:
70
The situation in general is as described by
Sir G. Barstow: the two main issues are those of
(1) the valuation of the War Department property
to be surrendered, and (2) the cost of reprovisioning with new accommodation,
thum d.g.
Moon; the use to which the the stalling handle convinced breat
• that land equally
and military pompons
rand in less tothable
K;
Valuation.
The circular of 1894 contains the instructions agreed upon by the Colonial Office, Treasury and War Office to be observed in such cases:
"The free surrender to the Colony of all Colonial Military Lands and Buildings no longer required by His Majesty's Government on the engage- ment by the Colony that, in the event of lands and buildings being required then or in the future for the defence of the Colony, the Colony shall provide an equivalent for the lands and buildings so surrendered, towards the satisfaction of the above mentioned requirements, and to that intent the value of the lands and buildings surrendered shall be ascertained and recorded and any lands and buildings provided out of that value shall be held by His Majesty's Government on the same terms as those
surrendered".
The present War Department properties in question are in the middle of the most valuable commercial quarter in Victoria (H,K)At of course the commercial value of the sites is at present very high, though the General Officer
Commanding states that there is a likelihood, in the opinion of those most competent to judge, of a slump
in