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Appendix No. 4.
CAPE OF GGOD HOPE.
Sir,
94
No. 28.
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, April 17, 1880. IN continuation of the letter from this Department of the 31st March,* I am directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Commissioners on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, printed copies of a further despatch from the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, inclosing a Minute from his Ministers on the Reports and Estimates drawn up by the military members of the local Commission on the defence of that Colony.
I am, &c. (Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON.
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Inclosure 1 in No. 28.
Governor Sir Bartle Frere to Sir M. Hicks Beach.
(Secret.) Sir,
Government House, Cape Town, March 9, 1880. REFERRING to my despatch, Secret, of the 2nd instant,† on the subject of the Defence Commis- sion, whose proceedings formed the inclosure of that despatch, I have the honour now to forward, for the information of Her Majesty's Government, a Minute from my Ministers on the Reports and Esti- mates drawn up by the military members of the Commission.
I have, &c.
Inclosure 2 in No. 28.
Minute.
(Signed)
H. B. E. FRERE.
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Colonial Secretary's Office, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, February, 28, 1880.
IN returning herewith the Reports and Estimates framed by the Military Commission on Defences for Cape Peninsula, forwarded under his Excellency's Minute of the 14th instant, Ministers are unable to express any opinion upon the sufficiency or otherwise of the defences proposed, nor is there any officer of the colonial forces to whom the Report of the Commissioners could with propriety be referred, whose opinion would be of any value as compared with that of the distinguished officers composing the Commission.
Ministers would, however, remark that, bearing in mind the fact that the defence of the Penin- sula is regarded by Her Majesty's Government as an Imperial question, the number of men proposed by the Commission to be furnished by the Colonial Government is somewhat excessive, and they would submit that more equitable arrangement would be secured if the numbers supplied by each Government were equal, the colonial forces to consist of volunteers.
J. GORDON SPRIGG.
(Signed)
No. 29.
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, July 22, 1880.
Sir,
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Defence Commission, a copy of a despatch from the Governor of the Cape Colony, and of a letter from this Department to the War Office on the subject of the garrison of Cape Town.
I am, &c.
(Signed) ROBERT G. W. HERBERT.
Inclosure 1 in No. 29.
Governor Sir Bartle Frere to the Earl of Kimberley.
(Confidential.) My Lord,
Government House, Cape Town, June 8, 1880.
IN continuation of my despatch of this date I have the honour to beg the early attention of Her Majesty's Government to the general question of the permanent garrison of Her Majesty's regular forces to be kept up in the Cape Peninsula.
Previous to the late war the usual garrison of Cape Town was a full battalion of infantry, of which one company was detached, not without inconvenience, to St. Helena.
During the pressure of war, all the infantry fit for service were, as a temporary measure, with- drawn, and their guards and duties taken by colonial volunteers.
* No. 27.
Inclosure 1 in No. 27.
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