{
47
MILITARY CONTRIBUTION IN THE EASTERN COLONIES.
Although certain of the Colonies made payments towards the cost of the maintenance of the Imperial garrison, before 1861, that year may be taken as the date from which the principle has been explicitly asserted. In 1861 a select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to enquire into Colonial Military Expenditure. It reported that "large sums appear to have been received from the Colonial Govern- ments by Imperial Officers for strictly military ur- poses, as to which no accounts have been rendered to the War Office or the Treasury; and in the opinion of your Committee it is desirable that all monies s0 received should appear in the Home accounts". With regard to the incidence of the cost of defence of colonies, such as the North American and South African colonies, the West Indies, Ceylon, Mauritius, New Zealand and the Australian Colonies, with the exception of Western Australia, the Committee reported that, with certain reservations, "the responsibility and cost of the military defence of such dependencies ought mainly to devolve upon themselves"; and they further
reported that "the expense of the troops in reylon
should be in a greater degree borne by the Colonial
Treasury".
2. After correspondence had passed between the
Colonial