CO129-555-2 Estimates 1936 30-8-1935 - 29-1-1937 — Page 229

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5.

fund to meet all possible future liabilities.

In spite of

such approval this transaction has not been included in the

Estimates now before the Council as it is thought prudent to retain this half a million dollars as a sort of nest-egg to

be used in case of a serious fall in the rate of the dollar

or a serious decline in revenue. It should moreover be borne

in mind that this sum is not only a nest-egg but in the nature of a windfall (if the metaphors may be so mixed); that is to

say that no considerable further suns from the same source can

be counted upon for future Budgets.

But apart from these considerations it is I think

justifiable on an occasion like this to take a longer view than the twelve months of 1936. I have already mentioned some of the major Public Works to the completion of which we are at the

moment committed. Most of these will be completed during

1936 and all, so far as can be foreseen, before the end of

1937, The Colony has no doubt many other desirable works which should be undertaken; but if the present depression is to last beyond the next two years it will clearly be necessary to postpone, when the time comes, the inception of any such

large-scale undertakings until the outlook is clearer.

From a slightly different point of view, and still

taking a long view, it is also justifiable to bear in mind that the Colony will within the next few years have at its disposal, mostly as a consequence of the Public Works mentioned, certain

sites of a very high potential value. I refer in particular to the Arsenal Yard, to part of the Victoria Gaol site, to part of the Government Civil Hospital site and to the site of the

present Central British School.

In spite of all this, however, the Government would be