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Appendix D D.
Case, pp. 16, 17.
Appendix E.
Appendix F.
Appendix G.
Appendix H.
Appendix K.
8
It is submitted, therefore, as the conclusion to be drawn from the negotiations previous to the Act of 1866, that the understanding of the Colonial Office at the time of transfer, as stated subsequently by Lord Kimberley in a letter to the India Office of the 30th of March, 1872, must be considered as the understanding of all the parties to the transfer, namely, that the Colonial Department was, on the 1st of April, 1867, to take over the charge of these Settlements and that the Colony was, in like manner, except when other- wise provided for, to take over the assets and assume the liability which existed at the
time of transfer.
II. The Negotiations subsequent to the Act of 1866.
At the time of the passing of the Act, and down to the 1st of April, 1867, Colonel Cavenagh, of the Bengal Staff, was the Administrator of the Straits Settlements under the Indian Government.
In January 1867, Major-General Sir Harry St. George Ord, R.E., C.B., then Colonel Ord, C.B., was appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements, with instructions from the Colonial Office to take over the charge of the Government on the 1st of April, 1867.
The appointment of Colonel Ord was notified by Lord Carnarvon, then Secretary of
·State for the Colonies, to Lord Cranbourne, the Secretary of State for India, in a letter of 28th January, from which the following extract is taken :-
"Lord Carnarvon would therefore request that Lord Cranbourne will be good enough to make this known to Colonel Cavenagh, the present Administrator, and that his Lordship will at the same time instruct him to afford Colonel Ord every facility he may require for inaugurating the new establishment on the Colonial system. He would suggest that instructions should be sent for transferring to the new Government all property which may be properly considered as belonging to the Governments of the different Settlements, including probably all immoveable property, except for a time that which is held in connection with the convict establishment, for taking over at a valuation such property as, though not properly belonging to the local Governments, could be taken over with con- venience to both parties."
This letter was acknowledged by the India Office in a letter, dated 31st January, 1867, which stated that a copy of the above letter would be forwarded by the next mail to the Government of India, with instructions to afford every possible facility not inconsistent with the interests of the Indian Empire for the transfer of the Administration of the Straits Settlements to the Colonial Department in such a manner as to cause the least possible amount of public inconvenience.
On the 1st April, 1867, the Indian Government handed over the charge of the Straits Settlements to Colonel Ord.
On the 17th of June the War Office wrote to the India Office, stating that the Military Store officer, in charge at Singapore, had reported that no instructions had been received for the transfer of the stores to him, and suggesting that instructions should be issued as soon as practicable for the examination and valuation of the stores at Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, which were to be transferred to the War Department. Thereupon, on the 4th of July, a letter was addressed from the India Office to Major-General Cavenagh, requesting him to inform Sir Stafford Northcote, then Secretary of State for India, in whose hands the military stores had been left on his departure from the Straits Settlements. To this letter Major-General Cavenagh replied, on the 11th of July, that up to the date of the transfer of the Civil Government to the charge of the Colonial Office, no arrange- ment having been made for the relief of the Madras troops serving in the Straits Settle- ments, no steps would have been taken for the transfer of the military stores belonging to the Indian Government which necessarily remained at the disposal of the officer commanding, and under the charge of the several Departmental authorities specified below:-
Ordnance Stores-Deputy Assistant Commissary of Ordnance.
Commissariat Stores (including barrack furniture in store)-Officiating Deputy- Assistant Commissary-General.
Barrack Furniture in use-Executive Engineers.
On the 2nd of August the India Office communicated to the Colonial Office the War Office letter of 17th June, and the correspondence with Major General Cavenagh, and authorized the transfer of the nilitary stores in the Straits Settlements to the Imperial Government at a valuation to be made by a properly appointed committee. The letter continued, that any instructions, however, which might be issued on the subject, must cinatate from the Colonial Department of Her Majesty's Government, as the affairs of the Straits Settlements were no longer under the Government of India.
9
On the 14th of August the Colonial Office wrote a letter to the War Office, referring Appendix L to the above letter of the 17th of June from the War Office to the India Office, and inclosing the India Office letter of the 2nd of August, 1867; and in that letter stated that, in so far as the intervention of the Governor of the Straits Settlements might be required, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, then the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, would be prepared to give him any instructions which the War Office might think necessary.
On the 6th of September the War Office, Sir John Pakington being then Secretary Appendix M. of State for War, wrote the following letter to the Colonial Office :-
"Sir,
"Lord Longford to the Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office.
"War Office, September 6, 1867.
"I am directed by the Secretary of State for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 14th ultimo, and to acquaint you, in reply, for the information of the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, that Sir John Pakington concurs in the proposed transfer of the Military Stores in the Straits Settlements to the Imperial Government, at a valuation to be made by the properly appointed Committee.
"I am, however, to remark that only those stores should be transferred to the Imperial Government which are in all respects fit and suitable for the use of the troops, and that such as may be rejected as unfit for service should be sold or otherwise disposed of, as the Indian Government may direct.
"The following officers should be members of the Committee of Valuation :-- "The Senior Commissariat Officer;
"The Senior Military Store Officer; "The Senior Purveyor; and,
"The Senior Barrack Master.
"I have, &c. (Signed) "LONGFORD."
On the 14th of September the Colonial Office communicated the above correspon: Appendix N (n)- dence between the War Office, the India Office, and the Colonial Office, to Sir Harry Ord, and directed him to be guided by the wishes of the Secretaries of State for War and Indis in regard to the disposal of these stores and the appointment of a properly constituted Committee, and on the 16th of September the Colonial Office communicated to the India Appendix N (b). Office the instructions given to Sir Harry Ord, and forwarded to that office a copy of the War Office letter of the 6th of September set out above, directing the appointment of a Committee of Valuation.
This communication was acknowledged by the India Office in a letter of the 10th of Appendix (), October, stating that the above correspondence on the subject had been forwarded to the Governor-General of India, with a request that he would take care that the interests of the Indian Government were properly represented on the proposed Committee of Valuation.
The instructions of the War Office and of the India Office were communicated by Sir Harry Ord to the officer commanding the troops in the Straits Settlements, and in accordance with then the officer commanding issued a garrison order, directing a Committee of Valuation, composed of members selected by him, to assemble. The following is an extract from this order communicated to the Colonial Office by the War Office :-
"Singapore, November 6, 1867.
"II. Under instructions from the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for War. a Committee of Valuation composed as follows will assemble at such time and place as the President may appoint (after departure of the mail) for the purpose of affixing a money value on all military stores fit aud suitable for the use of the troops in the Straits Settlements
"President.
"Major McNair, Colonial Engineers (with the sanction of His Excellency
the Governor).
Major Georges, Staff Corps.
Captain Ardagh. Deputy-Commissary of Ordnance.
"Lieutenant Blackley, Royal Artillery.
"
Mr. Thompson, Deputy Assistant-Commissary-General.
"Mr. White, Deputy-Purveyor and Assistant Barrack-Master.
The proceedings, when closed, to be sent to the Brigade Office." [132)
D
Appendix P.
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