I have the honour at the direction 
of the ^ardene Committee to refer you te the 
question of erecting a laboratory in theee 
u strde»s, and to explain that an error in regad 
to it has got into the draft estimate* whereby 
i 
we hare naked for twice aa mu oh as ia needed 
the granting of the 
and it ia understood that the request is being 
withheld 
on as count ox its largeness 
2, Ae to the Estimates, the item wee 
inserted in the Public Works Department** rote 
* 
on sanction given in Cardene* 10766/13, I had asked 
(para 1 section 4 of my letter of December 5th, 
1913) 
for the 
« 
erection 
of 
the Gardens ^aboratoy 
with 
offices underneath, 
as 
proposed ia 
file 
Garden* 4071/16, 
and had 
given reasons 
in para 
5 of 
the same 
letter, 
the 
Colonial Engineer 
had i 
estimated 
the cost 
at 
$40,000, and 
in a 
note 
dated 26th. Teh., 1919 
sanction was 
given 
for the 
entering 
of 
this sum in 
the 
Estimates, without my having the opportunity of 
discovering that the estimate of $40,000 was 
based upon the 
on the first" fVMlQf Architect* s plans, which 
were not approved in their entirety, 
3, The laboratory was proposed by me in 
a letter dated 16th, June, 1914 (file Gardens 
769/14) to be a building erected upon the 
site of the existing Gardens herbarium building 
affording double the room of the herbarium by 
being two storied, the laboratory of necessity 
above, Mr, Wilkinson, then Colonial Secretary, 
however, was not prepared to allow me tc 
