7
Encl. 1 in No. 3.
6
electric telegraph centre, and where, consequently, half the number of men would be more effective in a military point of view in case of sudden disturbance in any part of the Island.
Still the risk involved in the removal of either of the regiments comprised in it does not appear to me so extreme as to warrant my declining to arquiesce in such a measure, should your Honour deem it in accordance with the tenor of instructions from Her Majesty's Government.
The Major-General Commanding the Troops,
SIR,
&c.
&c.
&c.
Enclosure 4 in No. 2.
I have, &c. (Signed)
HENRY BARKLY.
Major-General MILMAN to Governor Sir HENRY BARKLY, K.C.B.
Head-Quarters, Mauritius, October 12, 1868. WITH reference to the letter I had the honour to address to you on the 7th instant, and to your reply of the 10th, on the subject of reducing the strength of the troops serving in this command, as a teinporary measure on account of sickness, and sending a portion to the Cape of Good Hope.
I have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that having duly weighed all the considerations pointed out in your letter of the 10th instant, as to why the present force cannot prudently be reduced, I feel that the tenur of the orders I have received from the Secretary of State for War (which I did myself the honour to communicate to you) are so stringent as to leave me little option but to accept the acquiescence contained in the latter portion of your reply, and to send from this station the weaker of the two regiments now serving here.
I will accordingly place the 32nd Regiment in order of readiness to embark on board Her Majesty's ship "Urgent," on that vessel's arrival, for conveyance hence to the Cape of Good Hope.
I have, &c. (Signed) EGERTON MILMAN, Major-General.
Governor Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
Enclosure 5 in No. 2.
EXTRACT from Major O'BRIEN's Letter of August 10, 1868. THE fluctuations in the strength of the military, and their almost entire absence and distance at which they are quartered from Port Louis, leaves a great responsibility on this Department, I am very short of Europeans, and can get no soldiers to enlist, vide my letter as per margin, it is, therefore, incumbent that those men I have be as efficient as possible, I should, therefore, suggest that, as the only arms belonging to the police are old smooth-bored carbines, presented, I believe, by the Home Government to the Colony, application be made to the War Department for 200 stand of Snider carbines, with ammunition, accoutrements, &c., and that I be authorized to obtain from England a amart non-commissioned officer who has been through the Hythe course, and who, with the rank of a District Sergeant-Major, should assist to drill and instruct the European portion of the force, and act as assistant to the Sergeant-Major, in whose office the work has greatly increased of late, owing to the large augmentations for vagrant depôts, &c., that have taken place; moreover, there being no assistant or non-commissioned officer acquainted with these details, the force might be greatly paralyzed should anything incapacitate the Sergeant-Major from the performance of his duty.
SIB,
Enclosure 1 in No. 3.
The Under-Secretary of State for War to Sir F. ROGERS.
War Office, January 15, 1869. HAVING laid before Mr. Secretary Cardwell your letter of the 8th instant, enclosing the copy of despatch from the Governor of Mauritius, relative to the recent withdrawal of troops from that Colony, I am directed to communicate to you, for the information of Earl Granville, the views of Mr. Cardwell upon the several points raised in Sir Henry Barkly's despatch.
4
1. With regard to the amount of force which has been left in the island, as affecting the military subsidy of 45,000. now paid from colonial revenues, Mr. Cardwell would wish Lord Granville to understand that, although for sanitary reasons a large portion of the troops has been withdrawn, yet it is not intended, at present, to reduce the permanent establishment in that Colony below 1,100 men; but at the same time Mr. Cardwell would object to any pledge to that effect being given to the Government of Mauritius which would prevent the application to that Colony of a scale of contribu- tion which, upon a general review of the scale of colonial contributions, might appear to be fairly applicable to it.
Mr. Cardwell would observe, also, that the contribution received from the Mauritius corresponds, if calculated per capita at the rate required from the Australian Colonies, with a force of 1,046 men; and, if at the rate estimated in the more recent arrangements with Ceylon, at 450 men.
2. With respect to the proposal to augment the Colonial Police Force, Mr. Cardwell would at any time be glad to hear that means have been taken for rendering that force so much more efficient as to admit of the number of Queen's troops being, with propriety, diminished. Should the number " troops, by that event, at any time fall below the number compensated for by the contribution, the mount of that contribution would, pro tanto, be diminished.
3. Mr. Cardwell will have no objection to the supply by this Department of Snider carbines, with ammunition, accoutrements, &c., for the police, immediately upon the receipt, through the Secretary of State for the Colonies, of a requisition from the Colony, due provision being made for the repayment of their cost.
4. With regard to the erection of barracks on the high lands in the interior, Mr. Cardwell concurs with the Governor's opinion that such a measure is most desirable, particularly if any suitable situation shall be provided by the Colony for the purpose; but looking to the great expense so recently incurred by the Imperial Treasury in the erection of fortifications at Port Louis, Mr. Cardwell does not anticipate that Parliament will readily sanction the large expenditure which will now be required for the erection of barracks elsewhere on the Island, if it be intended that the whole of that expenditure shall be defrayed from Imperial resources.
Lastly, I am to request that you will state to Lord Granville that, in the absence of any provision for the better accommodation of the troops, Mr. Cardwell is unwilling now to increase the number at this time stationed in the island; but he would be glad to be favoured with his Lordship's opinion whether, looking to all the circumstances of the case, the Colony can with safety be left with the present mumber of troops for some time longer. Should his Lordship be adverse to that course, Mr. Cardwell would wish to be informed whether the Colony is prepared to make any, and if so what, provision for the reception of a larger number of men in such a manner as reasonably to secure their immunity from the fever.
I have, &c.
Sir F. Rugers, Bart., &c. &c.
Buc.
(Signed)
EDWARD LUGARD.
Encl. 5 in No. 2.
די
Encl. 2 in No. 3.
No. 3.
• Page $.
No. 3.
Copy of a DESPATCH from the Earl GRANVILLE, K.G., to Governor Sir HENRY BARKLY, K.C.B. (Confidential.) SIR,
Downing Street, February 3, 169. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Confidential despatch of the 16th November,* on the subject of the recent withdrawal of troops from Mauritius.
I have been in communication with the Secretary of State for War upon the several points raised in your despatch; and I transmit to you copies of the correspondence which has passed between this Office and the War Department in reference thereto.
I have to request you to consider, and report to me, whether you are of opinion that the Colony can be safely left with its present garrison, the Colonial Police Force being augmented if necessary.
I observe that in Hong Kong Sikhs are usefully employed in that force.
Governor Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B.,
&c.
&c.
&c.
I have, &c
(Signed)
GRANVILLE.
SIR.
Enclosure 2 in No. 3.
Sir FRANCIS SANDFORD to the Under-Secretary of State for War.
Downing Street, February 3, 1869. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th January, in which, with reference to Sir H. Barkly's despatch of the 16th November, respecting the recent withdrawal of troops from Mauritius, you request that Mr. Secretary Cardwell may be favoured with his Lordship's opinion whether the Colony can with safety be left with the present diminished force for some time longer.
As bearing upon this question, I am to transmit to you an extract from a despatch received from the Governor on the 5th September, 1865;* and I am to state that Lord Granville will at once communicate with Sir H. Barkly on the subject.
His Lordship would wish to defer giving any final answer to Mr. Cardwell until a reply shall have been received from the Colony; but having reference as well to the Governor's recent despatches, as to that from which an extract is inclosed, Lord Granville is inclined to the opinion that the Colony may, for the present, be safely left with the reduced garrison now stationed there, the paucity of that garrison being of course taken into account in estimating the military contribution which should be chargeable on Colonial revenues.
The Under-Secretary of State for War.
[74]
I
&c am,
(Signed) F. R. SANDFORD.
C
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference -
832
Vide Appendix,
No. 1, page 15.
2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
Reference -
832
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE
2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
•
10
dical Report for 1866, when the health of the troops "gave nalarial form of fever which was to prevail soon afterwards," ipal Medical Officer again drew attention to "the need of been manifest, and represented for many years past, and the been heavily felt of late," and most distinctly pointed out rement be carried into effect there will continue to be much unt of disease, non-effectiveness, and invaliding."
submit, therefore, that however just it may be that the terms es are in future to contribute towards the cost of their own ; the erection of these barracks in the hills by the Imperial : insidered a condition precedent to the new arrangement; the ier Colonies were paying little or nothing, Mauritius for many per annum for military purposes (of which 10,000l. was (s), and has, since 1864, contributed at the rate of no less he Imperial Treasury.
nstances it does appear to me hard, at a time when the successive misfortunes to the direst distress and to the verge I gather from Sir Edward Lugard's letter of the 15th January ›, over and above the ordinary subsidy, that these barracks xpense of the local Government, on the plea, as stated, of ly incurred by the Imperial Treasury in the erection of forti-
re of the nature or amount of the expenditure for this latter eneral Milman for information on the subject, and found from at the average spent on the two forts at the entrance of the rs has been 9,6721; or if the comparison be confined to the increased contribution of 45,0001. has been paid, 6,3671. only, ately large appropriation, even if it be held that the Colony
on to bear any part of such an outlay.
it strikes me, be forgotten that Mauritius is an important er long efforts conquered and taken possession of during the expectation of its becoming a great sugar exporting Colony, ative necessity of maintaining communication with India, and h the East, for which purposes it would be more than ever ion of steam navigation, as a coaling station in the event of gued, therefore, that to devote Colonial funds to strengthening axing the Colonists for purely Imperial objects.
urge
rther, and
that these fortifications, as they now exist, are of security to the Colonists, for whilst incapable of resisting present day, they would probably expose the shipping and the abardment.
Iman, it will be seen, begs that the admissions of weakness anding the Royal Artillery and Engineers may be considered e, they will be; but as I have ere now felt it my duty to press jesty's Government, Port Louis has been visited by Engineer the ships of war of all nations; and it must be perfectly that even if there were men to work the few heavy guns that est use, both Fort George and Fort William could be knocked ide of an ironclad.
upon these considerations whether the Colony should be Artillery and company of Engineers to be retained here, or military contribution should not be fixed solely in reference #ilable in aid of the Civil Power.
has since January 1, 1865, been on a scale corresponding, pard's letter," With the per capita allowance required for the Irce of 1,046 men, and if at the rate estimated in more recent ht 150 men."
ds Mauritius would have no right to claim any remission reduction of its garrison during 1867 and 1868, but it is rounds the rate was suddenly raised from about 401. to 100%, per I continue so much lower in the case of Colonies having than in those under the direct control of the Crown, and I am find from Sir Francis Sandford's reply that your Lordship cessor at the Colonial Office, the justice of that claim.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE