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establishments in the very centre of Victoria City constitute
some of "the very best building land in the island and the most
suitable for business purposes". The Naval premises were stated
in Sir Paul Chater's letter of 2nd. May, 1901, enclosed in Sir
1984, Henry Blake's Despatch No. 162 of the 9th. May, 1901, to con-
-prise 22.08 acres, while the Military occupy 84 acres (42.48
acres of which is level land on the sea front). He estimated
the value of the premia only on the Naval Land to be at that
date six million dollars to say nothing of the loss to the
Revenue from Crown Rents and Taxes". That estimate is increased
at the present day to 87,840,800 But the mere value of the
•
land, and the amount of Revenue lost by Rates and Crowm Rent
is as Sir Paul Chater pointed out, the least part of the
sacrifice made by the Colony by the assignment of these lands
(totalling over 100 acres) to the Navy and Army. Their location
in the heart of the City (as pointed out by Sir G. Phillippo'
Commission of 1886) has arrested the natural expansion of the
City eastwards with a consequential congestion in the over-
-populated part of the City lying West of the block occupied by
the Army and Navy and this has formed a permanent handicap to
the natural expansion of the Colony which is as manifest today
as it was in 1886.
ANP19847/01