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1. The strength of the garrison requisite for the defence of the Colony.
2. On the constitution of the force, bearing in mind that it is most desirable that the regular forces should not be increased if any other arrangement is possible.
3. Whether a trustworthy auxiliary force can be raised within the Colony to aid the garrison in the defence; and, if so-
4. What should be its constitution, and whether it should be permanently embodied, or should be of the nature of militia, to be trained in the first instance, and afterwards called out periodically.
5. The part such force should take in the defence.
6. The method of training the force, and the amount of assistance to be rendered by the garrison in training it.
7. The provision of officers, and whether, in the event of the force being constituted as militia, they could be procured on the spot.
Colonel Stanley is of opinion that the consideration of this question should, in addition to infantry and artillery, include a small corps to assist the Royal Engineers in laying out the submarine mines which have been sent out to aid in the defence; and he would be glad to be furnished with a Report, in detail, on all these points, and with estimates of the cost which might attend the raising of any force the Committee may recommend.
No. 4.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
RALPH THOMPSON.
(Confidential.) Sir,
War Office to Colonial Office.
Pall Mall, January 16, 1879.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for War to transmit the accompanying copy of a Confidential Memorandum by General Sir Lintorn Simmons, G.C.B., Inspector-General of Fortifications, on the general question of the defences of the Colonies and of the com- mercial ports of the United Kingdom, and to suggest, for the concurrence of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, that a small Committee should be appointed to consider the first of these subjects, and to report as to the means for converting the temporary defences, or adding to them so as to convert them, into permanent defences for the more important Colonial ports, as also the measures to be adopted for providing adequate garrisons and other accessories for them.
Colonel Stanley proposes that Sir Lintorn Simmons and Sir A. Milne should be members of this Committee, together with a representative of Colonial interests, who might perhaps be changed, if desirable, from time to time, as the defences of the various Colonies come under review.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
RALPH THOMPSON.
}
Inclosure in No. 4.
COLONIAL DEFENCES.
A RECOMMENDATION having been made by the Governor of Trinidad that a store of rifles and ammunition should be kept at Barbados, to be available for arming militia and volunteers in the several West India Islands, and similar suggestions having been received from other Colonies, the Inspector-General of Fortifications was requested by the Secretary of State for War to draw up a Memorandum (which follows) upon the general question of the Defences of the Colonies, and of the commercial ports of the United Kingdom.
(Confidential.)
Memorandum by Inspector-General of Fortifications.
The principle involved in the application of the Governor of Trinidad is one of very grave importance, and will have to be considered as part of the general question of the defence of the Colonies.
Under the pressure which existed when the Colonial Defence Committee made their recommendation on the 26th June, there could be no question as to the right thing to be
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