278 



After discussion the Board unanimously resolved "That 

 the minute of Mr. Olivier be entered in full in the minutes 

 and that the Board records its conviction that in the 

 action which Mr. Olivier took as Chairman of this Board 

 he believed that he was carrying out the wishes and in- 

 tentions of the Board and that the Board is satisfied that 

 there was no discourtesy in the matter on the part of Mr. 

 Olivier. 

 2. Resolved that a copy of Mr. Olivier's letter and of the 

 minute of the Board thereon be sent to those gentlemen 

 who resigned their position as members of that Board in 

 consequence of the action taken by the Government in 

 the Locked Still Experiment at Denbigh." 



The following is Mr. Olivier's minute referred to : — 



" I have had an opportunity of perusing some extracts from the 

 minutes of the meeting of the Jamaica Board of Agriculture, held 

 on the nth of October, 1904, and copies of official minutes and 

 correspondence connected with the expenditure for installing a 

 locked still at Denbigh. I observe that the Board have recorded 

 that this matter had been dealt with by the late Acting Governor 

 in the exercise of his own power and that the Board did not desire 

 to carry through the matter. I have learnt that on the 1st 

 November a vote for an expenditure of £250 for this purpose was 

 proposed to the Board, and that, on its being carried, three members 

 resigned. There has been some misunderstanding with regard to 

 my action in this matter the nature of which it is not difficult to 

 explain, and I am desirous that the Board should be assured that 

 I had no intention of ignoring in any way their authority. 



" The expenditure which I authorised in this connection was for 

 the purchase of a Spirit Safe for a locked still which was ordered 

 through the Crown Agents for the Colonies by letter dated 1 8th 

 August, 1904, and which cost altogether £30 15s. 4d. I regarded 

 this order as being within the authority given by the Board in the 

 approved vote of £1,000 for appliances on estates, &c., which I 

 had always understood, and, rightly or wrongly, believed that 

 the Board understood, as contemplating provision for locked-still 

 experiments. 



" On the 26th August I authorised a proposal submitted by the 

 Island Chemist that the Public Words Department should be re- 

 quested to prepare the plans and estimates for alteration at Denbigh 

 Estate for a special lock-still at a cost of £220 to £250, and di- 

 rected that Mr. Cousins' minute should be circulated to the Board 

 of Agriculture. I did not authorise any works, or intend to 

 authorise any until the plans and estimates had been received, but 

 it appears that the minutes were understood in the Colonial 

 Secretary's Office as approving of the commencement of work at 

 Denbigh, and that, after I left the Island, work was done under 

 this presumed authority. 



" I understood from what passed at the meeting of the Board of 

 the isthof September, after I had myself left the chair, that they 



