CO129-478 - Public Offices & Others - 1922 — Page 229

!

20 EU

· 1

226

5.

I may take this opportunity to state, with reference to paragraph 6 of the Circular despatch of 1894 quoted above, that the Colony desires to retain the surrendered land only in the sense that it wishes to develop it for the general purposes of the community. The price agreed upon would be final and would not be affected by a future sale by this Goverment of a particular area at a price higher or less than that paid for its surrender,

6.

The Defence Contribution Ordnance, 1901, provides that the percentage paid annually by the Colony is a fixed contribution in full return for the annual cost of the garrison, including all capital expenditure for Military Lands and buildings; and it has been the practice to use the Military Landa Account merely op a record of land transactions between the Colonial Government and the Military Authorities, The principle that the Colonial Government does not maka cash payments in respect of land and buildings by the War Department was affirmed in the Colonial Secretary's letter to the Chief Engineer of the 1st April 1909, a copy of which is attached for convenience of reference, and it was accepted by the Military Authorities, The transactions now proposed are however of a different nature from those which are ordinarily entered in the Military Lands Account, and I am prepared to agree that they should be carried out entirely on a cash basis,

7.

The Military Landa Account shows a debit balance of some- thing over 600,000 against this Government, and I suggest that it should be for the time being closed and that this debit should stand over until the cash transactions are entirely completed.

8.

Under date the 28th September 1921, the War Office informed the Colonial Office that the sum of £114, 317-183-9d was owing to this Government on account of percentage overpaid under the Defence Contribution Ordnané §. I propose that the new cash account shall be opened by the entry of this sum to the credit of this Government, and that, as soon as the Military Authorities are prepared to undertake that certain land will be handed over, the agreed price of that land shall be credited to them. The balance in favour of the Military Authorities will obviously by a large one, and the Colony will be responsible to the extent of the whole of that balance for the reprovisioning of the garrison. For example, taking the value of the land to be handed over at $11,000,000 and deducting $900,000 as the rough equivalent of the refund in respect of defence contributiop the Colony would be under obligation to the extent of 810,100,000 to provide land, the value to be settled by agreement or arbitration, and to construct any new buildings which may be required. When the transactions have been entirely completed and the balance to the credit of the Military Authorities has been exhausted, the cash account will be closed, and the Military Landa Account will be reopened on its present basis.

9.

If the Military Authorities are prepared to proceed on the lines which I have indicated, I would ask that an immediate commencement may be made by the surrender of the Pinewood Battery area. The rate of transfer of this land was 11.059 cents per aquare foot and the Director of Public Works reports that the present day all over value is less than half this sum. I suggest that this Government should accept a debit in the new cash account of the exact sum which was credited to it in the Military Lands Account; the result being that the occupation of the area by the Military Authorities will have been free of charge to them except in respect of money spent on constructional work. The Director of Public Works will of course be glad to discuss with Colonel Davy his figures regarding the valuation of the land.

10.