39
No. 42.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
། ། ཟ། ། ། །
C.O.
Reference :-
882
3
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH——NOT TO
SIR
Ma. W E. MAXWELL to the COLONIAL SECRETARY.
Kwala Kangsa, June 5, 1876. I HAVE the honour to furnish the following further explanation, called for by his Excellency the Governor, regarding the expedition to Tumung on the 3rd January.
The execution of Panjang Meroo was strictly a military affair, and carried out by the orders of General Ross. I am not competent to discuss the military part of the subject, but I have no doubt that General Ross can fully justify the course he adopted.
It never occurred to me to question the right of Brigadier-General Ross to give the orders which he did.
The position was this: there had been no resistance to the advance of the troops to Kwala Kangsa, and there was no force of Malays openly in arms against us in the district; nevertheless, a few of the worst characters in the country, dacoits or gang- robbers, had caused Brigadier-General Ross's force considerable inconvenience and pecuniary loss, by coming down to the vicinity of the camp and intimidating the Malay followers.
There was no way of getting at them by native means. The Malay chief at Kwala Kangsa, Kulup Mohamed, who held the authority of the Raja Bandahara and Sri Maharaja Lela, was fully aware of the dangerous character of the men in question, but professed himself unable to seize and punish them. He had no men who would venture to interfere with offenders so formidable.
The native police at Kwala Kangsa were quite unfit to be trusted on an expedition of the kind. They were mostly raw recruits, and had been quite demoralized by the murder of Mr. Birch, and subsequent events in Perak. They were also entirely un- acquainted with the country.
The matter seemed, therefore, to be one for the Brigadier-General Commanding at Kwala Kangsa, and it will not, I think, be questioned (considering the notorious character of the persons in question) that he was right in regarding these persons as criminals not enemies. The pacification of the country was one of the specified objects of the presence of the British troops, and the punishment of notorious criminals, who were endangering the peace of the country by hostile acts unauthorised by any Rajab or chief, was therefore a necessity.
Regarding the degree of that punishment, it was, I believed, for Brigadier-General Ross to decide. first learned the nature of his orders when they were shown to Major McNair and myself by the Assistant Quartermaster-General before being sent to Commander Garforth.
That no protest was entered by me when I learned the object of the expedition which I accompanied, will not, I think, appear unnatural, when these circumstances are fully considered. There was little time for reflection as the expedition started within a few hours of the issue of the orders. Besides, I was not in civil charge at Kwala Kangsa, but subordinate to Major McNair, the senior Commissioner.
I accompanied the expedition solely for the purpose of facilitating the identification of the three men in search of whom it was despatched. I had no formal orders from Major McNair, but I left with his knowledge and consent. I had nothing to do with the proceedings subsequent to the arrest and identification of Panjang Meroo, and was not present at the execution.
The breaking up of this gang, and the destruction of the stockaded hut which had been their head quarters, bad a most salutary effect, and until recently, this bank of the river has been comparatively free from marauders.
It may not be out of place to state regarding the two companions of Panjang Meroo, who made their escape on the 3rd January, that Rajah Abbass, one of them, robbed two Larut policemen of their rifles in the middle of April last while they were carrying letters up-country, and that Kolah, the other, joined the Maharaja Lela last month and guided him from the Patani frontier to Kota Lama. They are both still at large.
I have, &c. (Signed) W. E. MAXWELL,
Acting Deputy Commissioner.
The Honourable the Colonial Secretary,
Singapore.
GOVERNOR SIR WM. JERVOIS, K.C.M.G., C.B., to the EARL OF CARNARVON.
(No. 229-)
(Received August 1, 1876.)
MY LORD,
Government House, Penang, June 21, 1876.
Enclosure 1.
I HAVE the honour to transunit herewith for your Lordship's information copy of a correspondence which has taken place with the local military authorities on the 26 May 1876. subject of the transport of stores and other articles for the use of the troops stationed in the Native States.
Enclosure 2. 3 June 1876.
Enclosure 3.
2. I need scarcely assure your Lordship that I have been most anxious from the 7 June 1876. first to afford every possible assistance to the military in the shape of money, stores, or transport, without entering into the question whether or not the calls made the
upon Civil Government were such as should legitimately be expected of it, and even in cases where I was convinced that civil departments were performing the primary duties of a military commissariat, I recognised the fact that the main thing to be considered was that the duties connected with military occupation in the Malay Peninsula should be performed, and that the question of the distribution of such duties was one of comparatively minor importance.
3. Thus, for example, though I cannot but think that the providing money for the pay of the troops and for defraying the cost of transport of their provisions, bedding, &c., is a purely military matter, the custom has been to draw upon the treasuries of the Native States for these purposes, until the position of those treasuries is as follows:-
At Laroot there was on the 1st instant a balance in hand of $1,100, but an application has just been received from Mr. Davidson for an advance of money from the Colonial Treasury; outstanding claims to the extent of $12,000 for military transport, but which be has no means of meeting, being strongly pressed for.
At Qualla Kangsa, the civil chest was reduced a few days ago to a balance of $14, and the chest is now closed.
At Bandar Bahru, the central Perak treasury, there is no money available for payment
of the fixed allowances of Sultan Abdullah, Rajah Mudah Yusuf, Rajah Dris, and other native chiefs, which are now in arrear.
At Sungie Ujong, the State treasury is empty, and money has been borrowed by the Resident to meet military requirements. The allowance of the Datu Klana was in arrear, and he has gone to Singapore to receive it.
The treasuries of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, have also been drained by military requirements to the extent of necessitating a stoppage at the commencement of
the year of many public works, for which funds had been voted.
4. I trust that your Lordship will understand that my object in laying these facts before you has been not to raise a complaint against the action of the military authorities, but to place before you the real position of affairs in the event of any cam- munication reaching you on the subject through the War Office.
I may add that although the battery of artillery originally sent down from India has been formally handed over to this command (vide Secretary of State's Despatch, No. 57, of 13th March), the officers and men are unpaid, and have been referred by the Commissariat for their pay to the Civil Government. I feel assured that your Lordship will concur with me in thinking that the payment of the troops stationed here is not a civil duty.
I have, &c.
(Signed) WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon,
&c.
&c.
Colonial Office.
&c.
P.S. Since writing the foregoing I have received a letter from the Commandant, dated 21st instant (copy enclosed), in which he states that he has directed the Com- Enclosure. missariat Officer at Qualla Kangsa " to make such advance as the state of his fands will "admit of for the payment of the battery " of artillery above referred to.
It appears also from the Commandant's letter that the military authorities have received no communication respecting the transfer of this battery to the Imperial Establishment.
June 1976.
• Was not printed.