CO129-073 - Lieut. Governor Caine & Sir Bowring - 1859 [1-5] — Page 321

It is Leverly's estimate of outlay is £25,000 but after this expenditure there may be difficulty in collecting a water rate from the Chinese population who have been in the habit of supplying themselves from the tanks, or the multitudinous streams in the Colony. There is another objection. It has been considered by my successor and that he will take care no sinister private interest shall prevail over or defeat one of the great public good. One of the peculiar difficulties against which this government has to struggle is the enormous influence wielded by the great and opulent Commercial Houses openly arrived against whose power and in some cases personal views it is hard to contend.

The opponents of the Praya reclamation have stated that it is their purpose "to swamp it by devoting the surplus revenue to other and hitherto unauthorized public works" and water works have been prominently put forward for this very object. I doubt not that the question will be maturely considered.

The provisional manner in which the place of Colonial chaplain has been frequently but necessarily filled has been a subject of just complaint from the Bishop.