CO129-305 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [5-7] — Page 157

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-release the whole of such particular land on certain condi-

tions.

8. If my conclusions, as stated in paragraphs

3 and 4 of this despatch, are sound, I submit that, immediately

lands now in Military Reservation are either shown or tacitly

admitted to be no longer required to be kept free of build-

ings for purposes of defence, the only right vested in the War

Department, namely, the right to object to the erection of build-

ings prejudicial to the defence of the Colony, is forthwith de-

termined, that the restriction ipso facto ceases to exist and

that the rights of this Government over such land are free

from all curtailment.

9. If this be so, it does not appear to be

either reasonable or lawful for the Military Authorities to

treat the land as their own property by seeking to bargain it

for other land or by seeking to impose conditions when it is

released from the restriction placed upon it in their favour

and at their request with the consent of this Government. If

land once thus tied need no longer be so tied, it clearly re-

verts to this Government absolutely: if the purposes of defence

require that this land should still he subject to the restric-

tion, the action of the Military Authorities in releasing it

seems to be dangerous to the defence of the Colony. In neither

alternative are the Military Authorities, in my opinion, justi- fied either in trying to set off such land against fresh land to be acquired or in endeavouring to impose conditions when

such