CO129-318 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [7-10] — Page 314

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Anchorage marked upon it. It will be observed that those

boundaries overlap the foreshore beyond the limits of the

Dockyard and Military Establishments the one ending at

Murray Pier on the West, the other at Arsenal Street on the

Fast. On either side of those points are sites of great value

where Junks moor and discharge their cargo. The value of the

sites from Messrs. Butterfield and Swire's to the Westward

is at least $20 per Square foot, and those East of Arsenal

Street may be taken at half that value. Messrs. Butterfield

and Swire's Buildings next to Murray Pier are used as Godowns,

and all might be used for that purpose. We cannot confiscate

those rights without compensation that will probably run into

hundreds of thousands of dollars. These boundaries were laid

down before the Praya Extension, and that small craft were

not prevented, by the devotion of a certain portion of the

Harbour to the purposes of Anchorage of Warships, from anchor-

ing near the foreshore is clear. Had the Naval Authorities

been conceded rights over the shallow waters near the shore

the Western Praya Extension could not have been carried out

without the previous consent of the Lords Commissioners of

the Admiralty and there is no record that such consent was ever

sought, or suggested, or claimed as a condition precedent by

the Naval Authorities.

5.

This correspondence began by a demand that

the moorings of Sir Paul Chater's Stean-launch should be re-

moved from a position Westward of Murray Pier, which is out-

side the Westermost Extension of the Dockyard, to make room

for some lighters of the Dockyard Contractors who, on the refusal

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