2
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3.
But apart from this consideration it seems
to me unthinkable, and in this I have the concurrence
of my Executive Council, that there should be any
prospect of failure in the case of an institution
which by its very name represents the Colony's
communal recognition of the sacrifices made in the
Great War.
The representatives of the War Memorial
Nursing Home have claimed Government assistance on
various pleas which I do not consider to be well-
founded. A considerable amount of the money
originally subscribed for the memorial was lost in
the preparation of a site, subsequently judged by
the Committee to be unsuitable and therefore
abandoned. That site reverted to Government, and
still remains undeveloped. On the other hand, in
order to provide more convenient access to the
present site, hospital funds were used to widen and
make suitable for motor traffic a portion of Mount
Kellett Road. The hospital management has sought
from Government reimbursement of at least one-half
of the cost of this road preparation, as the road
as so widened has become available to motor traffic
generally. To give compensation to the hospital
for its expenditure on these grounds would involve
acceptance of a principle with probably far-reaching
and expensive consequences, and I have therefore
seen fit to refuse to consider this claim, in which
attitude my Executive Council unanimously agrees.
5. The general question was considered,
therefore, at a meeting of the Executive Council
52