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led to the step. (No notice appears to have been taken of this letter as regards replying to the Colonial Office.)
In May 1863 the present Vice-Admiral Sir G. H. Richards (then Captain of Her Majesty's ship "Hecate") visited Fanning Island, and from his private journal the following remarks are taken :-
"Mr. English has been here since 1847. In 1857 he applied for and obtained permission from the Earl of Clarendon to hoist the British flag on his property, which is respected. Americans, in the same manner, claim to be proprietors of several similar islands."
FRED. JNO. EVANS, Hydrographer.
(Signed)
The
Appendix No. 4.
FANNING ISLAND.
April 20, 1880.
FIJI ISLANDS.
Sir,
No. 132.
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, May 16, 1882.
I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Commis- sion on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, a copy of a despatch from the Governor of Fiji, inclosing the joint Report of Colonel Crossman, R.E., C.M.G., and Acting Commander Maxwell, on the defences of Suva, and I am to request that the Commissioners will be good enough to furnish this Department with the usual number of printed copies of these papers.
I am also to inclose a copy of a letter from the War Office, with its inclosures in original, on the same subject.
I am, (Signed)
&c.
R. H. MEADE.
(Secret.) My Lord,
Inclosure 1 in No. 132.
Governor Des Vœux to the Earl of Kimberley.
Government House, Fiji, March 10, 1882. REFERRING to your Lordship's Circular despatch of the 22nd June, 1881, I have the honour to inform you that I took advantage of the presence of Colonel Crossman, R.E., C.M.G., and Acting Commander Maxwell, of Her Majesty's ship "Cormorant," to request them to act as a local Committee for the purpose of compliance with the instructions contained in your Lordship's Secret Circular despatch of the 23rd August, 1881,* on the subject of the defence of British possessions.
2. I inclose herewith copy of the Report with which these officers have been kind enough to furnish me.
3. The land mentioned therein as having been intended as a naval reserve proved to be claimed by a private person, and was granted to him by Sir A. Gordon before my arrival in the Colony.
4. With reference to a passage in the Report, I think it well to say that in case of emergency 4,000 or 5,000 men might be readily raised among the Fijians to form a defensive force. They would be at once amenable to discipline, and might be quickly taught the use of the rifle and ordinary military evolutions, though whether they would be of service in batteries, or against a European enemy, is a question to which experience alone can furnish a reply.
5. Mr. Thurston, the Colonial Secretary, was directed by me to proceed to Suva with the officers above mentioned, and to furnish them with all necessary local information, but he has taken no part in the Report, which deals almost exclusively with naval and military matters.
Inclosure 2 in No. 132.
I have, &c. (Signed)
G. W. DES VEUX.
(Confidential.) Sir,
Colonel Crossman, R.E., to the Inspector-General of Fortifications.
Suva, Fiji Islands, March 3, 1882.
I HAVE the honour to forward a joint Report by Acting Commander Maxwell, R.N., and myself, relative to the defences of Suva, Fiji Islands.
Commander Maxwell was ordered by the Commodore commanding on the Australian station to associate himself with me for this duty, vice Commander Bruce, invalided.
On landing at Levuka I called on his Excellency G. W. Des Voeux, C.M.G., the Governor, and conferred with him on the question of the defences.
He directed the Colonial Secretary, Mr. J. B. Thurston, C.M.G., to accompany Commander Maxwell and myself to Suva, and to give us every assistance and information he could.
This gentleman did so, and accompanied us in some of our examinations of the coast line and country adjacent,
[1103]
*Inclosure 2 in No. 2 A.
6 A
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