- 2 -
11
informed me that Sir Andrew Caldecott had expressed to him the view that, having regard to the purpose for which the mainland area was required, any transfer of the land to the War Department should be free apart from necessary cash expenditure incurred by the Government in preparing the site: acting on this precedent, Major General Bartholomew asked me to take a similar view in regard to the transfer
above-mentioned.
4. The site on the mainland, which is the subject of this despatch, has an area of 584,875 square feet and is valued for purposes of entry in the Military Lands Account at $502,500. So far as can be discovered there
is no precedent for the free grant of land to the War Department and, in fact, such grants would appear to be contrary to the intention of the rules governing the disposal of Colonial Military Lands which were set out in Lord Knutsford's circular despatch of 9th June, 1890, and re-affirmed in Lord Ripon's circular despatch dated 30th
December, 1894.
5.
In these circumstances and in view of the fact
that no documentary record of Sir Andrew Caldecott's offer
can be traced, I feel that I should not be justified in
making such a free grant without your permission and at
the same time obtaining from Sir Andrew Caldecott confirmation
that he did actually intend to offer this land to the War
Department on these terms.
6. I have accordingly written to Sir Andrew Caldecott
asking him to inform me of his recollection of this matter.
I have enclosed a copy of this despatch and have requested
Sir Andrew Caldecott to forward to you a copy of his reply.
I need hardly make it plain that in taking this
action I have no intention of calling in question the good