CO129-370 - Governor Sir Lugard & Public Offices - 1910 [12] — Page 603

595

!

Military Lands and buildings 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 the purpose of defence".

This definition in the opinion of the Army Council

includes the case in dispute, as the position is that

the fee simple of the Spring Gardens property is vested

in the Crown, and that, by waiving the Crown Rent, the

Colonial Government in effect gave this Department the

right of perpetual user of the property. The practical

result is precisely the same as in the case of ordinary

Colonial Military Lands transactions between the War

Department and a Colonial Government, where the latter

lose, for so long as the land is occupied by the War

Department, the rent, either existing or potential,

derivable from the land. The Army Council consider

that the fact that a premium was paid by the War

Department to the previous Crown lessee in no way affects

the position between the Department and the Colonial

Government as regards the Crown Rent.

4. In regard to paragraphs 6 and 7 of the

Governor's despatch, I am to observe that, strictly

speaking, no property can be said to be permanently

required