CO129-307 - Governor Sir Blake - 1901 [10-12] — Page 584

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purely an invention of the Military Authorities; and I admit

that it is a phrase capable of very elastic definition.

The phrase used in the Circular is

Colonial Military Lands and Buildings (vide clause 1 of that

document) and is defined in the same clause as lands the fee

simple of which is vested in the Crown represented by the

Colonial Government but of which the War Department has a

right of perpetual user for purposes of defence, and the

buildings on such lands*.

It is quite plain, therefore, that the

only lands contemplated as being subject to the conditions

of exchange laid down in that Circular are lands commonly

known as War Department lands in which the War Department has

a right of perpetual user for purposes of defence, and that

other lands over which this right of perpetual user does not

extend and which are styled Military Reserve Lands, do not

fall within the scheme of the Marquess of Ripon's Circular.

The only right, therefore, which appertains to the War Department over any land is a right of perpetual user for purposes of defence; but that right does not attach to lands vaguely styled Military Reserve Lands. In

paragraph 4 of my Despatch No. 194 of the 23rd May last,

the word "right" has obviously two meanings. As first used,

it means a concession or licence granted by this Government,

but as used at the end of the paragraph, it means a right

vested in the War Department by the Imperial Government.

This concession or licence is revocable

by the Colonial Government at any moment, and for it the

Colonial

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