n
made on the Burnside property. The buildings and fences were rapidly
falling into decay; the neighbours were complaining that the fences of
Burnside had disappeared and that through the property cattle wandered
at will to their lands and gardens, and the farmer who had leased the
premises "on the halves" had neither the money nor the inclination to
effect a remedy. There was also a demand for streets or roads through
the estate. The Governors had no money at their disposal; they must beg
every cent expended from the Royal Institution. The situation was
incongruous. On December 17th, 1836, Principal Bethune wrote to the
Secretary of the Board informing him that "there is a demand on the part
of the neighbours for fences, which on a close inspection are found to
be unserviceable with the exception of 170 cedar rails or rather logs
which will serve by being split into two for rails." The neighbours, he
said, preferred "a fence 10 feet high, but they will be satisfied with
one 6 feet high." He also advised that the Royal Institution should join
in the proposal of one of the neighbours, Phillips (who is remembered in
the present "Phillips Square"), "a man difficult to deal with if
thwarted by delay," for opening streets through the estate of Burnside.

As a result of this appeal the Board granted L75 to be expended on the
buildings and fences. The expenditure of this sum created further
friction between the Governors and the Board. The latter body was not
informed until February, 1837, of the Governors' decision at their
meeting on November 14, 1836, to put Burnside House and premises into
the occupation and charge of the Principal of the College. When they
received the information they wrote to the Principal asking him what use
he intended to make of the estate. The Principal in his reply questioned
the authority of the Board, and said: "With regard to the use intended
to be made by the Governors of the House, the Governors do not conceive
themselves in any way accountable to the Board in this respect ... yet
they feel no objection to communicating it for the information of the
Board." To this letter the Secretary of the Board replied: "The Board
was only originally induced to make the grant of L75 on the 14th of
November last, for the repairing of the Burnside House and fences in the
expectation that the same would be made tenantable and be let to the
advantage of the Trust, and have learned with much dissatisfaction that