886
3.
537
13.
As you will gather from the Resolution already quoted, the construction of the Road was to be carried out by the Government, the cost of it being defrayed as far as possible from the moneys collected and the Government undertaking not only to complete that section but to carry out by degrees other sections until a good road was constructed encircling the greater portion of the Island.
14. Under these circumstances, the Committee left it to the Government to take whatever steps they considered necessary towards carrying out the Road portion of the scheme. The matter was allowed to remain in abeyance until the arrival of Mr. Ormsby, who had been appointed to succeed Mr. Coope as Director of Public Works. A survey of the entire route was then undertaken, under Mr. Ormsby's direction, and in August, 1898, that gentleman's Report was forwarded for the Committee's consideration.
15. In his Report the following passage occurs:-
"I am strongly in favour of first constructing the Road between Shaukiwan and Aberdeen and so completing a carriage road round the Island, leaving the construction of the section round Mount Davis (i.e. from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen) for future consideration."
16. That was the first intimation which the Committee received of any proposal to deviate from the scheme which had been decided upon in April 1897, 16 months previously.
17. The Committee wish here to point out that Mr. Ormsby had then only been 10 months in the Colony and on the strength of that comparatively brief sojourn he proposed to upset a scheme which had been prepared by the Jubilee Committee, of which his predecessor, Mr. Coope, was a member, and had received the approval of His Excellency the Governor, Sir Wm. Robinson, and of yourself as Secretary of State. All the members of the Committee are men of standing and many of them have spent much of their lives in the Colony.
18. The Committee, after considering Mr. Ormsby's Report, informed the Government that they considered themselves bound by Resolution No. 3, which I have already quoted in full, and did not therefore consider that they had the power to extend the money collected on any other section of the road than that between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen.
19
Page 540
Page 541
886
3.
537
13.
As you will gather from the Resolution already quoted, the construc- tion of the Road was to be carried out by the Government, the cost of it being defrayed as far as possible from the moneys collected and the Govern- ment undertaking not only to complete that section but to carry out by degrees other sections until a good road was constructed encircling the greater portion of the Island.
14. Under these circumstances, the Committee left it to the Government to take whatever steps they considered necessary towards carrying out the Road portion of the scheme. The matter was allowed to remain in abeyance until the arrival of Mr. Orushy, who had been appointed to succeed Mr. Coope as Director of Public Works. A survey of the entire route was then under- taken, under Mr. Ormsby's direction, and in August, 1898, that gentleman's Report was forwarded for the Committee's consideration.
15. In his Report the following passage occurs:-
"I am strongly in favour of first constructing the Road between Shaukiwa
" and Aberdeen and so completing a carriage road round the Island, leaving "the construction of the section round Mount Davis ( i.e. from Kennedy "Town to Aberdeen) for future consideration."
www
16. That was the first intimation which the Committee received of any proposal to deviate from the scheme which had been decided upon in April -1897, 16 months previously.
-17. The Committee wish here to point out that Mr.Ormsby had then only been 10 months in the Colony and on the strength of that comparatively bri sojourn he proposed to upset a scheme which had been prepared by the Jubil Committee, of which his predecessor, "Mr. Cooper, was a member) and had received the approval of His Excellency the Governor, Sir Wm. Robinson, and of yourself as-Secretary of State. All the members of the Committee are me of standing and many of then have spent much of their lives in the Colony. .18. The Committee, after considering Mr. Ormsby's Report, informed the Government that they considered themselves bound by Resolution No: 3, which I have already quoted in full, and did not therefore consider that they he
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power to extend the money collected on any other section of the road than that between Kennedy Town and "Aberdeen.
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Page 540Page 541
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