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5.
fund to meet all possible future liabilities.
In spite of
such approval this transaction has not been included in the
Estimates now before the Council as it is thought prudent to retain this half a million dollars as a sort of nest-egg to
be used in case of a serious fall in the rate of the dollar
or a serious decline in revenue. It should moreover be borne
in mind that this sum is not only a nest-egg but in the nature of a windfall (if the metaphors may be so mixed); that is to
say that no considerable further suns from the same source can
be counted upon for future Budgets.
But apart from these considerations it is I think
justifiable on an occasion like this to take a longer view than the twelve months of 1936. I have already mentioned some of the major Public Works to the completion of which we are at the
moment committed. Most of these will be completed during
1936 and all, so far as can be foreseen, before the end of
1937, The Colony has no doubt many other desirable works which should be undertaken; but if the present depression is to last beyond the next two years it will clearly be necessary to postpone, when the time comes, the inception of any such
large-scale undertakings until the outlook is clearer.
From a slightly different point of view, and still
taking a long view, it is also justifiable to bear in mind that the Colony will within the next few years have at its disposal, mostly as a consequence of the Public Works mentioned, certain
sites of a very high potential value. I refer in particular to the Arsenal Yard, to part of the Victoria Gaol site, to part of the Government Civil Hospital site and to the site of the
present Central British School.
In spite of all this, however, the Government would be