects to new conditions being now
read into the agreement made in 1859 respecting it.
I regret therefore that I am un-
-able to agree in the view of the Army Council and that I
must in justice to the Colony adhere to the terms of my
Despatch