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ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BÈ REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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SIB,
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Enclosure 1.
COMMISSART IN CHARGE to COLONIAL SECRETARY.
Commissariat Office, Singapore, May 26, 1876. I HAVE the honour to submit the accompanying communication, received from the Officer commanding the troops at Sungie Ujong, relative to the carriage of canteen stores and necessaries for use of the troops at Rassa, for consideration of His Excellency the Governor as to whether the expenses attendant thereon, as well as for officers' extras, should not, under the circumstances, be borne by the Colony in the same manner as Public Stores.
The return of the enclosure is requested.
I have, &c.
(Signed) CECIL E. LEACH, D. C., The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, For Commissary in Charge, Straits Settlements.
Straits Settlements.
E
10,285.
From OFFICER COMMANDING THE TROOPS, Rassa, to COMMISSARY in Charge, Straits Settlements, Singapore.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to request you will be good enough to allow general stores intended for the canteen and necessaries for the use of the men to be forwarded to this place at Government expense, as I am obliged to sell these things to the men at an extremely high price to cover the expenses of carriage.
The hire of a boat for the conveyance of stores from Malacca to Linghey is $25, and from Linghey to Rassa #18.
It is extremely hard on the men that the expenses of carriage should be added on to the prices of their necessaries.
I therefore request you will submit this for the consideration of the Commandant, Straits Settlements.
Rasas, May 17, 1876.
266
76'
SIR,
I have, &c.
(Signed)
Enclosure 2.
W. N. WHITTY, Captain, Commanding Troops, Sungie Ujong.
From COMMANDANT to His Excellency the GOVERNOR, Straits Settlements.
Brigade Office, Singapore, June 3, 1876.
I BEG to return your Excellency the accompanying correspondence, and shall be glad to hear what course the Colonial Government may be inclined to take in this
matter.
J
If any application should have to be made to the War Office, it is advisable that I should lose no time in communicating with his Excellency the Major-General at Hong Kong.
I am strongly of opinion that the suggestion of the Commissary in Charge, to the effect that the expense should be met by the Colonial Government or the Native States, should be acted upon, at any rate for the present, leaving the matter to be adjusted at a later period with the Imperial Government.
To His Excellency the Governor, Straits Settlements.
I have, &c.
(Signed) WILLIAM W. LYNCH, Lieut.-Colonel,"
Commandant, Straits Settlements.
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COMMISSARY IN CHARGE to OFFICER COMMANDING TROOPS, Straits Settlements.
Control Office, Straits Settlements, Singapore, June 2, 1876.
To the Officer Commanding the Troops, Straits Settlements. The enclosed paper marked E 10,285 is submitted for the decision of the Officer Commanding the Troops, Straits Settlements.
Submitted, that application should in the first instance be made to the Colonial Government that these stores may be carried by their steamers free of freight in the same way as Public Stores, or that the expense of conveyance be borne by the Native States to which the troops have been sent for the purpose of protection.
I certainly am of opinion that the expenses, under the exceptional circumstances of the case, should not fall on the soldier, but at the same time I should not consider myself justified in recommending so large an expenditure from the Imperial funds, without previous War Office sanction, and pending the question of field allowance which the men as well as the officers have claimed,
CECIL E. LEACH, Deputy Commissary, For Commissary in Charge.
SIR,
(Signed)
Enclosure 3.
From His Excellency the GOVERNOR to the COMMANDANT, Straits Settlements.
Government House, Singapore, 7th June 1876. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd instant, intimating your opinion that the cost of transport of stores to the military stations in Native States should be borne by the Civil Government or by those Native States, and in recording the different opinion on the question of principle which I hold upon the subject, I should wish it to be distinctly understood that I am by no means actuated by any desire to refuse to the military authorities facilities which can be legitimately expected of a Civil Government at a time either when military operations are in progress in the Malay Peninsula, or when any Native State is occupied by a military force.
The question has, however, become a serious one for the Colonial Government from the fact that through its anxiety to afford every possible facility during the late operations the treasuries of the Native States have been so drained by advances to the military that embarrassment has been caused in Perak through there being no funds from which to pay the ordinary stipend of the Sultan and the allowances of the friendly Native Chiefs.
The same may be said of Sungie Ujong, where the requisitions of the military upon the funds of the State have, notwithstanding & temporary loan effected by the Com- missioner on the spot, in a similar manner so exhausted the Treasury that the stipend of the Datu Klana, the native ruler of the State, is at present unpaid.
Lastly, the advances made from the treasuries of Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, for military purposes, have so crippled our own resources as to render necessary a suspension of public works in every case in which it was possible to do so.
I have felt it my duty to advert to the above matters with a view of showing that assistance in no niggardly spirit has been rendered by this Government to the military, to the extent not only of crippling its own resources but of causing embarrassment in its relations with the friendly chiefs of the Native States.
The point at issue, however, in the present correspondence is how far the Colonial Government would be justified in taking upon itself the settlement of a purely War Office question, for I need hardly point out that the question as to the alternative to be adopted in this case, viz., whether a special allowance is to be granted to the troops quartered in the Native States, or whether the difficulty should be met by allowing means of free transport, or finally, whether any relief at all is to be given under the circumstances, is a matter for the decision of the War Office, and the power of dealing with it temporarily lies in no way within the province of a Colonial Government.
Were I to assume the responsibility of dealing with such a question, I could not fit, feel that I was doing so on behalf of the War Office and not in virtue of the patt entrusted to me as Governor of the Colony; in fact, that I was trenching upon the
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