PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.882
2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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no Chinese service in which its Officers can look for advancement as they rise in standing. In truth, it has come to this, that no Officer of the Indian Civil Service will willingly go to the Straits for a permanency, except in the position of Governor. To be transferred there at the beginning of his career, on the understanding that he shall remain attached to the Straits throughout the whole, or even the greater portion of it, would involve so large a sacrifice of prospects on the part of a young Indian Civil Servant, that he cannot reasonably be expected to make it.
9. In looking for a remedy for this state of things, the attention is naturally directed to the British establishments in China. I venture to suggest that Her Majesty's Government would find a good and increasing field of selection among the Consular Officers in China for service in the Straits' Settle- ments, and that the official connection of these Settlements with our interests in China, while it would enable Her Majesty's Government to make efficient provision for their administration, would afford the means of improving the prospects and elevating the position of the Chinese Consular Service.
In addition to this consideration, the intimate connection which already exists, commercially and socially, between the Straits Settlements and China, and the very large resort of the Chinese alike to Singapore, Province Wellesley, and Malacca, are surely strong reasons for withdrawing these Settlements from the control of the Indian Go- vernment, and for connecting them to a greater or pless extent, as may seem advisable to Her Majesty's establishments on the Government, with Chinese coast.
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10. Another very important point to be con- sidered is the defence of the Straits' Settlements, formid- any for which, in the event of danger from able enemy, the Government of India could not, with justice, be made answerable. The past security which these Settlements have enjoyed, affords no guarantee of our capacity to defend them, for we
• Province Wellowboy :--
"Chinese greatly propanderats."—Report for 1865-6. Bingapore:
"More than two-thirds Chimano." -- Do. Malares:
do.
"The town is thickly inhabited with Chinese families, whose anosetors for many generations knew no other home; also a fluctuating body of
seidon less than 5,000 fʊralga Chinese loosted at the tin mines."-Report for 1855-6.
have not been at war with any great Power in these seas since the Government of India held the Set- tlements. It is necessary, of course, that Sings- pore should always be garrisoned, and this can be done by India, in ordinary times, without difficulty; but it is certain that the Settlements, if threatened with external danger, must be protected mainly by ships, and that of these India has none to give. The defence, therefore, of the Straits' Settlements,
in case of a rupture with any maritime Power, musi be provided by the naval strength of Great Britain.
It may be said that this is, in a great degree, true of India itself—so it is; but with this material dif. ference that whereas our Indian Empire cannot,
so long as we are strong in the interior of it, suffer from an enemy's ships anything worse than tem- porary insult, and the ravage of its ports (very few, considering the extent of its seaboard), our Settle- ments in the Straits might be wreated from us alto- gether if even for a short time ▲ hostile fleet were stronger than our own in those waters. As regards the garrison, I would further observe, that if a transfer be made, and it should be thought too costly to compose the garrison entirely of English troops, India could at all times lend native troops.
This arrangement would obviate the necessity of raising any new corps of Malays, or others for merely Straits' service; and would probably be economical to the Government of the Straits, and in other ways convenient. The Settlements, how- ever,
should never be left without some English troops.
11. It is not saay to see any sound objections
to the proposed transfer of these Settlements to the Colonial Office. Mr. Blundell, the late Governor, who was consulted on the question, has urged none to which I can attach weight. He thinks that the native community, more particularly the Chinese, might, when informed of the change, be seized with suspicion and alarm. It is not apparent, how- ever, why this should be the consequence of a change which would be attended, in the first place, at all events, with no actual alteration of things in the Settlement itself; but, even if Mr. Blundell's opinion be well founded, nothing beyond a little temporary inconvenience he apprehended; for the Chinese are a very praction) people, bent upon Essoney, and inrent to matters in
very which this is nok mongabad. As such, they are not likely to contemă seriously, or for long, with a H