CO129-388 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1912 [1-2] — Page 132

OOP Y.

sir.

با سم

Land Office,

Supreme Court, 19. FEB 1

6th. November, 1911.

I have the honour to call your attention to the question of the tenure of land in this Colony by the War Department and to one or two points concerning it which have struck me as being vague and indefinite.

1.

Colonel Lewis in his Lemorandum dealing with the land question between the Colonial Government and the War Office says at paragraph 2 thereof:-

*The solution of the problem would be much "facilitated by the recognition of the fact that the War Depart- "ment requirements with respect to land are of two natures.

"It may be wished to exclude the public entirely, *as in the case of a battery and the land close around it: or it *may be wished to have the limited use of certain lands, not "entirely excluding the public from them, as in the use of "training grounds, clearance areas for guns to fire over, rifle "ranges and such like.

*Land in the first category must belong entirely

"to the War Department and Surrenders and exchanges must be "governed by Colonial Office Circulars of 1690 and 1894 on the "disposal of Colonial Military Crown Lands.

*Land in the Second category might be held on a *nominal rental by the War Department, tae Colonial Government "engaging to keep it clear of Buildings and any other obstruct- *ions not approved by the War Department, and the War Department "having power, where the Conditions require it, of improving

communications, putting up rifle butts and such like but not "acquiring any vested interest in the land.".

2.

I have quoted Colonel Lewis verbatim because all War Department rights in this Colony come within one of the two

categories