Eucl. 1 in No. 1.
PUBLIC RECORD
OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O. §
882
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
8
proposed Ordinance, subject to the concurrence of Lord de Grey, and liable hereafter to be varied by the proposed inquiry, to protect the Colony from over-charge in case troops are withdrawn.
The
28. The expenditure on the two heads of Native Pensions and Colonial Commissariat will continue to be defrayed by the Colonial Government, as the despatch directs, with certain exceptions on the latter head. subject of native pensions, the present scale of which Major-General O'Brien has recently represented to be insufficient, will naturally form part of the general inquiry instead of being referred specially to the Legislative Council as recommended. The charge on this head will probably be an increasing one in any event, but the estimated charge for commissariat is probably an ample one for the future, and it may be hoped that the average future charge for these two heads together will not exceed, or not materially, their aggregate amount in the estimate, which is 27,4791.
29. The total charge in the estimate is 202,9517., including new works and buildings, as well as repairs, or 195,9871. including repairs on The total reduction in this latter sum being estimated, as explained above, at not less than 27,500l., his Grace, relies on the future expenditure on a peace establishment being brought down to a sum not exceeding 170,0007. a-year, as the despatch contemplates, setting aside new constructions as
stated.
30. The whole arrangement proposed by his Grace may be recapitu- lated as follows:-The Ceylon Military Expenditure from the 1st April, 1864, will be met as regards Native pensions, rations, and commissariat by the Colony retaining charge of the services and defraying the cost, whatever it may be. It will be met as regards the colonial establishment of clerks, artificers, and other civilians attached to the force, by the Colonial Treasurer paying the fixed salaries of this establishment on the sanctioned schedule; as regards the pay of the Gun Lascars, and pay and allowances (not including travelling allowances) of their European officer in the same way; as regards colonial pay and allowances and contin- gencies of Governor's Aide-de-Camp and Orderlies, and the arms and clothing of the latter, by the Colonial Government taking entire charge of these services and paying their cost (not including, however, the European regimental pay of the Aide-de-Camp, nor the regimental pay of the Orderlies, if these, as appears from the Colonial Returns, are borne on the strength of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment); and as regards all other services, including colonial and travelling allowances to military officers and others in the Imperial service (with the exceptions above named), contingencies, whether of the Imperial force or of the Colonial establishment attached to it, and both construction and repairs of military works and buildings, by a payment of 100,000l. a-year to the War Department, which will undertake the whole of such services - this payment rising from the 1st January, 1867, by sums not exceeding 10,0001, in each year to 135,0001. a-year, for the same services as before, excepting new constructions, the cost of which will be then an additional liability on the colonial revenue (unless some other arrangement is in the ineantime sanctioned by Her Majesty's Government). Both the original and augmented rates of payment, however, will be governed by capitation rates, reducing the sum to be actually paid in case of reduction of the force below a certain point. All military buildings and works, the property of the Colonial Government, will be made over to the War Department free of rent and local assessment tax from the 1st April, 1864, as part of the arrangement. The proposed appropriations of colonial revenue-present and prospective will be secured by an Ordinance of the Legislative Council to be at once passed, and an inquiry will then be instituted, first in the Colony and subsequently at home, with a view to make such reductions that the prospective appropriations may suffice to cover the entire military expenditure, except special demands for new works and buildings.
31. I am directed to request you to inquire whether Lord de (irey has any objection to make to the proposed arrangements, and more particu- Jarly whether he has any objection to concur in the proposed Capitation
Rates, for the purposes above described, and in the proposed inquiry into the subject of the proper strength and cost of the force, and whether he has any wish to express with respect to the mode of conducting the inquiry in Ceylon, or with respect to the points to which such inquiry should be directed.
Sir E. Lugard, K.C.B.,
&c. &c.
&c.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
FREDERIC ROGERS.
Enclosure in No. 1.
EXTRACT of a despatch from Mr. Secretary DUNDAS to the Honourable FREDERICK NORTH, dated Downing Street, March 13, 1801.
MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.
106. "It is a matter of delicate and difficult consideration what extra allowances over and above the pay and allowances given to His Majesty's troops at home, and in every other part of his foreign dominions, should be granted to the King's European troops in Ceylon, and also in what proportion the Native corps should partake of the same indulgence."
107. "Upon this point, as upon many others to which I have already adverted, the decision for the present must be left to your discretion upon the spot; but at any rate these allowances must on no account exceed the half hatta, or such other allowance as is granted by the Company to their forces, European and Native, on the coast when in quarters, and it is very desirable for many reasons, independently of the necessity of economy, that they should, if possible, be upon a scale at least somewhat smaller."
108. "It is impossible that any charge, arising from an indulgence not granted by the King to His Majesty's European troops in other quarters of the world can be borne by this country on account of those in Ceylon; all extra allowances, therefore, that cannot be dispensed with, must be paid out of the Treasury of the Island."
D